The ballads said "sleep," the drums said "PARTY!"

Yesterday's first day of VACATION involved driving to the QUAD CITIES AIRPORT to welcome my MOM and STEPDAD, visiting from RENO, NEV.
Tired last night, I grabbed my iPod to listen to some soothing "put-me-to-sleep music." With that aim in mind, I should have never chosen E.T. MENSAH AND THE TEMPOS.
Sure, Mensah, the "King of Highlife," produced some lovely ballads as one of the founding fathers of African popular music.
However, the bedrock for even Mensah's prettiest big-band numbers is a driving, fabulous POLYRHYTHMIC DRUMMING STYLE that makes you want to MOVE -- not go to sleep, which is what I wanted.
As leader of the Tempos band from 1948, Mensah popularized Ghanaian dance band Highlife, a blend of American swing music, Caribbean rhythms and melodies and tribal drumming.
Last night, I couldn't help but follow the incredibly complicated (but undeniably funky) drumming. How many drummers have been influenced by this African popular music percussion? Art Blakey, Tony Williams and a number of other exemplary jazz drummers immediately sprang to my mind.
Mensah recorded his first 78 rpm discs in 1952 and he became known across Africa.
His upbeat songs gained even wider fame after Ghana gained its independence in 1957.
Although his popularity waned as electric guitars gained wider acceptance in west Africa, Mensah's music enjoyed a roots-revival resurgence in the 1980s and 90s. Mensah's death in 1996 was marked by a state funeral in Ghana.
He might be one of the justifiable heroes of African music, but E.T. is not the best choice for slumber-invoking sounds. It took me forever to get to sleep after hearing those great drums!