Prophet feels that he has been blessed with the talent to perform and communicate through his music.

He has a very strong social conscience and his songs and poetry speak of the most important issues or our time peace,love, commitment, environment, AIDS, ect. performing in reggae style singing in English and traditional African languages.

In 1992 Prophet joined the Vibration Kings, releasing their first recording in 1996 called Captivity.

Prophet made his debut solo release in 1998 with his album called Chains. In 2003, 2005 and 2006 Black Prophet toured Europe with shows in several clubs and festivals (Lowlands, Afrika festival Delft, Sundance).

Also some big soundsystem shows with Her-A-Lize It & Foundation Sound.

Prophet has toured extensively in Ghana and West Africa sharing programs with many international performers including: Rita Marley, Pliers, Don Carlos, Yellowman, Steel Pulse, Lucky Dube, Alpha Blondy, Buju Banton & Dean Fraser.

In the year 2005 Black Prophet was in The Netherlands to do some shows. In that time he met Otto (bass) and they performed together and became good friends.

Otto went to Ghana to visit Black Prophet and they talked about playing music together, Black Prophet was trying to find a backing band to perform with whenever he would have gigs in The Netherlands. The band Thunder Strike was founded in 2006 when Black Prophet returned to the Netherlands to record his album called Legal Stranger. Thunder Strike came to Ghana in 2006 to do some shows with the Black Prophet, sponsored by Afriqiyah Airways.

Thunder Strike is a band existing of musicians with roots in various parts of the world, which gives the band the clear opportunity to send a message of unity. The musicians have a wide experience in several kinds of music: the bass player has been into reggae music for 21 years, the drummer has experience in reggae and African music for 23 years, the lead guitar player has been working in reggae and rock music for 30 years, the riddim guitar player has been in reggae for 15 years, and the keyboard musician has been playing for 20 years!

The band works with a back-up singer who has been working for 10 years and the sound man has been doing his thing for over 20 years. All members of Thunder Strike have been travelling around the world and have been performing with numerous other bands.

Black Prophet & Thunder Strike are:

Lead singer: Zonto Bossmann aka Black Prophet
Drums: Kpakpo Odametey aka Kpakpo the wicked drummer
Bass: Otto Roolvink aka Sugar Toot
Lead Guitar: George Gomies aka Maluku Warrior
Riddim Guitar: Michael Knabe aka Mikey
Keys: Johnny Dawidoski aka Johnny the shuffle
Backing vocals: Cheryl Hasselbaink
Sound engineer: Alex Gomies

Related:

• Black Prophet’s prophecy
• Video: Time Bomb by Black Prophet

His mother had travelled from Amsterdam to Heathrow on her journey to Ghana, from which she originated and spoke the dialect of Twi. Whilst in London, she gave birth to Derek Safo. Sway began experimenting with music at the age of 11, rewriting the lyrics of his favourite artists. At secondary school, he spent his spare time using the school equipment for musical production. Producing tracks for local artists, he was told to use his personality to write songs by adding his humour with his lyrical talent.

At the age of 16, Sway had a place in the grand final of an open mic session at Dingwalls in London. He lost to Chester P of Task Force. It was at this age that Sway was a member of Tottenham-based hip-hop trio “Phynix Crew”. Following his defeat at Dingwalls, Sway got into the finals of Choice FM’s ‘Rapology ‘99′ with his rap group where they lost. Phynix Crew merged with two other rap groups to form “One”.

Sway was now studying at college, as well as having a part-time job and producing ringtones for a company. Sway began to create a studio in his bedroom with the money he earned so that he could start to produce his own songs.

Sway produced many solo singles despite being in a rap group and his first break was under the name ‘Sway DaSafo’ on the track Still On My Own which reached the A-list of BBC Radio 1Xtra when the station was launched. He continued to produce music. When One released their first debut album, called Onederful World, 50% of the 10-track CD was produced by Sway.

A member of the ‘MOBO Unsung’ committee enjoyed it and nominated it for the ‘MOBO Unsung’ competition, which resulted in the group reaching the final five of the competition. They did not win, however, DJ Tim Westwood of BBC Radio 1 and DJ Semtex of BBC Radio 1Xtra began giving them airplay.[1]

In 2003, Sway started to pursue a solo career in the British music scene. He was invited by his cousin, DJ Ink, to feature on some of his drum and bass tracks and he became a member of the group “Fifth Element”.[1] In 2004, Sway established DCypha Productions to enable him to release his mixtapes and debut solo album, This Is My Demo. At DCypha, Sway produces his beats and songs alongside his long-time friends Pyrelli and Bigz.

Sway has released two independent mixtapes, called This Is My Promo Volumes 1 and 2. They were underground successes, and his debut LP This Is My Demo was released on 6 February 2006. Its second single, “Little Derek”, headed in at #38 on the UK national charts. Remixes are also available featuring Baby Blue.

His debut has become controversial amongst UK hip-hop artists due to his criticism of many modern rap artists “over hyping” themselves and glorifying themselves using elements from gang culture and street violence to make themselves seem ‘harder’ than they are and thus sell records to people who are potentially ignorant of the true roots of hip-hop.

Sway was the main support act for The Streets’ UK tour, which began in Manchester on 27 April 2006, and ended in Leeds on 12 May 2006. He has also been performing solo around Europe to promote This is My Demo. He created a song in 2005 dedicated to his profile on MySpace. He also appeared on The Mitchell Brothers’ popular single Harvey Nicks alongside The Streets’ Mike Skinner.

Sway announced at the The Dotted Lines Mixtape release party that he is producing a second album named The Signature LP with a mention of a release date of 5 May 2008 on the mixtape itself. However, the album was delayed to September 29, as announced on his MySpace profile. Again, the album was delayed and the official release date now stands at October 6, 2008.

The first single release from The Signature LP was F Ur X featuring female MC $tush. The video for the song was released in May 2008. The music video features actors from Kidulthood and Adulthood and also includes Ashley Walters, Bashy and also Chipmunk.

The second single to be released was “Saturday Night Hustle” featuring British soul singer Lemar.
The track list for the album will be:
Fit 4 A King
Say It Twice
Saturday Night Hustle (featuring Lemar)
Silver And Gold (featuring Akon)
F UR X - (featuring $tush)
Jason Waste
Look After My Girl (featuring Darren B)
Pray 4 Kaya
Walk Away
Upload
Stereo
Letters To Heaven (featuring Leo)
End Of The Road (featuring Coco)
Special Place

His reputation rose from underground to mainstream after coming into the public eye by winning a MOBO award in September 2005 for Best Hip Hop Act. Sway defeated heavyweight hip-hop artists 50 Cent and The Game to collect the award. He was also nominated for the second year running in the best hip-hop category for the MOBO awards held at the end of September 2006.

In July 2006, Sway’s album This Is My Demo was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize but the award was won by the Arctic Monkeys at the ceremony on September 6.

In November 2006, Sway won a BET Hip-Hop Award for “Best UK Hip-Hop Act”, beating the likes of Blak Twang, Plan B, Dizzee Rascal and Kano. By being nominated and winning the BET for “BEST UK Hip-Hop Act”, Sway was seen by millions across America in a video showing himself in a cipher with Saigon, Remy Ma, and Rhymefest freestyling on a rooftop in New York.

This freestyle can also be heard on DJ Kay Slay’s mixtape Drama Season Begins Now. His song “Hype Boys” is used in the video game Need For Speed: Carbon.

The US Sway argues with the UK Sway that Sway DaSafo should not use the same name. Sway appeared briefly on Sky News to discuss the controversy over the “N” word.

Sway is the cousin of former Arsenal footballer, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, who is currently playing for Birmingham City. Owusu-Abeiye claims he is an accomplished rapper too.

Sway travelled to Sierra Leone in December 2007 to support a development project with the likes of Dawn Angelique Richard and Samata Angel.

Related:

• UK Rapper Sway signs with Konvict Muzik?
• Sway’s project: Platform 2
• Trigmatic fumes at Sway, lazy youth, crunk/hiplife artistes and will never be a crusader for hip-hop
• A day with Sway
• 9 hiplife artistes that will vie for the next hiplife lyricists of all time

“There are threats to traditions of the Court music,” Nimo told The EastAfrican, adding: “The youth today dance foreign music and are moving away from our own. Some of the lyrics of the songs do not live up to Ghanaian decency standards.”

Nimo, Ghana’s leading folk singer, is well known for playing multiple forms of traditional music. For over four decades, he has devoted his life to promoting and preserving local culture through his palmwine music and ballads.

“I started my musical career the first day I was born. I sang my first song when I cried. A man is born as a self contained musical instrument,” Nimo, who was born on October 3, 1934 in the Ashanti region, and whose real names are Daniel Amponsah, said.

The musician spent part of his childhood at the Asante king’s court where he learnt his trade.

“I spent the formative years of my life at the Asantehene’s court (King of Asante) where I was taught the traditions of the court. I sat under the tutelage of many old men and women who are the custodians of our culture.”

Elegantly draped in the traditional Akan cloth, Nimo and his Adadam Agofomma (Back-To-the-Roots Ensemble) recently put up a pulsating private show for the finalists and judges of the CNN Multichoice African Journalist Awards 2008 in Accra, Ghana.

The ensemble played some of its best palmwine guitar music hits from Nimo’s “Osabarima” and “Tete Wobi Ka” collections.

“I have released about six albums and over a hundred songs and there are new albums to come,” the poet, storyteller and songwriter said.

“Osabarima” was Nimo’s first CD containing eight of his popular songs. It was issued by Adasa Records in 1990 and then re-issued in 2000 and distributed by Stern’s Records in London.

It contains tracks like: Aburokyire Abrabo (A song about the disillusionment of living overseas), Owusu Se M’Amma (Advice about lack of consideration for a neighbour), Osabarima (Good Friday song, about the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ), Akora Dua Kube (A very old man plants a coconut tree which he will not live to see bear fruit), Onipa Behwe Yie (Forewarned is forearmed), among others.

“Tete Wobi Ka” was Nimo’s second CD issued in 2000 featuring his trademark guitar and vocal style with traditional rhythm section.

He is joined on this CD by Osei Kwame with his modern interpretations of the pre-colonial praise singing tradition with seperewa (6- to 14- stringed harp-lute) accompaniment.

The seperewa is the Ghanaian (specifically Akan) version of a harp-like instrument found in many West African cultures.

It has traditionally 6 strings (Osei’s, which he made himself, has 14), and is played by plucking with thumbs and forefingers.

Osei is one of the leading exponents of this instrument today, and is Seperewa Instructor at the University of Ghana at Legon. Osei’s grandfather helped to reintroduce the seperewa to Ghanaian popular culture in the 1920s and taught Osei many of the traditional songs he now performs.

Nimo’s music has been described as “A pulsating mix of melodious and intoxicating guitar patterns, harmonious vocals, and mesmerising percussion.

It brings to life the meaning of the Sankofa image, a symbolic bird of the Asante people of Ghana, looking backwards with one foot forward to the future,” by Professors Andrew Kaye and Cynthia Schmidt. “Koo Nimo sings lyrics infused with Asante wisdom, peppered with the proverbs that are so essential to a West African audience.”

“Certainly one of the elements which gives Nimo’s music a strong indigenous flavour are his lyrics, which show a great deal of attention to the use of court language and subtle proverbs, many of which he gleans from the local elders who are knowledgeable about Ashanti traditions…,” A. L. Kaye writes in a paper, Up-Up-Up and More Up.

“He uses the proverbs to pepper lyrics centred around messages dealing with contemporary issues of African life. Koo Nimo’s lyrics, like his rhythms and entire performance format, are multi-leveled.”

“What has become obvious to many listeners and specialists is that the origin of jazz is firmly rooted in Africa and shared throughout the black world,” Kwabena Fosu-Mensah writes in the sleeve notes of Nimo’s CD “Osabarima.”

“African Americans, however, deserve the credit for having put a certain stamp and credibility to it across the whole world. They retained the music which they carried from Africa in the colonial times and successfully created a novel sound of the moment out of it,” Fosu-Mensah adds.

Apart from his early exposure to music by his parents and playing in local groups, particularly IE’s Band, Nimo also studied classical guitar style, harmony and counterpoint, among others, at various times, to enhance his musical appreciation.

“I didn’t want to be a Segovia. I wanted to be an African guitarist, using my technique to do justice to my own music, which I understand better,” he is quoted in the sleeve notes of his CD.”

Although a great consumer of jazz music — from Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery and Count Basie to Antonio Carlos Jobim, Lorendo Almeida and Thelonius Monk, Nimo is said to have drawn inspiration first from Ghanaian guitarist, Kwabena Onyina.

“I didn’t, however, want to be a second-rate guitarist, hence my determination to dig into my past for a traditional sound which I have now fashioned on the lines of Odonson (which literally means, ‘let love succeed or prevail,’ developed from an old dance form during which old folks — “men and women” — performed close to each other,” he explains.

His retirement from the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, as the chief laboratory technician in 1994 has enabled him to concentrate on his achievements.

Nimo and his ensemble have represented their country at several international arts festivals and have also toured extensively throughout Europe and America, where he shared the stage with Puerto Rico’s Yomo Toro during a 1988 ‘Guitar Summit.’

He was president of the Ghana Musicians Union for 10 years, and received the Grand Medal for Lifetime Service to Ghana from the head of state.

He was interim chairman of the Copyright Society of Ghana, Member of the Board of Directors of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Member of the Education Commission of Ghana, and part-time lecturer in guitar at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, among others. He has been an inspiration to younger generations of Ghanaian musicians.

Some of Koo Nimo’s works are studied alongside those of other African musicians in the West African Examination Council syllabus for music.

For the future plans for the group, he says: “The first thing is to make sure all the members become well educated, and in the process we train young talented people to take our places.”

Piracy has adversely affected African artists, to which Nimo says: “I think copyright laws should be strengthened, offenders should be fined heavily enough and artists should register with efficient copyright societies.”

Palmwine music developed as a distinctive musical style in Ghana beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, and is named after the local brew often consumed liberally during its performance and appreciation.

The Ghanaian guitar wizard has been portrayed by Afro-Pop music commentator John Collins as a kind of Homeric Bard of West African Palmwine Guitar, and who the Ghanaian journalist Kwabena Fosu-Mensah has dubbed “The Repository of Asante (Ashanti) Music and Culture.”

On his legacy Nimo says: “I would like to be a dealer in hope, and to leave behind among the youth the conviction and the will to carry on.”

Nimo’s style features the modern guitar, but includes a traditional Highlife rhythm section (bells, hand drums, and “rhumba box” or 3-keyed bass sanza). The songs are sung mostly in the Twi language of the Asante (Ashanti) ethnic group, but Nimo is fond of throwing in English phrases and quotations as well, from which one can get a sense of the Twi commentary while playing the acoustic guitar.

Others have called him the “King of Up-Up-Up.” Up-Up-Up!!?? This refers to a pulsating mix of melodious and intoxicating guitar patterns, harmonious vocals and mesmerising percussion.

“It is Koo Nimo’s distinctive fusion of indigenous Ghanaian musical forms and instruments with a wholly new and very personal aesthetic sensibility. Up-Up-Up is about a music with a youthful and buoyant rhythmic appeal, with lyrics of noble beauty, infused with elegant and powerful Asante poetic imagery,” Kaye writes.

According to Kaye, Nimo developed Up-Up-Up back in the mid 1950s, during the heady days of African liberation. During that time, Nimo had moved from his native village near Kumasi to Accra, where he became a successful guitarist in the booming popular music scene.

This was the heyday of the now vintage High Life music of groups such as E.T. Mensah’s Tempos and King Bruce’s Black Beats.

“Today,” Kaye observes that, “Koo Nimo is a musical figure of international stature. Perhaps no other artist better represents the Janus-faced nature of the new African music - looking towards a vibrant new musical future but keeping vigilant that past cultural values remain very much Up and alive. He has achieved this position through the force of his character, and the exciting, novel, amazing and uplifting quality of his music.”

On his legacy he says: “I would like to be a dealer in hope, and to leave behind among the youth the conviction and the will to carry on.”

In regards to his retirement he concludes: “I do plan to retire, but it could be a few minutes before I enter the grave to join my ancestors.”

After Ghanaian Independence in 1957, Nimo had a vision of creating a new kind of African music. He formed a new group which he called the Adadam, or “Back-to-the-Roots” Ensemble.

With the Adadam group, which consisted of acoustic guitars, a three-pronged bass sanza called the prempresiwa (relative of the Caribbean “rumba box”), the dawuro bell, African percussion and vocals, Koo Nimo revived older indigenous musical forms and infused them with a sense of style and purpose consonant with the optimistic spirit of his generation.

“This spirit lives on and thrives in the music and musical personality of Koo Nimo, which has deepened and sweetened over the years. It is not just the music which makes Up-Up-Up so alive and fulfilling, but the man himself. Whether at an intimate setting, among friends, at an all-night wake-keeping, or at a special concert at the State House in Accra before an audience of thousands, Koo Nimo never fails to captivate audiences with his seemingly unlimited resources of musical artistry and personal magnetism,” Kaye adds.

Describing the legend’s music Kaye notes: “The real wonder begins when Koo Nimo puts, his knowing finger to the strings of a guitar and does his magic, bringing together both the past and present within a wonderfully propelling rhythmic framework. Koo Nimo likes to compare his guitar to a beautiful woman, and the music he creates on it can only be described as loving. Solo, or in duet with Kofi Twuniasi, his musical partner for the past twenty-five years, Koo Nimo produces a sweet and limpid texture of gracefully overlapping melodies set in undulating cross-rhythms which create a sparkling symphonic atmosphere that simultaneously appears new-born and ageless.”

Kaye adds: “This extraordinarily appealing guitar work, however, is only one layer of a musical texture that is incredibly multi-layered, while always maintaining a crystalline clarity. Several indigenous percussion instruments, including the prempresiwa (rumba box), dawuro bell and apentemma drums played conga-style, create the impression of an infinity of overlapping rhythmic planes, with patterns alternately rising and falling below a smooth surface. Floating above these interlacing rhythms and harmonies is Koo Nimo’s gentle voice, which soars in broad melodies, or speaks in “lip improvisation,” a kind of rap of Ashanti wisdom, in which the singer recounts proverbs old and new and creates that environment of articulate meaning which is so essential to an African audience.”

“Today,” Kaye observes that, “Koo Nimo is a musical figure of international stature. Perhaps no other artist better represents the Janus-faced nature of the new African music - looking towards a vibrant new musical future but keeping vigilant that past cultural values remain very much Up and alive. He has achieved this position through the force of his character, and the exciting, novel, amazing and uplifting quality of his music.”

On his legacy he says: “I would like to be a dealer in hope, and to leave behind among the youth the conviction and the will to carry on.”

In regards to his retirement he concludes: “I do plan to retire, but it could be a few minutes before I enter the grave to join my ancestors.”

Related:

• Kojo Antwi, Koo Nimo perform at MASA

Lee, whose career spans for over 50 years — is set to receive the coveted Special Recognition Award at the 2008 Channel O Music Video Awards ceremony scheduled for 9 October 2008 in Johannesburg at Carnival City.

The highly esteemed Special Recognition award is designed by Africa’s leading music channel, Channel O, to acknowledge the contribution an individual has made to the African music industry.

Last year saw Mtukudzi or simply Tuku honoured, while Zola received the accolade in 2006 and Hugh Masekela in 2005. Both Enoch Sontonga and Fela Kuti received posthumous awards in 2003.

Born, Kwame Narh Kojo Larnyoh, George Lee began his long career in the international music industry at the tender age of 18, when as a band leader, he was selected to take his band on tour with Louis Armstrong during the jazz trumpeter/singer’s famed visit to Ghana in 1956.

The ‘A’ side of the debut single Sea Shells was adopted as the theme tune of the popular long running BBC TV arts programme Ebony soon after its UK release.

George — a singer-songwriter/producer/arranger/mentor and multi-instrumentalist — was one of the artists selected by the then President Kwame Nkrumah, to attend Ghana’s prestigious arts and culture school for six months before being sent to the World Fair in Berlin as Ghana’s cultural emissaries.

As a horns arranger and session musician, George Lee often worked with the legendary Bob Marley in London and America. Just check out the tenor sax solo on Natty Dread and you will hear George’s horn loud and clear!

George recalls fond memories of that time, “The vibe on the Bob Marley sessions was always real, he had a way of generating energy in the studio, jumping and dancing the minute the music began, inspiring all the musicians with his enthusiasm so we would give our best,” says George.

His songs have been recorded by artists in many parts of the world including American Johnny Nash, South African Chris McGregor in France; and a range of singers from Ghanaians in Germany, to Nigerians in London, Americans in Canada and Mozambicans in South Africa.

An interesting fact known by few is that South African guitar superstar Jimmy Dludlu is a protégé of George Lee’s and as a teenager he spent 18 months living under George’s roof and mentorship in Swaziland!

Noteworthy highlights in his successful career include leading a tribute by over a hundred cross cultural drummers at the 1994 inauguration of President Nelson Mandela in Pretoria as well as performing at the World Festival of Sacred Music in Cape Town, during the Dalai Lama’s visit in 1999, to mention a few.

Alongside his illustrious music career, George has also ventured into the world of film when he appeared as a performer/songwriter and producer in the Hollywood blockbuster A Good Man in Africa starring Sean Connery.

George maintains close links with the community, particularly Alexandra Township in Gauteng where he ran free weekly workshops training and developing a group of student musicians over six years.

In May 2007 George was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal motor neuron disease also known as Lou Gehrigs, an illness which totally destroys the body but leaves the mind fully focussed and sharp until the inevitable end - for which there is no treatment and no cure.

Related:

• George Lee to be awarded the Special Recognition Award
• Video: Irene and Jane @ Channel O Music Video Awards
• George Lee, jazz icon and mentor passes away
• Vote Becca, Ofori Amponsah & Irene and Jane for the Channel O Music Awards
• Nonhle and KB to host the Channel O Music Video Awards
• Video: Emcee Africa battle royale
• Video: Emcee Africa (Ghana) Round 1
• Video: Emcee Africa (Ghana) Round 2
• Video: Jay Town wins Emcee Africa Ghana
• Video: Jay Town Vrs Teeto at Emcee Africa

The group was formed out of a passion to unearth and make use of purely natural talents to the fullest to make complete music in praise to God, other than the engagement of artificial music instruments.
This passion is based on the Biblical scripture which says “God has anointed praise in the MOUTHS of babes and sucklings to stop the enemy”.

“As per our motto - Making positive impact through uniqueness - the vision really is to challenge the African youth, Christian and non-Christian, to see in themselves a God-given potential by which they could make positive impact on their generation if only they could let go of themselves on the altar for God.
“Just as the Biblical alabaster box was broken and the fragrance filled the entire atmosphere, we believe we have been broken for Jesus and mandated to help others come to the point of brokenness for God, humility and love towards men.”

Alabaster Box specializes in a-cappella music, but precisely a unique kind of a-cappella which combines purely mouth-made sounds of African indigenous instruments with African harmonies and melodies to make sweet music. The group has coined the name “AFROPPELLA” for its kind of music, meaning “a-cappella made in Africa”.

The box, as the group is affectionately called, has over the past 13 years endeared itself to both local and international audiences with its captivating music, which usually sends many an audience wondering if the group uses instruments.

Performance Profile:

International
-       Representatives of Africa at the Commonwealth Day Multi-Faith Observance, in front of Her Majesty the Queen of England – March 10, 2003 – Westminster Abbey, London
-        Representatives of West Africa at the Commonwealth People’s Festival, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia – October 2001
-        Alabaster Box Live at the Forum – Bath, UK, March 5, 2005
-        Afroppella Night with Alabaster Box live, Gordonstoun School, Scotland, UK – April 26, 2005 and 2006
-        Commonwealth Lecture – Commonwealth Institute, London – July 2002
-        International Gathering of Champions (IGOC) at KICC, Hackney, London – August/Sept, 2003, 2005 and 2007
-         Integrity Conference 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, Trinity Baptist Church, London
-        Pentecost Conference 2002 – Gloryhouse  – London –  2002 and 2003
-        Ghana Professional Awards Night, London – August 2, 2003
-        Afroppella Night With Alabaster Box (exclusive) – Willesden Green Baptist Church – April 19, 2003
-        Good Friday Night Concert With Alabaster Box (Exclusive), Praise Chapel, London – April 18, 2003
-        Afroppella Night Concert with Alabaster Box (exclusive), New Life Assemblies of God Church, Kilburn London – July 20, 2003
-        Afroppella Night Concert with Alabaster Box (exclusive): In aid of the rehabilitation of drug addicts in Abergavenny, Wales, United Kingdom.
-        NBC Youth Camps 2005 – USA (Oregon, Spangle, Montana, Spokane)
-        Afroppella Night Concert – River of Life, Seattle , USA – August 7, 2005
-        Afroppella Night Concert – Church by The Side of The Road, Seattle, USA, June 2005
-        Afroppella Concert, Mount Calvary Int., Seattle, USA
-        Alabaster Box/Alvin Slaughter Concert – ICGC Virginia – Aug. 5, 2006
-        Alabaster Box/Daniel Winans Concert – Alexandria, Virginia – Oct. 29, 2006
-        Afroppella Night Concert, Cookville Tennessee, USA – June 25, 2006
-        Performance at the Smithsonian Museum of African Arts, Washington DC, USA - June 2005 & Aug. 31, 2006
-        Four states tour of USA to Redeemed Church of God branches in Baltimore, DC, Minnesota and Chicago - May 2008

National:

1.   First Afroppella Night Charity Concert in Ghana by Alabaster Box – National Theatre – November 16, 2003
2.   Afroppella Night with Alabaster Box – British Council Hall, Ghana – February 18, 2005
3.   Ghana Music Awards – October 2003
4.   Ghana Gospel Music Awards – March 2004
5.   National Gospel Music Concert in celebration of the 9th, 10th & 11th anniversaries of Constitutional rule in Ghana – January 2002, 2003 & 2004
6.   First Homecoming Summit in Ghana – July 2001
7.   Emancipation Day 1999, Ghana
8.   Steve Wonder Benefit Concert in Ghana – April 2004
9.   Kirk Franklin Gospel Music Fiesta – October 1-3, 2004
10. Destiny Summit 2002 & 2003, ICGC, Christ Temple, Ghana
11. Greater Works Conference, ICGC, Christ Temple - 2007
12. Convention of Saints 2000, 2001, 2002, Royalhouse Chapel, Ghana
13.  Fire Conference 2001, 2002, Charismatic Evangelistic Ministries, Ghana
14.  Richard Roberts Crusade and Pastors’ Conference in Ghana – 1999
15.  Stadium Disaster Charity Concert, Trade Fair Site, Ghana
16.  First Kingdom Praise Gospel Music Concert, National Theatre, Ghana – August 2004
17.  Gospel Music Fiesta, Conference Centre - January 2, 2004
18.  Launch of GTP Timeless line of textile prints – October 2003
19.  Launch of GTP Waxstyle cloth design competition - October 2004
20.  Maiden Industrial Pinnacle Awards Night in Ghana – November 2004
21.  Explosion of Joy, Joyful Way Inc – National Theatre – December 26, 2000 and 2007
22.  Harvest Praise, Harvest Chapel International, National Theatre – 2002
23.  Kiddafest 1998, 1999
24.  Eagles Camp, 2004 – National Theatre & Eagles Camp, 2001 – Christ the King Hall – FFLI
25.  Infinity Ball – Valentine’s Day Ball for Christian Couples – Coconut Groove Regency
26.  Healing Concert with Donnie McClurkin 2007;

Awards and Nominations:
1.   Best Acappella Group of the Year (2000 – 2002), Ghana Gospel Music Awards
2.   Best Acappella Group of the 1990s to 2000s, MTN Ceval Gospel Music Awards - 2008
3.   Nomination – Sleeve design of the year (2000 – 2002), “From welcome to goodbye” – Ghana Gospel Music Awards
4.   Nominations – Male vocal performance of the year, small group of the year and gospel song of the year – Ghana Music Awards 2003 – “From welcome to goodbye”

Related:

• No Related Post

An evangelist who has undergone an intense spiritual awakening and more interested in a discourse on God and eternity is how the clean-shaven Rap Heavyweight comes across when he reflects these days on his ten years in music and his seventh album, God Dey, which is about to be released.

“If it is not God, somebody should tell me who has kept me safe and alive all these years despite the tribulations and the unexpected things that happened to me. I lost my little daughter and I grieved so much but there have still been some moments of happiness for me,” says Kenya. “I’m testifying that against all the odds He makes me see the light and I know He can do the same for everyone else.”

Many may perhaps find it curious that a personality like Lord Kenya is preaching such ideals with almost Biblical fervour. He, however, states that he has always been a God-fearing person and his faith keeps deepening all the time.

“All along I thought I had the strength to carry on. I thought it was mainly me but as I moved on I realised more and more that it is God who has the authority to control everything. Now I understand that He has His own ways of shaping up His people to do what He wants them to do till the end of time so we have to just flow along with Him and thank Him for his mercies.”

Kenya’s last album was titled Born Again and he claims God Dey is just an extension of his acknowledgement of God’s presence in his life.

“I’m just trying to put God as the supremo. We all make music and name them anyhow. People say what you call it does not matter and all that but what matters most to me now is eternity. What matters is what happens to me when I’m no more on this earth. Why do I then have to put my hope in things that are not important for my salvation?”

Lord Kenya’s mother died when he was a year old and there was a father he scarcely saw. “I don’t know my mum. My father was not there all the time but still, look at where God wanted me to be. I know there might be many people in situations like mine who had nobody there for them but they don’t have to rely on human beings because we are all going to die and each is accountable to the Maker.”

There had been times over the last ten years when Kenya felt if he didn’t have music, he would probably not still be here. Music has been his life line and that is why he is exceedingly grateful to God for the endowment of his talent for the boldness to tell about His goodness.

“If He did not love us, where would have come the love that we are giving out to others. Being blessed with seven albums in ten years is abundant grace.”

Kenya’s first collection of songs, Sika, came out in 1998. He followed up with Sikaba in 1999. Songs on that brilliant album included Driver Susu Kwo, Obiaa Dika and Famekwo. That album won the Album of the Year trophy at the 2000 Ghana Music Awards. Yesom Sika, containing massive hits like Medo and Mr P.O.P. was released in 2002 and it topped the Megahits-Ghana chart for a record 34 weeks. Sika Po Nfa Niho came out in 2003.

“I talked a lot on those albums about the negative influences of having money you cannot control. People have so much money and are worshipping it. Money is not everything. Also, if you have worked hard and the money is not coming, you do not have to resort to wrong means to get it.”

The fifth album was Akansie Nie which was followed up with Born Again. Kenya says he was initially going to call it Champion but he changed the title to Born Again to affirm his trust in God.

There are 13 songs on the upcoming God Dey album which the Rap Heavyweight says is a dedication to his daughter who died last February, Maame Akua Boahemaa Kenya.

Recorded by a string of some of the best engineers in the country including Zapp Mallet, Appietus, Morris Babyface and Jay Q, God Dey features artistes such as Kofi Nti, Kwabena Kwabena, Dela of Mentor 3, Swazzy B, Screwface and Morris Babyface.

One of Kenya’s favourite tracks on the album is Soldier. It has already been played a few times on the BBC African Service and the Kumasi-based artiste says he likes it for the strong symbolism it carries.

“I’m a soldier in the army of the Lord. Life is a struggle. You get to a time when you think there is no more hope and you become really desperate. Some people even kill themselves when they get to that stage. I hear lots of negative things about myself but I also hear many positive things.

“I have been bombarded with all sorts of vibes. People try to distract you but the best thing is to stay focussed and move on. If people have the time to fabricate stories about you, it means you are somebody. It is not important to hold on to what they say. Let your track record speak for you.”

Kenya’s track record has been speaking loudly for him over the last ten years. He is a multiple award-winner with many admirers but who boldly attributes whatever he has achieved to his faith in the Almighty.

When he looks back to the times when things were sleek and seemingly ‘together’ but when his hold on life was tenuous, he cannot but now thank God for a firmer grip on life and the opportunity to proclaim to all that God Dey.

Related:

• God dey for me - Lord Kenya
• Video: Su Wo Su by Lord Kenya feat. Dela
• Sidney loses mum, Lord Kenya buries daughter
• Obuor, A. B. Crentsil tour USA
• Obour, AB Crentsil, Lord Kenya, Noble Nketia, Kokovelli @ Worcester & Maryland
• Obour preps Europe tour with best artistes from Ghana
• Mmobrowa - Lord Kenya
• Best of all time (Hiplife) lyricists: Obrafour takes no. 1 spot, Tinny lands at four…
• Medo - Lord Kenya
• Video: Akasianni by Lord Kenya

“The NPP approached us and requested that they needed to use the song for their campaign this year and that was it,” the musician told DAILY GUIDE in an exclusive interview, and explained the conditions under which she released the song to the leading political party in Ghana.

Philipa Baafi said she was not the least worried that she had given her song to the NPP because other political parties were using the songs of some other Gospel musicians.

“I am not worried at all that the NPP is using my song; it is a popular song and I hear it is even played in some clubs so I am not worried a political party is using it.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) could have used it as well.

They are using Pastor Lennie Akpadi’s ‘All Other Gods’, so if the NPP was fast enough and they choose to use my ‘Go High’ to support their campaign, it is very cool with me.

“Look, that song is very inspirational and encourages people to go higher in whatever field of endeavour they are, and if the NPP is using it to tell Ghanaians to go higher with them, I am cool with that.

“The NPP did not buy it from me per se, but we had a negotiation for them to pay a sum of money for the copyright and that is the norm,” Philipa Baafi disclosed.

She said she wrote the ‘Go High’ song herself and released it onto the music market in November 2007 with the aim of using it to inspire people.

When asked how she felt anytime the NPP flagbearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo joined her on stage to do the Tic Tac-originated Kangaroo dance during the party’s outdoor programmes, Philipa had this to say:

“Nana Akufo-Addo, on his own, joined me on stage to do the Kangaroo dance and I think it has to do with the favour of God. When the favour of God is working, it is not about you struggling.”

Philipa, apart from being a musician, is a beauty therapist and is married to Kofi Karikari, who is her manager and producer as well. They have a set of triplets of which two are boys.

The Gospel musician, who has ‘Go High’ as her fifth album, first entered the music scene in 1999 with her first album while in her final year at St. Monica Secondary School in Kumasi.

She explained why her husband is her manager: “He was the General Manager for OTEC FM in Kumasi and I went there with my third album in 2003 and that was how we met and became friends.

He later became my manager; he was managing my music and later decided to manage my body and everything so we got married.

“He is cool; he is handsome and a Christian and understands what I do. I am proud of him. We are now on a national music tour, preaching peace, tolerance and unity every where we visit.

I believe that is the message we need in this election period. We have been to Sunyani and Kumasi and would be in Berekum and Techiman.”

She confirmed that she was yet to receive the car prize she won during the ‘Music Music’ MTN Music competition TV3 organized for Ghanaian musicians recently.

“Well, the truth is that I was told I would be given a brand new car but I have not received it. I hear it is a Tata Indigo but I have not seen it.

“I joined the competition because I wanted to use that opportunity to speak to my fans through my songs, so I was surprised I won and with such a wide margin of over 20,000 votes,” she noted.

Related:

• Philipa upset over car prize delay
• High and in good form
• Phillipa Baafi in trouble
• Is Philipa Baafi an NPP member?

“Even though my relationship with Nana Ama ended amicably, I was afraid of what would happen in the next relationship I went into because I felt I might not be able to give my all especially if I carried my emotions from the past into it”, Okyeame Kwame told Showbiz. Then Annica came along and Okyeame’s fears seem to have dissolved.

In their rosy days, Okyeame Kwame and Nana Ama appeared the perfect pair. He was a very popular and upwardly mobile musician. Nana Ama, the actress, had captured the hearts of many film enthusiasts with her beauty and presence on the screen in a number of hit films and for the celebrity couple, nothing could go wrong until bang! The bubble burst and they had to go their separate ways.

After three years, Okyeame Kwame can look forward to a walk down the aisle with Annica. “God willing, I hope to make her my wife before the year ends”, he says.

Although he would not talk about how they met (they are saving it for their wedding day), he willingly talked about everything that was special about her.

“What drew me to her the first time I met her was her quiet nature, she is very laid back and above all very committed.”

Like everyone else, Okyeame Kwame had certain basic qualities the woman of his heart had to have and it was quite interesting, “My ideal woman is the one who is committed to making sure that I’m all right in terms of taking care of me; she invests attention, time and energy into upgrading me.

She is that woman who though firm makes me lord of her heart. She is a possible homemaker and a person who understands that when it comes to love, the one who wants it must give it first and is focused enough to know the difference between the person I am and the character Okyeame Kwame and I believe I have found my ideal woman in Annica, she is everything I have ever wanted.”

What has even strengthened the relationship so much is the unconditional support from his family, “My family has no problem with her, they love her. They know what is best for me and they know that I have found the best so everything is all right with them.”

When Showbiz spoke to Annica, who is an M.A student in Business Administration at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, she said that her relationship with Kwame is as perfect as they come.

“It is everything I hoped it would be, in fact those who know us know it is a picture perfect relationship and the success is because there is no cheating on both sides. I cannot handle cheating at all and I believe it is what leads to the breaking up of a lot of relationships. So since we don’t have that problem, everything is great.”

Like her man, Annica would also not talk about how they met but said that “I was on my way to Accra from Kumasi when I met him, we were not friends before we met, it was just a one time thing, we met and decided to go out.”

Since they began going out, she has become a Kumasi resident and has not been to Accra even though she is an Accra girl.

“The only time I was in Accra was when I worked with Guinness. It’s all a matter of wanting to be with the person I love anywhere he is and that’s why I have moved there. Besides that, I also school in Kumasi.”

Like most music loving people, she knew of who Okyeame Kwame was before they met. “I knew of Akyeame before I met him. The first time I heard of Akyeame I was about 14 or 15 and I loved their songs, I mean that, I’m not being patronising or trying to please him.”

And although she knew he was a celebrity, she had no reservations going into the relationship because “I am a person who checks a person for who that person is, not what he or she is and I know the difference between what he is and who he really is,” she said.

In spite of the fact that Kwame had dated a high profile personality before meeting her, Annica says that she did not feel any pressure because she was an ‘ordinary’ person.

“I am someone who doesn’t feel that anybody towers over me so I did not feel that I had to fit into anybody’s shoes in order to be loved. I thought that I was a whole lot of package on my own.”

If there is one thing that has made this relationship endure all this while it is compromise. “We are both very intelligent and focused and we work at making things work.

We know about the bad things and we discuss them and even talk about what we would do if it happens to us and that has helped a lot,” Annica said.

They can also count on the support of Annica’s parents as well who have given their blessing to the relationship.

“The first time I took him home, he had dreadlocks and my dad called him ‘mpesempese’. He told him that if he took them off, everything would be ok and when he did, they were alright with him.”

Related:

• Okyeame Kwame grateful to fans
• Crunk music has always been here - Okyeame Kwame
• Olu collaborates with Ghana’s Okyeame Quame for Yahoozee remix
• Okyeame Kwame, Okyeame Quophi reunite
• Okyeame Kwame eyes MUSIGA Presidency
• Okyeame Kwame goes academic
• Video: Woso (Remix) by Okyeame Kwame feat. Richie
• Nana Ama Mcbrown is hard to tame - Okyeame Kwame
• Lyrics: Woso - Okyeame Kwame
• Video: Dedeede by George Jahraa feat. Okyeame Quame

Mac’s first band, known as “The Comets”, was based in Kumasi and led by his elder brother Teddy Osei (who he later collaborated with in Osibisa). The Comets cut their teeth playing in Kumasi clubs such as The Jamboree, Kismet and Hotel de Kingsway. They became very popular in Ghana and Nigeria during the early 1960s for highlife and jazz, and Mac soon emerged as one of the leading and most progressive Ghanaian hornsmen, fusing the modern jazz styles of trumpeters such as Miles Davis and Clifford Brown with West African highlife.

Following his move to Accra, Mac spent a brief period with the Brigade Band of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, which played mainly at state functions, before joining the now ledgendary Uhuru Band. Uhuru was a big band which played its own brand of highlife as well as hits from American composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Glenn Miller. Uhuru were very popular all over West Africa, and their fame spread when they played at Malawi’s independence celebrations in 1964 and toured Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in 1965. During his time with Uhuru Mac also ran a smaller jazz combo, the Bogart Sounds Sextet, made up of the pick of Uhuru’s sidesmen.

Still searching for new horizons, Mac left Ghana for Europe in 1968. At first he stayed in Hamburg, Germany, playing in various jazz clubs in the St. Pauli area. Then, after a rendezvous with brother Teddy and drummer Sol Amarfio in Tunisia, the trio traveled to London to form the band which was to set the world alight with its ground-breaking fusion of African music and western pop and rock: OSIBISA. Mac co-wrote all of Osibisa’s major hits, including Music for Gong Gong, Welcome Home and Sunshine Day, as well as the soundtrack for Sig Shore’s 1973 movie Superfly TNT. Apart from his activities with Osibisa Mac also became part of the London “scene” of the 1970s, playing horn sessions for rock luminaries the Rolling Stones, Peter Green and Elton John.

During the 1970s and 1980s Osibisa toured virtually every corner of the globe, and Mac became a complete performer, playing not only his trumpet but also marimba, percussion and digeridoo, and he established a rapport with audiences which few could equal. Highlights of Osibisa’s live itinerary include the Mar y Sol festival in Puerto Rico (1972), FESTAC in Lagos, Nigeria (1977), an extensive tour of India (1981) and frequent tours of the USA, Japan, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.

MAC TONTOH NOW…

After more than twenty years of living in London or on the road, Mac decided that it was time to return to his African roots for fresh inspiration. In 1992 he moved back home to Ghana and, with the help of producer/engineer Mike Swai, set up his own recording studio in Accra. Mac and Mike then set about searching for and collaborating with some of the most dynamic and talented young Ghanaian musicians.

The first product of this new phase was Mac’s first solo album, Rhythms and Sounds (1994), which featured a jazz-tinged contemporary take on some classic Ghanaian highlife styles together with some hard-hitting African funk whose energy and punch recalled Mac’s early days with Osibisa. Rhythms and Sounds re-established Mac as a musical force to be reckoned with in Ghana, and several tracks from the album have become national institutions through their frequent use by GBCTV.

Following the release and successful promotion of this first solo album, Mac decided to look deeper into the musical traditions of his own people, the Ashanti.

He decided to form a new band, and went to his home town, Kumasi, to look for drummers and singers who were well versed in the Kete and Adowa styles of the region. His new recruits included Kwabena Bonsu (who had previously toured Germany playing traditional Ashanti music), Justice Obeng (voted best traditional drummer for Atwima district at the age of fourteen) and Nana Ama Dakwaah (Queen Mother of Offuman in Brong Ahafo region, who as a child sang to entertain her father, the Paramount chief of the area). Mac brought his new group back to Accra and started rehearsing.

Shortly afterwards he enlisted the talents of poet and vocalist Messiah Aguze and added bass guitar and sax to the line-up.

The new fusion of jazz and traditional Ashanti rhythms which emerged from this group confirmed Mac’s status at home as a truly vital force in  contemporary Ghanaian music.

Not only were Mac and the group invited to play at important functions such as the funeral of the recently deceased Asantehene (King of Ashanti), Otumfuo Opoku Ware II, but they also received accolades for their performances at the international Pan African Festival of Arts and Culture (PANAFEST) in Accra (1997 and 1999), at the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) in Bolgatanga (1998) and at the Emancipation Day celebrations at Cape Coast (2000) attended by Africans from all over the diaspora, including delegations from the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe.

Mac toured the UK with the Kete Warriors in 2000 and 2001 to a rapturous reception from British audiences. Since returning to Ghana after the group’s successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2001, Mac has taken a break from making music and is concentrating on his work with the Ghana National Commission on Culture. The Kete Warriors are now forging ahead in their own right with the blessing of their master.

Related:

• Mac Tontoh’s ex wife sent to jail
• Mac Tontoh Goes Wild
• MUSIGA splits
• Police invites Gyedu Blay Ambolley
• Osibisa to release album soon - Mac Tontoh
• Mac Tontoh, Wulomei to perform tomorrow
• Mac Tontoh explains Osibisa’s absence…Ghana @ 50 Show
• Mac Tontoh not happy with “Stars Of The Future”

Very little is known or heard about the lady behind all these works, she has also been the backing vocalist of most of the popular gospel musics that are making the headlines now a-days. The likes of The Great Ampong, Cee, Pastor Lenny Akpadi, Pastor Josh Laryea, Balaman among others have all enjoyed the backing vocal works of this lady in question.

Celestine Donkor aka Gospel Soldier is the proud daughter of the Volta region doing her region proud.
Born to Elder Gabriel Akakpo and Mrs. Hanna Akakpo, Celestine schooled at St Augustine’s Preparatory/JS School in Abeka Lapaz after which she enrolled at Nsaaniya Secondary Business School at Kasoa for her senior secondary certificate. It took the generous nature of the boxing legend and African’s only Hall famer Barima Azumah Nelson and the International Solid foundation Ministry to see her through her secondary education as the family in serious financial crisis.

At the age of sixteen and still in her second circle education, she came in contact with Mr. Fred Kyei Mensah aka Fredyma who brought her into the music industry as backing vocalist. In her words “meeting Fredyma was the beginning of my music career although before I met him I was already singing at Church and at church crusades”. She continued “he guided me as to the studio business”.

When asked about how her music career has been, the Gospel Soldier has this to say “I sing for the passion of it and to glorify my maker and for me this is very paramount before any other thing”.  She continued “mistakenly most people know me as a backing vocalist sort of but you Know I don’t blame them”. Asked how many artists she is worked for she has this to say “I can’t mention any number but I have worked with most of the top gospel musicians of today”. The question of why her latest album “gye woadie” seem not to be doing well on the local market she said “it is purely a marketing problem and not the product content, the strategy my management team put up just did not work here in Ghana but it did very well in UK and elsewhere. It suffered from what I will call the “payola syndrome” which is killing the industry here.”

The question of why she does so well when it comes to singing in ewe, this was her response, “I am a full blooded Ewe and I love singing in my mother language, but hey watch out I did something in Hausa with Ampong on his latest album”. She did not hide her joy in singing in other languages such as Twi, Ga and English. She hinted that she is learning some other foreign languages so as to be able to sing everywhere in the world without much difficulty since “all Christians serve the same God with one gospel the might be differences in ideologies as to the interpretations of certain doctrines, the gospel must reach all nations, all tribes and people” she said.

She express her profound gratitude to the most high God who gave the talent freely, she also thanked all the artists that featured her in their various projects for their faith in her abilities most especially Bandex music production. As to her relationship with Philipa Baafi she has this to say “she is my big Sis, there is oneness that exists between our families, we have much more respect for each other and she is a nice person to know”.

She also has these nice words for her fans, “you are the greatest people on planet earth, without your encouragement, prayer and support I wouldn’t being here, my management is putting a show together for me to tell you, my fans how much I think of you so please watch out!”

Celestine is married to Mr. Emmanuel Donkor an import and exporter and they have two beautiful girls, Ohemaa and Maa Adwoa.

Related:

• No Related Post