Cape Coast, Strut, Berlin
Ebo Taylor
Ebo Taylor was born Deroy Taylor in Cape Coast, Ghana, in 1936. His father was a choirmaster and church organist. He played with the Stargazers and the Broadway Dance Band, and in 1962 he took his Black Star Highlife Band to London and studied at the Eric Gilder School of Music. His records for Essiebons and Philips West African in the 1970s mixed highlife with funk and Afrobeat. In 2008 he met the Berlin-based Afrobeat Academy, and their album for Strut in 2010 was his first with international distribution. He followed it with another Strut album recorded in Berlin with Tony Allen, and one for Mr Bongo in 2018. He taught guitar at the University of Ghana, was sampled by the Black Eyed Peas and died in Saltpond in 2026.
Bombay Café