Ghana is both the starting point and the heart of Ensemble Bash. We first got together because of Ghanaian music and our subsequent trips there to study and perform have been a great source of inspiration. Enjoying the fantastic performance skills of Ghanaian musicians has changed the way WE play - whether it's African or European music.

Our collaboration with the country started in 1992. Richard Benjafield, a founder member of Ensemble Bash, returned from a month-long trip to Ghana and decided to set up an ad-hoc percussion group to play the music he'd learnt. The group became Ensemble Bash and since then we've worked with many of the leading traditional musicians in Ghana - providing some of the richest musical experiences of our lives.

We first toured the country in 1996, taking in the capital Accra, plus Kumasi and Cape Coast. The Ghanaian Chronicle said our playing "...gave a lie to the aphorism that whitemen can't drum ...one walked away knackered". We've been back several times since and in 1997 and 2000 our teachers came to England to join us in what turned out to be highly successful tours of Britain. Audiences left buzzing with the energy and vitality of these musicians and probably walked away more knackered than the Ghanaian reviewer.

We now have strong links with both the National Dance Company Of Ghana and the Pan African Orchestra - under their respective directors Francis Nii-Yartey and Nana Danso Abiam. Because all the musicians we've met have been unfailingly generous, we've received a lot of lessons and advice - but our main teachers have been Afadina Tsikpa, Ibrahim Abukari, Thomas Segkura, Emmanuel Osei Owuku and Meiregah Gonje. They're the top traditional musicians from their region and have come from all corners of Ghana to work in Accra.

They've taught us around thirty pieces of music on instruments include the gyil (xylophone), dondo (squeeze drum), the five foot-high fontomfrom drum and gonje (horsehair violin). Paulinhus Bosie also deserves a special mention - he's a Ghanaian ex-Adzido member living in London who taught us djembe... actually a Senegalese instrument.

If we gave up the thrill of four-stick marimba forever and went to live in Ghana we'd still only be able learn about one per-cent of the country's music. This is certainly a long-term project.

Our latest album 'Damba Moon' presents a small selection of what we've learnt over the years. If, in the meantime, you want to know what we're so excited about, we recommend 'Opus 1' by the Pan-African Orchestra on Peter Gabriel's 'Real World' label