Songs of Paapieye is the fourth album by Ghanaian musician SK Kakraba, released in October 2015 by Awesome Tapes From Africa, becoming the first album of original material released by the typically reissue-centred label. The album showcases Kakraba's mastery of the gyil, a type of wooden, 14-slatted xylophone originating from Kakraba's native Ghana that features a distinctive, buzzy rattle with a slow decaying sound caused by spiders egg sac silk walls pulled across the gourds' holes, known in Kakraba's Lobi language as , which gives the album its name. It is smoother in sound than his previous album Yonye and is fast-paced, showcasing complex, intricate rhythms, drones and dialogue between lower, buzzing basslines and higher, syncopated notes. Many tracks feature several modes and move between different sections.
Kakraba recorded the album by himself without overdubs or accompaniment from other musicians, and used only the gyil. The tracks are song cycles, mostly drawing from Ghanaian traditional music, although there is original material on the album. Among the tracks, there are three funeral pieces. Upon release, where it was made available on a variety of formats, the album was one of only several albums of gyil music. It received critical acclaim, with critics highlighting the instrument's unusual sounds and timbres, the album's skillful pacing and Kakraba's virtuoso technique.
Background
SK Kakraba is a master of the gyil xylophone, a Ghanaian instrument composed of calabash gourd resonators with 14 wooden slats strung across them. The buzzy rattle which sounds with each note, and with a decay pattern longer than the note, emits from the spiders' egg sacs' silk walls pulled across the gourds' holes, known in Kakraba's Lobi language as . While one hit is followed by another, the rattle from the first hit has yet to fully decay, creating a style of West African rhythms that are more complex than those of solitary notes. Kakraba performs, builds, teaches and sells the instrument. He first developed his skills on the instrument during his childhood days spent in Saru, Ghana, a farming village, and went on to become one of the most renowned and famous gyil players, especially after moving to Accra in 1997 around the age of 20, where Kakraba played his instrument around the zongos (Muslim ghettos) and Central Accra, which helped Kakraba get his "daily chop." He later began teaching the instrument at the University of Ghana's "International Centre for African Music and Dance."
After marrying his American-born wife, whom he met in Accra, Kakraba moved to Los Angeles in 2011, where he began releasing albums. Prior to recording Songs of Paapieye, his latest album was Yonye, released via Drag City in July 2015. He had known Awesome Tapes From Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz since 2002 when the latter was a student in Ghana, and over the years the two stayed in contact with each other. When "hanging out" in 2015, they decided "it would be cool to release a record" for Shimkovitz's label. Songs of Paapieye was recorded in San Francisco in a studio owned by Kakraba's close friend Brian Hogan. Unlike Yonye, which features occasional added drums and bells, Songs for Paapieye is a solo project, recorded by Kakraba entirely by himself, playing live without any overdubs or accompanying guest musicians. This is unlike the traditional setting for gyil music, where two gyil players may play together with accompaniment from drums, bells and sometimes singing, and instead showcases Kakraba's "polyrhyhtmic force and creativity." He used the album to showcase music that he had taken with him to Los Angeles from the central Accra ghettos. Shimkovitz has been credited by one writer for producing the album.