Ghana EP Out

Chris — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:11:27 +0000

and it’s free. Just head on over to threeleafmusic.com and download the tracks and the artwork. We’re very proud of the songs and we want to thank Gouda for helping us out and really making the recording something special. We’d also like to thank Dela Botri for recording with us, we’re in awe of his musicianship and we learned a lot from him. So start the downloading if you haven’t already. And don’t forget to let us know what you think, on here or the myspace page. Also, for all Texas people, don’t forget we’ll be playing at the Triple Crown on April 19th with the Egress and the Plasticine Porters. Hope to see everyone very soon.

News From Texas

Chris — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:57:22 +0000

We are all slowly returning home to Texas and Zac is the last one left in Ghana. He’ll be there for another two weeks honing his xylophone and hand drum chops. Gouda’s album is in the final stages of mixing and I’m working on the artwork as we speak. As soon as it’s finished, we’ll have a link up to their myspace page and some tracks for everyone to listen to. Our three song EP will also be done soon and free to download. We have two shows coming up in San Marcos, our first show back will be on April 19th at the Triple Crown and we’ll also be playing at Riverfest on April 24th in Sewell Park. I hope everyone is doing well and we can’t wait to see you soon. Here’s a short video of us working on the EP.

Calm and On Fire

Volta

Chris — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:42:56 +0000

We’ve returned from Volta. It was a beautiful area and we won’t soon forget the time we spent there. The first day we went to Gemi mountain and watched a thunderstorm roll over us, unfortunately no one brought a camera. The next day we visited the Tofi Atome monkey sanctuary and fed some Mona monkeys. Mostly we fed one large Mona monkey while the others hid. We spent our final couple days at Wli falls, the tallest waterfall in Ghana. We hung out at the base of the falls and then climbed 350 meters to the top. It was a breathtaking spot and a hard place to leave. But there was still work to be done in Accra, so we returned home with many great memories. Chris and Laura leave today and Pam arrives tomorrow. We’ve spent our last days here putting the finishing touches on the collaborative Ghana EP. It’s been very exciting and experimental. Mixing the two styles has gone suprisingly smooth and we can’t wait to return to Ghana soon for more. The EP is being mixed and will be available online shortly. Here are some pictures from the trip and a video from the house, we hope you enjoy them.

Legon Blues

EP Progress

Chris — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:25:48 +0000

Hello everyone! We hope this message reaches everybody well- looking forward to spring break, or at least “the weekend” for those not in school. We’ve been hard at work recording this week, finally getting started on the Three Leaf Ghana EP. So far, it’s three new songs including Ritual, which many of you heard at our goodbye show. The difficulty of obtaining western instruments has forced us to be creative with the instrumentation- which, in short, means SYNTHS! It’s kind of funny that we’re in the drumming capital of the world using synth drums… But actually we’ve only made the first steps on the tracks and soon we’ll have the Gouda guys record their style for what promises to be a cool mix of sounds. We’ll keep you updated on our progress as we hope to release the EP online in two weeks or so.

This weekend we will be taking a group trip to the Volta Region in Eastern Ghana. Lake Volta is the largest man made lake in the world, and we’ve heard that the area is beautiful. And there’s a monkey sanctuary…. In other news, Nancy and Laura have had a cool week since they’ve been visiting the local schoolhouses- meeting headmasters and comparing the American and Ghanaian school systems. They even got to take over some classes and teach lessons! Aparently Nancy had them all singing “Deep in the Heart of Texas” and Laura taught about adverbs… Here are some more pictures from the recording process, walking around, etc. and a bonus video of Zac, Owuo, and Agbo dancing at a Hewale Sounds perfomance. Have fun watching and feel free to leave comments/critiques.

Dancing

Cape Coast

Chris — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:09:52 +0000

Laura, Nancy, Zac, and I (Chris) went to Cape Coast, a town to the west of Accra, over the weekend. The beaches were beautiful and very active. The people were very warm, as usual. We stayed two nights and visited Cape Coast castle on Sunday before we left. It’s a place with a very dark history as a large slave export facility. There is a male and a female dungeon where men and women were kept until being sold and shipped off. The only ventilation and light comes from three small holes high up the wall. The castle itself was almost all white and quite a sight from the beach. Kent stayed at home and continued recording Gouda for the final push to finish the album. It’s sounding great and we can’t wait for everyone to hear it. We hope everyone is doing well at home and we will post more soon. Until then, here are some pictures of the last few days.

The Motherload

Chris — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:03:46 +0000

Here it is: pictures, music, and video all in one post. I know you’re all excited, so feel free to skip to the bottom of the post for the good stuff. We’ve been trying to get this all up for a few days, but technical difficulties have made it very um, difficult. The pictures are mostly from Kent’s birthday trip to the beach and the trip Zac and I made to our friend Fire’s village to watch him tie dye. He’s the one who makes the shirts/pants you’ve been seeing in the pictures. The beach was great, we took a canoe over a channel to the shore. It was a beautiful day but it was cut a bit short when they closed for the semi finals of the African Cup of Nations. Ghana played Cameroon and unfortunately lost. They beat Ivory Coast for third place though. Our trip to Christian Village (Fire’s house) was great. We met his mom, aunt, uncle, and most of his brothers. He did some tie dyeing and Zac and I got a couple of shirts done up custom. We watched Egypt beat Cameroon in the finals, and then headed home. Kent’s been hard at work mixing and recording Gouda, some more technical difficulties have put that on hold for a couple of days, but they should be up and running again shortly. We tried our hand at video montage and made a short clip of the house and the Alliance Frances show. We’re working on figuring out how to do more star wipes. Anyway, here is the good stuff. And thank you all for posting comments, they’re always fun to read. Here is the song: Abatsiaji

Ghana Montage

New Stuff Soon

Chris — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:54:24 +0000

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last week. We promise a post in the next couple of days with pictures, a video montage, and at least one new song. Closing sentence.

The Wedding

Chris — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:08:08 +0000

took place on Saturday February 2nd. We woke up around 7 and got to the courthouse by 8. Bella and Owuo (the bride and groom) were already there, accompanied by their brightly dressed families. Here in Ghana, white symbolizes joy, so both the bride and groom were decked out in the most vibrant white cloth we had ever seen. The judge arrived on “African time” plus an hour, so the even though we were first in line, the ceremony didn’t take place until 11:00. The ceremony was mostly official legal business, but was touching nonetheless. Owuo pulled a classic “repeat after me” move with the judge, saying “I, Owuo take… her name…” They exchanged beautiful palm-nut wedding rings made by Kwame for the occasion, but unfortunately there was no kiss because people don’t do that in public here. The entire event was colored by jokes and merrymaking all around.

The wedding party began at sunset on the rooftop of the Kingdom Hotel, Accra, and continued into the evening. The sound equipment we brought came in handy again as we handled sound support for the many respected music masters who attended and performed. Over 100 people came and the dance floor was bumpin! It was a great party and we wish Owuo and Bella the best.

Studio recording has been going at half-pace since Owuo left for his honeymoon, but it’s giving Kent some time to catch up on mixing. So far, six tracks are almost finished, and Gouda plans on recording four more. We hope to finish by the end of next week and then concentrate on writing new music and collaborating. We in Three Leaf decided that we want to record an EP here and release it online before we return, so stay tuned for more info!

Today is Kent’s 24th birthday, so we’re taking a trip to the beach and bringing a TV to plug into the car battery to watch the Ghana vs. Ivory Coast soccer match- the semi-final in the African Cup of Nations. People here are soccer crazy. When Ghana scores a goal, the entire neighborhood erupts! But today we’ll escape a little and get some much needed R and R. That’s all for now. Just remember that we’re thinking of all you friends and family out there and we’ll be back in less than two months- hopefully with lots of new music and meaningful experience. Yebeshia bio!
Here’s another rough mix of one of Gouda’s songs, enjoy. Gogoligo

Alliance Francais

Chris — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 12:41:41 +0000

Hello friends and family,

Life in Ghana is progressing nicely. This past week has been very exciting. Wednesday night Gouda Group, Hawale Sounds, and Three Leaf performed together at Alliance Francais. It was a familiar night of music, dancing, friends, and fun. We received a lot of positive feedback about the blend of Western and Ghanaian music. One of the collaborative songs was filmed and shown on French television that same night. 48 hours before the show we didn’t have any equipment, but with the help of friends we had a drum set, bass with amp, and electric guitar to play. Everyone had a great time and we are hoping to be able to put another collaborative show together around the release of Gouda’s album.

Kent has been working diligently, mixing Gouda’s album as the recording process continues. We should be able to have another sample up on the next update. It is sounding very good and Kent has learned a lot about the mixing and mastering processes. This Saturday we will have the good fortune of attending a Ghanaian wedding. Our friends Owuo, from Gouda, and Bella from Canada will be tieing the knot. We’ve also been asked to be witnesses at the court proceedings in the morning. Yesterday we made a trip to the market to buy fabric for African dress attire. We’ll be picking our outfits up today from the tailor, so we’ll be set for the wedding tomorrow. It should be a wonderful celebration as we wish Owuo and Bella a life a happiness.

We hope everyone is doing well at home. Thanks for your posts and stay tuned for some new Three Leaf demos. We have decided to record our second full length album as soon as we return home so we’re working hard here. Best wishes and see you all soon!

Zac and Kent

P.S. Here are some more pictures and a video of us practicing with Gouda from a couple of weeks ago.

Chris
Three Leaf and Gouda Music

Monday

Chris — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:39:31 +0000

Hello everyone, sorry I couldn’t think of a more creative title, maybe next time. Everything is going well here, the album is coming together, we’ve had some time to go to the beach, and we’ve been eating quite a bit. This Wednesday Gouda is playing at a French school called Alliance Frances. They have a great restaurant and bar surrounded by a beautiful yard. Hopefully we’ll be playing a few songs with them and some of the performance is being recorded for French television. I’ll post more soon, but now I’m running out of internet time. Hope all is well wherever you are.

Chris

P.S. Here are some more pictures.