Elikeh celebrates the release of its new EP on Friday at the Rock and Roll Hotel.
By DCist Contributor Andy Cerutti
After five years of releasing music and touring up and down the East Coast, the local world music fusion band Elikeh was ready to call it quits.
“It was not fun anymore,” guitarist and vocalist Massama Dogo explains. “Just as we began to build [momentum], some of the clubs don’t want to book us anymore.”
This is a common hurdle for bands, trying to balance oversaturation in their local market with the need to build a fan base. The pressures of bookings, plus some “tension in the band,” forced the musicians into a make-it-or-break-it band meeting.
Standing in a circle, the airing of grievances began. Options were raised, and then rejected. Was the mojo dying, or was there some solution still waiting to be found? How would they explain the end to their fans? Holding their heads in their hands, Elikeh was nearly at the brink.
But then, a riff from guitarist Franck Martins wafted into the air. The voices quieted as the notes rang out louder. One by one, the musicians picked up their instruments once again. They built layers of sound over Martins’ notes, a natural songwriting process that had been missing from their recent sessions.
“More participation is just what we needed,” Dogo decided.
That new song, “The Conversation” is the first track on their brand new Kondona EP, coming out on November 20th on Ropeadope Records. The instrumental track couldn’t be more appropriate for this new release. It takes advantage of the band’s signature funky guitars and relentless percussion, with a smooth and catchy groove perfect for Elikeh’s veteran horn section.
Having never worked with Philadelphia’s Ropeadope before, Dogo had a strike of old-school success; sending the new tracks to the label and hoping for the best. That’s just what happened next. Ropeadope loved the tracks and quickly signed the band. Elikeh wanted the EP out to stay current and maintain momentum, but plans for a new album for 2016.
“We are not going to waste any time to get back into the studio,” Dogo promised.
Elikeh crafts a unique fusion sound that melds West African rhythms with funk and rock to create an upbeat dance party. As bandleader Dogo, a native of Togo in West Africa explains, “Elikeh’s music is based on Togolese and Ghanaian music and traditional rhythms, like Abadja and Ghanaian funk.”
Other band members hail from Ghana and Nigeria, along with some Washington, D.C. natives, and this combination of perspectives and skills is what makes Elikeh special.
While Dogo was visiting northern Togo over the summer, he witnessed and recorded a Kondona Ceremony, a male rite of passage into manhood. The experience had an impact, and he samples a chant from his field recording the beginning of the EP’s third track, “Heaven.” This song covers a hit by Ghanaian, Ebo Taylor, a star of the highlife genre in West African music.
The sounds are fresh, a record label is on board, band relations are tight again, and Elikeh are on the hunt for a new booking agency. With these structures in place, Elikeh is poised to rise from the almost-ashes and achieve new heights.
Elikeh celebrates the release of its new Kondona EP on Friday, November 6th at the Rock and the Roll Hotel. 9 p.m. Tickets $15.
