E.T. Mensah (born 1919 in Accra; died 1996) was a Ghanaian Highlife musician. He began as a flautist with the Accra Orchestra, a schoolchildren band, in 1930. In 1948 he formed "The Tempos", a group he might be best known for, and toured West Africa. The group gained international attention and in 1956 Mensah performed with Louis Armstrong. The highlife style declined starting in the 1960s, but he remained active for years afterward.[1] 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Accra, population 1,970,400 (2005), is the capital of Ghana. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Highlife is a musical genre that originated in Ghana and Sierra Leone in the 1920s and spread to other West African countries. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901[1] – July 6, 1971) (also known by the nickname Satchmo, for satchel-mouth, and Pops) was an American jazz musician. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ...
ETMensah and the Tempos helped to redefine highlife, moving it away from its European components to a more fully developed African identity.
ETMensah achieved another notable milestone in 1956 when he performed with American jazz trumpet maestro Louis Armstrong in a concert which captured some of the celebratory mood Ghana would experience a year later as it became the first sub-Saharan African country to achieve independence.
Mensah had a second career as a pharmacist to support his family through times of semi-retirement, but he continued to be recognised for his musical contributions and was formally honored by the government in 1989.
Mensah pioneered the development of the swing-jazz influenced highlife dance-bands that were so popular throughout West Africa in the 1950's and 60's.
E.T. even set up a second band in 1954, the Star Rockets, to carry on at home while he was away.
When E.T. first went to Nigeria in 1950, highlife was hardly known outside the boundaries of Ghana and even by 1953, Nigerian dance bands such as Sammy Akpabot's Band, the Empire Band and Bobby Benson's Band were still playing mostly swing and ballroom music.
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