The 2022 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts will take place between 22 and 26 June. This is the first festival since 2019 with the previous two editions being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, known as enforced “fallow” years.
Following the conclusion of the 2019 Glastonbury Festival on 30 June 2019, it was announced that plans were underway for the 2020 Festival, which would celebrate Glastonbury’s 50th anniversary. Headliners Paul MacCartney, Kendrick Lamar, and Tylor Swift, along with Diana Ross in the Legend’s slot, were announced along with a host of other acts. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to worsen, the ability of the festival to go ahead was put into doubt. Emily Eavis stated in an interview on 12 March 2020, that she was hopeful that the festival would not be cancelled but just six days later, Glastonbury Officially announced that the 2020 edition would be cancelled.
As a replacement for the festival, Worthy Farm recorded several short sets with artists in a COVID-safe environment and broadcast them together as a film titled Live from Worthy which streamed on both the Glastonbury website and BBC TWO.
Due to continued uncertainty around the pandemic, the 2021 Glastonbury Festival was also cancelled. In October 2021, Billie Eilish was announced as one of the 2022 headliners, replacing Swift and becoming the youngest headliner in the festival history. The first wave of the lineup was announced on 4 March 2022, revealing that McCartney, Lamer and Ross would still be performing in their previously confirmed roles. The rest of the lineup was released on 30 May 2022.
On the 23rd of June, Friday 2017, this festival saw the likes of Ghanaian Hi-Life Musician, Pat Thomas and Ata Kak shocking the West Holts stage.
Displaying their raw and curated talents as bandsmen, Pat Thomas, backed by the Kwashibu Area Band, set the West Holts Stage on ‘fire’ with some real Hi-Life beats.
With a remarkable discipline, rhythmic flow and the typical musicianship that legendary Ghanaians are well known for, Pat Thomas showed the audience how it is sensationally done.
The festival crowd and audience could not stop but clap for their performances from start to finish.
Setting off with his Jazzy Gospel-inspired ‘Enyininam A Mensuro’ was receptively and fantastically applauded by the revellers.
Singing his second ‘Odo Beba’, was as if the revellers actually know the meaning of the song, given the manner in which they were nodding to the beats.
By the time he landed ‘Me Wo Akoma’ the crowd were already in the ‘Kwashibu’ area of Ghana, waiting for Pat Thomas and his band according to their dancing moods.
Swinging into ‘Me Ko Aware Namanwoba’ took the crowd to a different altitude, especially from the way the conga-man was tapping his part of the bargain.
‘Sasawa’ was another mind-blowing episode that saw the band leader Kwame Yeboah in his element switching between guitar and organ renditions.
Unfolding ‘Gyiwani’ simply mesmerized the crowd arguably above all limits. Because of the stop-start nature of how they played.
‘Sika Ye Berima’ ‘Nyame Ni Mre’ and ‘Gyae Su’ were some of the other songs that caught on well with the revellers.
He delivered ‘Ye Damo Ase’, ‘Naomi’ and a couple of others in a surprising and unprecedented medley which was amazing, due to how the whole band
stage-crafted the art of their performance.
The only song he sang in English was ‘Yes Indeed’ which the crowd danced to, but not as much as they did for the ones he sang in the Ghanaian local dialect.
The two saxophonists of the band are so good with their jazzy mixes in tow as backing vocalists to Pat Thomas’ style of singing.
Next Up was Ata Kak. The man who is doing something, distinctively with his style of Ghanaian rap.
He calls his music Rap- A-Dub-Style music. A retro and electro-infused funky-led beat reminiscing of the good old American rap days.
Ata Kak and his band certainly know what exactly the Glastonbury crowd wanted, as they took aim in cooking them a European beat over-laced with a local Ghanaian rap style, that has no equality.
Ata Kak’s genre truly has no equality. The style and pace in which he raps are not popular and akin to mainstream rap genres. But that is what sets him apart from the others.
At first, he might not sound serious. But he really knows what energy to bring to a party. Because the Glastonbury crowd did not stop partying with him till he left the stage as energised as he started.
Ata Kak’s musicianship speaks volumes, because, in a typical Ghanaian or African environment, one might think his music will not have a stay. But his music has resonated very well with the festival crowd in Pilton Farm at Glastonbury.
Extending their invite for Pat Thomas and Ata Kak to perform their distinct genres of Hi-life and Rap-A Dub style music respectively at this year’s music festival, was laudable and phenomenal by the promoters of Glastonbury festival.
This year’s edition of Glastonbury Festival 2022 is going to experience some sweet melody and a typical Ghanaian Hi-Life music from K.O.G aka Kwaku Leader of the afro-fusion group, one of the best Ghanaian Hi-Life Musician who has also through his music has lifted up the flag higher.
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