Pat Thomas tours Europe
Sunrays filter through the gentle breeze at the Pildamms Amphitheatre in the Swedish city of Malmo as a capacity crowd eagerly awaits a concert by Ghanaian highlife supremo, Pat Thomas.
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As the musician emerge from back stage, the audience shows appreciation with an applause, which culminates in a loud roar as the highlife maestro walks on stage in a colourful yellow and blue costume.
The auditorium gradually turns into a kind of health spa as intense energy from the almost 70-year-old Thomas and his musicians, including percussionist, Eric Owusu, Berlin -based saxophonist, Ben Abarbanel-Wolff and guitarist / keyboardist, Kwame Yeboah inundate the venue with some groovy stuff.
Evergreen highlife songs like Mewo Akoma, Gyae Su, Odo Be Ba and Me Ho Asem, gradually move their way into the hearts of the audience – and they react with cheers and applause as they hit the dance floor.
“This is the kind of groove that reminds mankind to unite. The concert is full of joy and it’s undeniably contagious. All the young people here are dancing”, says Karen V. Rasmussen, a guitarist working towards global consciousness.
“It’s a tremendous feeling to see Pat Thomas perform in Malmo with additional inflections to his original compositions. I have not seen him on stage for nearly 30 years. This is an unforgettable evening,” states Kwaku Boateng, a Ghanaian resident in Malmo.
In a good way, Thomas, who is known as the Golden Voice of Africa, cleverly and uniquely elicits great playing from his musicians, known collectively as the Kwashiebu Area Band. He takes on a director’s role as he steps aside vocally thereby allowing his features to also shine.
Pat Thomas and the Kwashiebu Area Band is currently on tour of several cities in Europe. The performance in Malmo, forms part of Summer Scene festival, a three-month long event that takes place at various venues throughout the city noted as the cultural capital of Southern Sweden.
