Aaron Bebe Sukura           -               Instructor

Performance in North Carolina: Leaf Festival

Website link: www://aaronbebe.com

AARON BEBE SUKURA : TEACHER OF THE NORTHERN XYLOPHONE
Aaron Bebe Sukura was born in 1970 in the village of Tanchara in Ghana’s Upper West Region and has been playing the local gyil (wooden xylophone) since boyhood, which he learnt from his father. In 1992 Aaron moved to Accra where he began at the Music Department of the University of Ghana at Legon. Aaron is also an accomplished mbira (Zimbabwean hand-piano) player and a seprewa harp-lute player, a traditional Akan instrument whose ‘odonson’ style was incorporated into Highlife in the 1920’s and 30’s
Besides teaching at the university Aaron has played with the Novisi dance group, the Ghana Dance Ensemble, the Pan African Orchestra, the Abibigromma Theater Company of the University School for the Performing Arts and Hewale Sounds. Together with John Collins he is alsop co-leader of the Local Dimension ‘palmwine’ highlife band that was started in 1997 by some students and staff of the Music and Dance Departments of the University of Ghana at Legon. This seven piece group is led by Aaron Bebe Sukura on seprewa harp-lute, xylophone, mbira thumb-piano and John Collins on guitar and harmonica. For several years the band also featured the late great T.O. Jazz (of Ampoumah’s guitar band) who taught guitar for two years at the Music Department. His place is now taken in the Local Dimension band by T.O. Jazz’s longtime percussionist and principal singer Kojo Menu. Besides highlifes, this acoustic group plays, Afro-Beat, Congo Jazz (i.e. Soukous), Dagari music and songs in the traditional Adowa and Agbadza styles. In 2002 the band toured Germany, Switzerland and France and in 2003 Local Dimension released a CD of Aaron’s compositions (recorded at Pidgin Studios Accra) entitled N’Yong on the French Disques Arion label.