Recording
Yaa Amponsah
Kwame Asare
- Released
- 1928
- Label
- Zonophone
- On one list
- Highlife
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Analysis
10 sections, the first drop of 2 at 4:31, 56% of the way in.
- Tempo
- 129.2 BPM
- holds throughout
- Dynamic range
- 7 dB
- moderate range, typical of a modern master
- Length
- 8:05
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintro0
- 0:18Asteadybar 10
- 0:46Abreakdownbar 25
- 3:34Bsteadybar 116
- 4:04Abreakdownbar 132
- 4:44Abreakdownbar 153
- 5:40Csteadybar 183
- 5:56Asteadybar 192
- 6:29Dpeakbar 210
- 7:14Aoutrobar 234
Drops at 4:31 (bar 146), 6:03 (bar 196). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:18
- Energy
- 24
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 40
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:28
- Energy
- 82
- Brightness
- 43
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · sung · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 2:49
- Energy
- 46
- Brightness
- 11
- Density
- 35
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung
- Lasts
- 0:30
- Energy
- 73
- Brightness
- 44
- Density
- 28
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:40
- Energy
- 24
- Brightness
- 43
- Density
- 55
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:56
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 91
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung
- Lasts
- 0:16
- Energy
- 22
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 44
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:34
- Energy
- 56
- Brightness
- 37
- Density
- 17
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung
- Lasts
- 0:45
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 60
- Density
- 5
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
the closing fall · sung · one of 7 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:51
- Energy
- 75
- Brightness
- 7
- Density
- 23
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- outro
- the closing fall
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Highlife
Recorded in London with the Kumasi Trio, and the first Ghanaian highlife on record. Its finger-picked guitar figure became a rhythm other musicians simply refer to by name.