Ignace de Souza

Born in 1937 in Cotonou, Ignace got involved in music at a young age, playing during the 1950's in the country's first professional dance band, Alfa Jazz. Zeal Onyia, a Nigerian trumpeter, encouraged him to drop the saxophone and play the trumpet instead.
In 1955 he moved to Accra and joined Spike Anyankor's Rhythm Aces, one of the major bands playing the at exploding highlife scene. Some local businessmen of Lebanese origin decided to sponsor him as a band leader in 1956, so he went on and founded the Shambros Band, a name culled from the sponsors' name, the Shahim brothers. 1961 saw them recording "Paulina" in the Decca West Africa studio under the name of the Melody Aces. It was enough of a hit to pay for their own set of instruments - it was common at that time for the band "sponsors" to own all equipment which the musicians then could use, rarely did they own their own set. This finally allowed Ignace to be more independent and after a few more sides recorded with te Shambros, he quit and formed the Black Santiagos in 1964.