Culture

Legendary Ghanaian composer Osei-Boateng passes on

Published

1 month ago

April 8, 2024

Legendary Ghanaian chorale music composer, Akuamoah Osei-Boateng, has reportedly died at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) after battling with an undisclosed ailment, according to a statement released by his family on Monday.

His brother and head of the Aduana family of Oguaa, Mark Kwabena Adu Agyei, who confirmed the passing of the renowned and well-respected composer, said he died on Saturday, April 6th.

In his lifetime, Osei-Boateng was credited with popular Ghanaian choral songs such as “Gyatabruwaa”, “Yesu ka wo ho” and “Yehwe wo” all of which went on to become great hits.

Local Ghanaian media reports that Osei-Boateng’s death is a big blow to the country’s choral fraternity with a number of choral groups such as Harmonious Chorale expressing their grief at the huge loss.

Choral Music TV, a channel dedicated to the promotion of choral music also announced the passing of Osei-Boateng on its Facebook page, while Ghanaians in their thousands, poured out condolences and tributes in his memory on social media since the news of his death was announced.

The legendary Seventh-Day Adventist composer and singer who had a successful music career spanning over 50 years, was known to have nurtured and trained several talents within and outside the church, gave up the ghost at the Accident and Emergency Centre of the Teaching Hospital where he was on admission for about a week, according to the family.

“He was a well-travelled man who founded the Advent Missionaries Group that spread like wildfire, especially among members of the SDA Church, his fans, and his immediate family,” a local media wrote about him.

“Born to Madam Adwoa Oforiwaa and Opanin Akwasi Kwayie of Senkyi and Oguaa respectively, near Effiduase in the Ashanti region, he was born into a Muslim family but converted to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in his youthful years.

“The trained teacher effectively combined teaching and music in the early stages of his life.”

Click to comment

Culture

Legendary American music icon Stevie Wonder becomes full Ghanaian citizen

Published

15 hours ago

May 15, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Legendary American singer and songwriter, Stevie Wonder, is now officially a Ghanaian citizen after he took an oath of allegiance administered by President Nana Akufo-Addo.

Wonder who was granted citizenship of the West African country on Monday which marked his 74th birthday, is one among a number of American celebrities who have decided to trace their family roots back to Africa.

While granting the icon the country’s citizenship with a certificate at a ceremony in the presidential palace, Akufo-Addo said it was a big honour to the country and Africa that such greats were coming back to the black continent.

He was also presented with a birthday cake with a Ghanaian flag iced on top.

After the ceremony, Wonder told the BBC that gaining Ghanaian nationality on his birthday was an “amazing thing” moment for him and his family.

The superstar was born and bred in the US state of Michigan but has long had an affinity for Ghana.

As far back as 1975, Wonder had openly expressed a desire to quit music and move to Ghana, a country he believed his ancestral lineage could be traced there while in the 1990s, he made frequent trips to the country as well as headlining a Ghanaian music festival where he again expressed a desire to set up a home there.

Wonder had, in an interview, confessed that his love affair with Ghana was ignited by the people he met whilst there including the late Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings, who in the 1990s hosted him at the presidential residence.

“I remember the late President Rawlings, who allowed me to be a co-pilot on a flight,” Wonder had said.

“I was able to fly with him from one end of Ghana to the other end. The north to the south, and it was amazing.”

Aside Stevie Wonder, other American-African celebrities who took up Ghanaian citizenship included writer, W E B Du Bois, who moved to Ghana and was buried there in 1963, while Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali all paid high-profile visits to the country to reconnect with their African roots.g

Culture

Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie fires shots at Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Asake in new single ‘Brag’

Published

3 days ago

May 13, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Ghanaian rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie, has sparked a new round of storm after he fired shots at Nigerian Afrobeats singers, Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Asake in his new single, “Brag.”

In the single which dropped on Friday, May 10, Sarkodie boasted about his 2016 sell-out performance at the O2 Arena, claiming he paved the way for the Nigerian acts.

The Ghanaian rapper said he laid the light for Nigerian Afrobeats top artistes and as such, they should be grateful to him and his pioneering role in projecting their careers.

The “Painkiller” hitmaker boasted about selling out the O2 in 2016, long before the Nigerian stars and created the platform they are now enjoying.

He went on to place himself in the same league as Grammy Award-winning Burna Boy and Ghanaian rapper, Black Sherif.

Sarkodie also stated that his main competitors in the music industry were American rappers Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, noting that he wasn’t on the same level as African rappers.

A line from the song goes:

“Wizkid came, I was already doing it, Davido started, I was improving it, then Odogwu came through Black Sherif & Asake.”

The release of “Brag” has however, elicited controversy and heated debates within the African music community, with fans weighing in on Sarkodie’s bold assertions and the perceived rivalry between him and the mentioned Nigerian artists.