Obo Addy

Obo Addy was one of the most talented master drummers from Ghana and pioneer of worldbeat drumming-musical genre. He was versatile magician of the drums, arguably one of the best master drummers to walk on earth in drumming sainthood with the bests like Kofi Ghanaba, Okyerema Asante, Glen Ghanaba among others. Addy`s skillful talent made him international icon and he succeeded to become an international ward-winning composer, brilliant musician, and skilled teacher. Obo Addy embodies the past, present and future of Ghana's musical culture. As a master in the traditional music and dance of the many cultures in Ghana, it is no accident that Obo Addy was seen as musical bridge by the industry gurus. 

He was one of the key originators of the seminal musical movement now known as "Worldbeat." He is remembered as a prominent member of the first generation of African musicians to bring their traditional and popular music to Europe and America. An original and respected composer, Addy`s music reached far beyond the boundaries of his land of birth, Ghana. He had had a forty-year presence on the international performing arts scene and became known for his ability to celebrate past traditions while expanding to embrace new ideas and foreign influences through his music and community outreach work as director of "The Obo Addy Legacy Project." 

Obo compiled many songs that had previously been recorded and changed the arrangements in addition to new songs. He worked at Falcon Studios in the U.S. and then took the tracks to Ghana to add additional vocals and a rapper from the Ga culture. His album including Afieye Okropong released for Alula Records which features traditional songs with traditional and contemporary compositions such as "The Earth Loves You" with lyrics in Ga, French, Japanese and German, a "call to arms" to honor and protect the world we live in. He released "Wonche Bi", "Let Me Play My Drums" a global fusion of Obo Addy and Kukrudu, which carries the imagination and penetrates the muscles with the future world beat.
 
The lively arrangements create drama on the grand scale of a big jazz, with sustained, brassy horn lines rising from elegy to punchy crescendo while complex and compelling rhythms of the expressive hand drums-the music's throbbing heart – surge to the fore. Another Obo Addy album is "The Rhythm Of Which A Chief Walks Gracefully" which celebrates past traditions while eagerly embracing new ideas and foreign influences with tracks such as "Adru Ku Adru" and "Drum Talk." He also released album such as "Okropong" featuring tracks like Kpatsa/Toke, Gome, and Osoide. A number of the newer songs feature the ethereal sounds of the Giri or African Xylophone, representing the finest in traditional recordings. Extensive liner notes. 

The champion master drummer Obo Addy was born on January 15, 1936 in Accra, the capital of Ghana. His spiritual-herbalist father, Jacob Kpani Addy had a massive liquid fire in his waist and Obo Addy was one of 55 children he produced to bless mother earth (shifkpon). Spiritualist-Herbalist Jacob Kpani Addy was well known for integrating rhythmic music into healing and other rituals. Thus his younger son, Obo Addy was designated by as a master drummer by the age of six. Obo attended school and mixed his classroom educational studies with domestic drum training. "When I was about four years old, I was watching my father dancing, and my older brothers were drumming, and the next day was when I really started playing what I heard", Addy told Oregon ArtBeat in 2004. 

Addy's earliest musical influence was the traditional music of his ethnic Ga people, but he was also influenced as an adolescent by popular music from Europe and the United States. He got his professional start in Ghana by playing with the Joe Kelly Band, the Ghana Broadcasting Band, and the Farmer's Council Band, which played popular American and European music and the dance music of Ghana known as highlife.

The Arts Council of Ghana hired Addy in 1969, and he received his first international exposure at the Munich Summer Olympics in 1972. He then moved to London and spent six years touring internationally until 1978, when he relocated to Portland. There he met and married his wife Susan, who began managing his musical career. A vigorous supporter of world music, Addy was extremely active in bringing that style of music to Portland and Oregon. He maintained two different ensembles: Okropong, which shares traditional instrumentation, using hand and stick drums, bells, and shakers to create a layered rhythmic effect; and Kukrudu, an eight-piece African jazz group that relies on a mix of European and African instruments.

Through numerous in-school residencies, performances and workshops, Addy affected hundreds of thousands of lives in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Addy's charismatic spirit, rapid-fire hands, and powerful voice led him to receive the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts under President Bill Clinton in 1996. This is the highest honor a traditional artist can receive in America. Obo was the first African born artist to ever receive the award. He also received the Governors Award for the Arts in Oregon, The Masters Fellowship from the Regional Arts and Culture Council and the Masters Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission. To crown it all, He was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2007.

He was a member of the faculty at Lewis & Clark College, and the artistic director of the Obo Addy Legacy Project, formerly known as the Homowo African Arts and Cultures, a not-for-profit organization founded by the Addys in 1986 as a virtual cultural center with offerings in schools, parks, community centers and performance venues all over the country. The organization put on an annual Homowo Festival in Portland for nearly 15 years with music and dance, food, vendors and art demonstrations from various countries within the continent of Africa and the African Diaspora. In 1992, he was commissioned by The Kronos Quartet to compose "Wawshishijay" for the album "Pieces of Africa". 

Obo Addy developed liver cancer in 2007, but he defied it to play music to the very end, joining with family, friends and musicians from throughout his life for a few last jam sessions in his final days. He passed away in September 13, 2012 at the age of 76 with music filling his ears.

Okyerema Asante, the great master drummer and the living legend upon hearing the death of Obo Addy observed that when "NDREW CERRYL, The renowned American JAZZ drummer and percussionist invited me to play with his group 'THE PIECES OF A STICK ' at the GUELPH JAZZ FESTIVAL in GUELPH CANADA. The group featuring four master percussionists, two from the United States, ANDREW CERRYL, and FAMOUDU DAN MOYE of the renowned ARTS ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO, OBO ADDY ,and OKYEREMA ASANTE from Ghana. It took Guelph Jazz festival to bring these four masters together as a group. History was made at Guelph Jazz festival six years ago. This can never be repeated because OBO can never be replaced. REST IN PEACE my brother .DA YIE."

Addy leaves behind his wife, Susan; children, Alex Addy, Brenda Addy, Akuyea Anupa Addy, Akuyea Bibio Addy, Akuyea Regina Addy and Kordai Addy; stepdaughter Debbe Hamada (Bill Andrews) and stepson Dan Hamada (Judy); brothers Yacub Addy, Oko Thompson, Ismaila Addy and Mustapha Tettey Addy; and nine grandchildren.