User:George Spratz

GEORGE SPRATZ’S PROFILE (born Ankoma Mensah George on 2 April, 1980) is one of the finest palm-wine guitarist who has also successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical, country, Latin, flamenco, soukus and jazz. He is the orchestrator of the New palm-wne style- PALAJASCO. Koo Nimo: a leading folk musician of Palm wine music from Ghana, describes him as "a phenomenal figure in the world of guitar improvisation’’. Ignoring the fact that he was an Agricultural Science student at KNUST, he began his professional career as a guitarist and a guitar teacher. Spratz, together with his friends thrilled students and lecturers with beautiful melodies at the Jazz Centre of the University, every Friday. George Spratz is noted for his innovation and colour in weird-but-sweet melodies and harmonies, and also his remarkable technique of executing extremely fast and fluent guitar licks. These innovations saw him play a vital role in the Koo Nimo and Adadammu Agofomma group. Many fellow guitarists consider him the greatest influence among the new generation of palmwine guitarists in Ghana. At the age of 17, he taught himself how to play the guitar and he made his own by using a container of Milo beverage as the body, shoe maker’s thread as strings, nails as tuning machines and chalk as frets. The name: SPRATZ, is an acronym formed from the words seriousness, practicing, appreciation, transcending and zealous. During his Masters Degree Programme in Horticulture in 2006, he recorded his first maiden album as leader, “Stay away from me”, featuring some of the talented musicians on campus at that time. Some of his best known recordings include "Stay away from me", Think of God”, “It’s a matter of time”, and “Enye”. His collaborations with the musicians Okyeame Kwame, Morris Babyface and Wutah elevated him into the Ghanaian music scene. However, playing on International platforms like “MASA” with the Legendary Koo Nimo saw him gain wider popularity outside Ghana. He had featured for many renowned Ghanaian musicians and performed on such stages as MOGO, Miss Tourism, Joy FM night with the stars, December to Remember, KNUST’s Excellent Awards, Ghana’s Most Beautiful, Thank God It’s Friday, etc. George has also composed sound tracks for both local and international movies such as “The Destiny of Lesser Animals”, Galamsey in Ghana, Aku Sika, etc. In 2010,Spratz felt the need to give back to his creator the talents He gave him and so decided to venture into Gospel music too. His followers appreciate not only his music, but his life testimonies and the extents he would want to go in order to tell the world about his creator. No wonder the majority are looking up for his upcoming albums “Scales in Paradise”, “Heaven my home” and “God needs us too”. According to Spratz, nothing is as romantic as listening to songs whose rhythm come from God. He owes much thanks to Prophet Emmanuel Amoah for his teachings on salvation and Koo Nimo; for introducing him to philosophy.