Praye’s The Bomb

Do you know them? Praye is a group of three young Ghanaian guys who have been performing nice Ghanaian hiplife music. They gained limelight when they won the Nescafe African Revelations in 2004.

Nescafe African Revelations is a musical talent hunt, which seeks to discover and nurture young African musical talent, not only in Ghana, but throughout the West and Central African sub-region.

The group is made-up of ‘Praye ho ne ho’ (Eugene Baah), ‘Praye tiatia’ (Steven Fiawoo) and ‘Praye tenten’ (Nana Kwame).

Now, you might wonder: “What is the meaning of Praye?”
In an interview with GhanaMusic.Com, ‘Praye ho ne ho’ (Eugene) explained why they chose the name Praye. “Well, we chose the name Praye because this in English means a broom and since a broom is a tool for sweeping, we are also here to sweep the social vices through our music”.

This is what was written about them on Kora Awards’ website:

PRAYE – Ghana

This group from Ghana was formed a year ago and its three members are Eugene, Stephen and Nana Kwame. The three started the group and adopted the name ‘Praye’ which means ‘broom’ an indigenous symbol of unity in the Ghanaian community, reflecting their belief in combining their different and unique talents that have been harnessed to make them one of the most entertaining group in Africa. They won the National Championship and the African Revelation Championship as representative of Ghana. Their debut album, Mfitiatse, with the hit track ‘Shordy’ is currently topping the charts.

They won the Kora Music Award for the best West African Group. 🙂

Well, the thrust of this blog entry is to highlight their latest album that I love so very much. The album is simply called “The Bomb” and I must quickly add that this new album lives up to its name.

The album has five solid tracks and I tell you, the tracks are really solid. The first track is titled Ka Kyere Me meaning “Tell Me”. The dance song will get you on your feet anyday anytime. The whole point behind the track is, a guy is singing to his lover, asking her to tell him whatever he has done to her. I had the priviledge of watching the video clip of Ka Kyere Me, at a restaurant, two weeks. Funny clip. 🙂

Another track I love so much on this album is track 3, titled Wife. This is what Mutala Mutari has to say about this track:

Now this one can sell big in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and in other African countries where broken English is widely spoken. The track title is Wife and it talks about how somebody’s wife had been carried away because of money, and asks what he can do to rescue her. It is well harmonized in what sounds like an Adowa rhythm. It’s a good blend of African tones; call it Afro Pop if you want.

He is right. 🙂 (I’m so excited about this)

I also love Track 4 so much. I don’t know the title. You’d excuse me ‘cos I don’t understand or write Twi nor Ga. (Two popular languages here in Ghana).

Praye usually sing/rap in a nice mixture of broken English, Ga and Twi and some of their songs are humourous. A look at the video clips of Ka Kyere Me and Shoddy will drive home the message.