Zen Gardens gave us a chance when others rejected us – Kwan Pa Band

Traditional band Kwan Pa has revealed that they had to stay indoors for three months when they first started.

According to band leader Asah Nkansah, this was because they wanted to put together their repertoire for performances.

Speaking on the E Vibes Musical Band Series, he shared that after their preparations, they reached out to hotels and restaurants for performance opportunities but faced multiple rejections. However, Zen Gardens gave them a chance, even though they were new to the scene.

“When we started the band in 2017, we decided that we were going to remain indoors for three months without any performance. We were putting together our repertoire for presentations. We were indoors for three months, learning music.

“Right after that, we decided that we have to get places to perform to sustain the band. We went to different places to talk to them, but Zen Gardens is the only venue that allowed the band to come and perform every Tuesday when the band was only three months old and so we have remained here ever since. We went to different hotels, different restaurants and different places; they all did not accept us.

“When we started, people did not know the band, but in 2018, we worked on a Christmas song. The whole idea was that let’s pick common Christmas, lets rework them to fit the Ghanaian context and bring it back so people will appreciate the Christmas songs in our own context. It pushed us into the limelight. We perform at different venues and different events now.”

Kwan Pa believes in the assertion that Africa has a very rich music culture that is worth flaunting to the world.

Kwan Pa is known for performing a genre of African indigenous music called palm wine music, which incorporates intricate but thrilling chords and various chord progressions on the Guitar and Seprewa (Indigenous harp-lute) all superimposed on different rhythms, including Highlife and Adowa rhythms, etc, which are emphasized by additional percussions.

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