Ghana Month: What you didn’t know about the voice behind ‘Ghana, Land of Freedom’ song

Ghana’s annual Independence Day celebration is never complete without hearing patriotic songs like ‘Ghana, Land Of Freedom’.

This heritage song was composed by Emmanuel Tetteh Mensah popularly known as E.T. Mensah in 1957, the same year Ghana gained Independence.

E.T. Mensah, born on 31st May 1919 in Accra was one of the great highlife artistes in Ghana’s history.

In his early days, he schooled at Jamestown where he learned to read music and play the concert flute and piccolo with a teacher called Joe Lamptey who formed the Accra Orchestra out of his school fife band. E.T. joined the Accra Orchestra in 1932.

Between 1936 and 1946, he played the alto saxophone with the Accra High School Orchestra, the Accra Rhythm Orchestra, and the Kumasi Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1947, he joined the Tempos under Joe Kelly in Accra. When the band split up in 1950, he recruited musicians to form the band E.T. Mensah and the Tempos. In 1952, the Tempos made their first recording with Decca. In 1954, E.T. formed a second band called the Star Rockets.

In 1969, the Tempos went on a tour in the U.K. While in London the band recorded an LP called “The King of Highlife – African Rhythms” in Decca studios. By the mid-1970s, the Tempos was still playing regularly.

Research by Coolins in 1996 revealed that the late E.T. Mensah’s band had a Cuban rhythm section with the front line comprising two trumpets and three vocalists. The Tempos used electric lead and rhythm guitars and electric bass. The repertoire of the band became larger and included Congo music, reggae, souls, Afrobeat and pop music of the younger generation. E.T. Mensah recorded eleven LPs.

E.T. Mensah died in July 1996 at the age of 77.

Listen to the patriotic song below;