Disco Diaries: Bessa Simons reminisces the good old days of Ghana music

Legendary Highlife musician Bessa Simons has re-lived the golden days of Ghana music on Disco Diaries on ‘The DrYve On Y 107.9 FM’.
The celebrated hitmaker told Kojo Manuel the riveting story of Highlife music in Ghana.
‘’ When I finished secondary school I went out to play with professional bands. Those days musicians were like footballers, people invested money into putting bands together. They will poach musicians from here and there so they put together a top-notch band. Music bands were a big business’’ he revealed.
He also spoke about the Accra ‘nightlife’ and how being in a live band was a lucrative business.
‘’Accra was very vibrant; at a place like Tiptoe, we played music till 3:00am and you are likely to see all your favourite musicians. Musicians were paid handsomely for playing live bands, imagine playing music at different locations for a month and being paid anytime you played. It was good playing live music until the spinning came in with rap music’’ he narrated.
Bessa Simons also talked about his time with the ‘Pelicans’ a band located in Cape Coast.
‘’When I was a student at Aggrey Memorial, I joined a band called Pelicans. The band went for a competition and we won. I remember when the show was aired on BBC and my Headmaster halted ‘prep’ so that all the students can watch the competition. Aggrey memorial school came to a standstill, to watch me perform. My solo performance was showmanship at its peak. It was a good feeling of accomplishment’’ he reminisced.
He also enumerated the big names he shared a stage with.
‘’ I worked with C.K Mann and that is where I learnt that practice makes perfect. During that time the band had people like Jewel Ackah, Paapa Yankson among other notable names. Looking back, I realised I was lucky to have worked with such big names in the industry’’ he stated.
According to him, the life of a musician is fun, but it’s hard because you can easily fall over the edge. Sharing his own experience as a chain smoker and the decision to stop.
‘’My upbringing kept me grounded, but I became a chain smoker along the line. One day I decided to stop and I did. For 30years I haven’t smoked again’’ he stated.
Bessa, who once wanted to be desilting gutters for a living, or a become a pilot, says he will choose to play a keyboard over his girlfriend. He, fortunately, discovered sooner that his passion is music.
By: Bridget Mensah