Pat Thomas and Ata Kak Shine Ghana Through Glastonbury 2017

Friday 23rd of June 2017 will be seen by some revellers as the day of Ghana music at Glastonbury, as Pat Thomas and Ata Kak shook the West Holts Stage of this year's Glastonbury music festival in Pilton Farm.

Immaculately dressed in a black 'Up and Down' clothing with touches of the popular Kente hugging his neck from his shoulders, one could tell how proudly Ghanaian Pat Thomas is.

Displaying their raw and curated talents as bandsmen, Pat Thomas, backed by the Kwashibu Area Band, set the West Holts Stage on 'fire' with some real Hi-Life beats.

With a remarkable discipline, rhythmic flow and the typical musicianship that legendary Ghanaians are well known for, Pat Thomas showed the audience how it is sensationally done.

The festival crowd and audience could not stop but clap for their performances from start to finish.

Setting off with his Jazzy Gospel inspired 'Enyininam A Mensuro' was receptively and fantastically applauded by the revellers.

Singing his second 'Odo Beba', was as if the revellers actually know the meaning of the song, given the manner in which they were nodding to the beats.

By the time he landed 'Me Wo Akoma' the crowd were already in the 'Kwashibu' area of Ghana, waiting for Pat Thomas and his band according to their dancing moods.

Swinging into 'Me Ko Aware Namanwoba' took the crowd into a different altitude especially from the way the conga-man was tapping his part of the bargain.

'Sasawa' was another mind blowing episode that saw the band leader Kwame Yeboah in his element switching between guitar and organ renditions.

Unfolding 'Gyiwani' simply mesmerized the crowd arguably above all limits. Because of the stop-start nature of how they played.

'Sika Ye Berima' 'Nyame Ni Mre' and 'Gyae Su' were some of the other songs that caught on well with the revellers.

He delivered 'Ye Damo Ase', 'Naomi' and couple others in a surprising and unprecedented medley which was amazing, due to how the whole band

stage crafted the art of their performance.
The only song he sang in English was 'Yes Indeed' which the crowd danced to, but not as much as they did for the ones he sang in the Ghanaian local dialect.

The two saxophonists of the band are so good with their jazzy mixes in tow as backing vocalists to Pat Thomas' style of singing.

Next Up was Ata Kak. The man who is doing something, distinctively with his style of Ghanaian rap.

He calls his music Rap- A-Dub-Style music. A retro and electro infused funky- led beat reminiscing of the good old American rap days.

Ata Kak and his band certainly knows what exactly the Glastonbury crowd wanted, as they took aim in cooking them an European beat over-laced with a local Ghanaian rap style, that has no equality.

Ata Kak's genre truly has no equality. The style and pace in which he raps is not popular and akin to mainstream rap genres. But that is what sets him apart from the others.

At first, he might not sound serious. But he really knows what energy to bring to a party. Because the Glastonbury crowd did not stop partying with him till he left the stage as energised as he started.

Ata Kak's musicianship speak volumes, because in a typical Ghanaian or African environment, one might think his music will not have a stay. But his music has resonated very well with the festival crowd in Pilton Farm at Glastonbury.

Extending their invite for Pat Thomas and Ata Kak to perform their distinct genres of Hi-life and Rap-A Dub style music respectively at this year's music festival, is laudable and phenomenal by the promoters of Glastonbury festival.