Mensa Cultural Arts                                                       

Mensa - is the traditional identification of a third born male child that follows consecutively after two previous sons in the Akan tribe of Ghana.  The celebratory cultural music activity of drumming, singing and dancing observed in acknowledgement of such special birth is the inspiration for our company’s name.  Hence Mensa Cultural Arts’ music project operations encompass all Black music genres from studio music recordings and live music performance to African Cultural Drumming and Percussion tuition. 

Mensa Cultural Arts (MCA) has over the years given birth to live music outfits in the names of ‘The Mensa Band’ (world music outfit), ‘Ka-Boom’ (Ghanaian High Life combo), ‘Paapa Jeh’s Xperienze’ (Afro Beat/High Life quintet) and now ‘Afro-Funksion’ (Afro Funk Band).  On the studio music recording front, the company has turned out various albums.. (Around The World in 48 Minutes) by The Mensa Band in 1997 and two solo albums by Paapa Jeh Mensah (Won Ma Yensom & Coastal Hi-Life) in 2008 on Fantseman Records, which is Mensa Cultural Arts music label. 

‘Happy Percussion Class’, which is also a part of Mensa Cultural Arts project, has for twenty years, been offering peripatetic music tuition covering African drumming and percussion in various schools across London and surrounding areas. 

ALBUMS

PAAPA  JEH  MENSAH 

Paapa Jeh Mensah, popularly known as Paapa Jeh is a native of Afrika, born and bred in Ghana, West Afrika, but based in England – UK for over 38 years as a drummer, multi-percussionist, composer, singer/songwriter, performer, and session musician. He has collaborated and worked with various musicians and artists of all styles of music to his credit.  Back in Ghana, he earned himself the popularity of being one of the most exciting drummers to experience among other kit drummers in the Ghanaian music scene. 

A self-taught musician, hugely influenced in his teenage years by such artists as NANA DANSO of  Pan Afrikan Orchestra, GYEDU AMBOLEY, DE-ROY EBO TAYLOR & PAT THOMAS, Paapa had by the age of fourteen, already realized a clear vision of his future ambition and started working with some of these Ghanaian music stars.  

As a student of Sekondi College, he enrolled in the school’s Arts and Drama society to study acting,  cultural drumming, and dancing to enhance his talents.. and went on to become an excellent stage actor, leader, and stage manager. His contribution to the arts, drama, and general entertainment won him performance awards in Sekco, making him a very popular figure within the whole campus. At the end of his education in his native town of Sekondi, on the west coast of Ghana, Paapa Jeh, then known as ‘BIG J’ took to the professional music stage after being spotted by a talent scout to work with the legendary C.K. Mann’s Carousel 7 as a kit drummer for three years, embarking on series of live performance tours in and out of Ghana and recording three albums with the legendary C.K. Mann and Paapa Nyankson: And for those who still remember the first ever funky hi-life album (ASAFO B’ESUON) by C.K. Mann and Paapa Yankson will easily recognize Paapa Jeh’s distinctive drumming talents. He then went on to become the drummer with Pat Thomas and the SWEET BEANS BAND, THE DREW CHASE DELEGATION, Chester Adams’s UPPERS INTERNATIONAL in Bolgatanga, Northern Ghana, where he was spotted by the late Kiki Gyan (ex Osibisa) that led to a team-up with Kiki and Kofi Ayivor over in England. 

After a short spell with Kiki’s band (GHANA), Paapa Jeh was spotted by Island Records that led to him becoming a prominent drummer and member of HI – TENSION (the pioneers of British disco funk) for three years, with three hit singles and an album to their credit, during which Paapa’s talents as a kit drummer and multi-percussionist were recognized by then top producers like Godwin Lugar (Gregory Isaac’s producer), Biddu (the producer of Carl Douglas of ‘Everybody Wants Kung Fu Fighting’ fame), Alex Sadkin (producer of the reggae group – THIRD WORLD), Jimmy Senya (producer of STEELE PULSE.. and Karen Wheeler of ‘Soul To Soul’ fame) to name but a few. 

After the split of Hi–Tension, he became involved in various co-production projects, one of which was the production of a movie soundtrack for the film ‘Absolute Beginners’, directed by Julian Temple. As a versatile drummer and percussionist, Paapa’s live and studio session endeavours which have taken him around the world have been right across the board, performing at events such as the,Glastonbury Festival (UK), Earshot Jazz Music Festival, Seattle (USA), San Francisco Jazz Festival (USA), Berlin Jazz Festival (Germany), Bracknell World Music Festival (Wales), Wupertal World Music Festival (Germany), Jazz Yatra (India), Galway Jazz Music Festival (Ireland), Montreaux Jazz Music Festival (Switzerland), Beijing International Jazz Music Festival (China) and many others across Western/Eastern Europe and the Far East (Asia), working with groups and artists in the calibre of Teddy Osei of Osibisa, Ronnie Laws (American Jazz Funk saxophone legend), Steele Pulse (Reggae band), Trevor Watt’s Moire Music Drum Orchestra (Afrikan Jazz Group), Gasper Lawal’s Oro Band (Nigerian Afro/ Juju Music), Simba Foguis’ Taxi Pata Pata, African Connexion, Fanfan’s Somo Somo, and almost every African live band in the 1980’s and 90’s in London’s African music scene from Hi-life and Afro Beat to Zaiko music styles. Many other European-based Ghanaian music groups and artists in the names of the late Jon K, Ben Brako, A.B. Crentsil, Bessa Simons, Alf Kari Bannerman, Bucky Leo, Lee Duodoo, have all worked with Paapa Jeh. 

 

Realizing his potential as a singer/songwriter and performer, Paapa Jeh embarked on a solo career and through a number of explosive live performances, clinched various English national TV appearances like ‘THE TUBE’ on Channel 4 with his band – ‘NIGHT SHIFT’, and a follow up with his reformed band ‘PAAPA J’s NEW BAG’ on ‘CLUB MIX’ live music show, also on Channel 4 TV. In 1992 he independently released his first solo single vinal – ‘SET YOU UP’, a club soul dance groove track, followed by – ‘TRY IT’, a pop track in England, but realized the need for a change in musical direction. This realization was a challenging call to Paapa’s versatility in his songwriting, as he worked to record and produce an original world music debut album – ‘AROUND THE WORLD IN 48 MINUTES’ in 1998.. an album that demonstrated a lot of African and oriental percussion instrumentation.

Following his debut album release, he formed the ‘MENSA BAND’ that embarked on a promotional tour around England with the help of the Arts Council of England’s touring fund. In 2002, he took on a personal trip to India to experiment on live performances with Indian musicians on the album as a way of merging two different rhythmic styles of two different cultures, which was a success. This prompted a return for a series of successful shows in Pune, the western part of India in 2004, which attracted a lot of India’s media attention. Paapa has since composed, written, recorded, and technically produced three of his own albums of different categories of fusion of another ‘World Music’ album ‘HEALING DRUMS’ and a Ghanaian mainstream highlife and Reggae music album ‘Won Ma Ye Nsom’, both of which are yet to be independently released, and a traditional Hi-Life music album ‘Coastal Hi-Life’, released on a small scale in 2012 on his own label. 

Currently, Paapa Jeh performs with his own live band – ‘AFRO-FUNKSION’, a fusion outfit that has been going for 7 years, playing original and renditioned Black orientated genres of music in the form of Funky Highlife, Afro Beat, Afro Funk, Jazz Funk, and Straight Funk. 

CONTACT: 

  

                 Mobile: +44 (0)7908 544 552       Email: mensaculturalarts@gmail.com         

                 Web: youtube.com/mensaculturalarts     Web: youtube.com/paapajeh

                 Facebook: facebook.com/paapajeh.mensah