Ignace De Souza

Despite being born in Cotonou, the capital of Benin, in 1937, Ignace de Souza did not confine himself to Benin. After learning traditional Fon music and the saxophone, in the 1950s he joined Alfa Jazz, the country's first professional dance band, which mixed highlife - a blend of traditional music, calypso and jazz - with bolero and foxtrot. Accompanied by Zeal Onyia, who pushes him on trumpet, and Baby Face Paul, they openly pay tribute to the style's leading Ghanaian musician, E.T. Mensah, by covering his hits. In 1955, de Souza cut short the group and moved to Ghana, to Accra, a city then in the throes of a musical boom. In the flourishing highlife scene, he met Spike Anyankor and joined the Rhythm Aces. Ignace de Souza contributed to the majority musical style of a Ghana on the verge of independence, bringing in the influence of rumba. The year 1961 proved to be a turning point: as the group recorded "Paulina" under the name Melody Aces, the success of the song brought the musicians economic resources. Above all, it enabled them to buy their own instruments and gain greater freedom. De Souza eventually left the group to found Black Santiago, and decided to bring the influences of Congolese music to the Ghanaian music scene, whose echoes appealed to the public. The group gained notoriety for its innovative Afro-Cuban and Afro-funk rhythms. It established connections with Nigeria and played a part in the development of Afrobeat. In 1968, Ignace de Souza, then host of the Ringwood Hotel, invited the group Koola Lobitos to perform there, which included a certain Fela Ransome Kuti. However, in 1969, the new Ghanaian president Kofi Busia expelled many foreigners, forcing Ignace de Souza to return to Benin. The latter offered insufficient support to artists, and the musician's development stalled. Black Santiago nevertheless released a number of albums, including Black Santiago in 1974 and Honore Avolonto et l'Orchestre Black Santiago in 1978. In the 1980s, they moved to Lagos, where Ignace de Souza died a few years later, in 1988.

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