Colorado-based drummer Paa Kow speaks a dozen musical languages, from the deep rhythmic traditions of his native Ghana to the patois perfected by the likes of George Clinton and George Benson. “My music isn’t traditional, but it has deep roots. I want to invent my own style,” he explains. “The highlife music is there, but when you listen, it’s kind of jazz, too. It’s funk. It’s the way the music comes to me.”
Whatever the style, Paa Kow’s track “Cookpot” includes a little New Orleans groove, funky Jazz, and even sublime steel drums in its glorious polyglot polyrhythms.