This collaborative project between musicians Yussef Hussain (Y-Bayani), Naomi Addy (Baby Naa), Josie Coppola and Max Weissenfeldt (Philophon Records) straddles the realms of reggae and Ghana’s Highlife movement in an innovative, cinematic framework. The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love was set in motion by chance encounters: Weissenfeldt incidentally met Y-Bayani through Jimmy Taylor, the son of the legendary Ebo Taylor, while Baby Naa was a local Church singer who replaced the original vocalist. And thus, an unraveling of chaotic circumstances unfolded into truly boundary-pushing music that gleams in its optimism. The year 2021 marks the project’s first ever European tour.
Photography by Max Weissenfeldt.