Legends of Ghanaian Highlife Music: Nana Kwame Ampadu (African Brothers) (1945-)

Nana Kwame Ampadu was born at Obo Kwahu on March 31st 1945. In 1967, he was leading the African Brothers Band in Kumasi under the sponsorship of the Ambassador Gardens Hotel. The African Brothers band’s first big success was the song “Ebi Tie Ye” (Some Live Well) released in 1967, which they later made into a play. The theme of the song is the growing division of society into rich and poor. Ampadu’s “African Brothers Band” was formed in 1963. He came to prominence in 1967 when he rele ased his song Ebi Te Yie (or “Some Are Well Seated”), a song that was seen as potentially critical of the then-governing National Liberation Council and disappeared from the airwaves, only returning after the end of military rule. In 1973 he won a nationwide competition in Ghana to be crowned the Odwontofoohene, or “Singer-in-Chief”. His musical career has also involved him in electoral politics, including composing a song for Jerry Rawlings’s National Democratic Congress party to use in the 1992 election campaign. Ampadu also released a song critical of an attempt to disqualify Rawlings from the 1992 election based on him being half-Scottish. Between 1968 and 1978, the group had released 400 single tracks. The group introduced Tinawele dance and Afrohili beat and a beautiful blend of highlife and reggae called Afro-reggae. In 1976, the group was hired to tour the United States of America and Canada. To be Continued… Source: J. Collins, 1994, p.33; nanakwameampadu.com.