Now My Number One

Before I go on, I need everyone to do the drumroll otherwise I won’t write about the first artist… OK thank you and now at number one of Akwasi Asaase’s list of most successful Ghanaian artists of all time is OSIBISA.

Well the band wasn’t entirely a Ghanaian band but it was made up of three and later more Ghanaians were included so we have claimed the band by force. Teddy Osei on the Sax, Sol Amarfio on the drums and Mac Tontoh on the trumpet join Spartacus R from Grenada, Roger Bayle from Trinidad and Tobago on the keyboards and Wendel Richardson from Antigua. Asisi Amao from Nigeria on the tenor sax was also added to the group as well as Kiki Gyan who later became an addition or replacement depending on your view of things and turned out to be a gem who faded into the shadows. There were several other people who joined the band at various points in time but the core remained intact.

This group blended quite a number of genres. You can hear Jazz, Afro-funk, Afro rock, some called them a psychedelic band, whatever description you choose to classify the band may be right but all I know is that the band was one of the best things that ever happened to the world, the continent and Ghana especially.

There is very little I can say that we don’t know or haven’t ever heard. I don’t know which group or artists in Africa have toured the world more than Osibisa. Well the group is no more and most of their members aren’t either but I believe their ideology lives on.

We can achieve anything as a people once we set our minds to it. They left an indelible mark with over 20 albums and various compilations and several awards and I hope soon someone will attempt to step in their shoes.