God blessed Gold Coast with a brilliant talent on Saturday, 31 March 1945, when Nana Kwame Ampadu was born. The legendary highlife musician has been credited with a popular genre of music known as Highlife Music and is one of the most celebrated Ghanaian musicians of the 20th century.
The mythical highlife musician has received several honours with several popular highlife tracks. He is known to have penned over 800 songs.
He came to prestige in 1967 when he released his song Ebi Te Yie (“Some Are Well Seated”), which was perceived as an integral of the then-governing National Liberation Council (NLC), which toppled Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah.
The song disappeared from the airwaves, only returning after the end of military rule. Nana Ampadu was one time President of MUSIGA and was also the leader of the African Brothers Band, formed in 1963.
Serendipitously, the Saturday born kicked the bucket also on Saturday(September 28, 2021). Over 365 days after his sudden death, he finally goes back to meet his Creator in his eternal home this Saturday(October 8, 2022).
Hundreds of Ghanaians have gathered at the state house to pay their last tribute to the legendary highlife musician. Dignitaries like President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo were present at the ceremony with a team including the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin and the Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery.
Nana Akufo-Addo who emergently met the National House of Chiefs at the Manhyia Palace to address issues on ‘galamsey’ on Wednesday, said that the singer also played an instrumental role in the success of the 2016 electoral campaign.
“The outpouring of grief by many Ghanaians, following the news of his death, is an appreciation of the impact his music had on successive generations of Ghanaians. Nana Ampadu believed in my vision for the transformation of Ghana and assisted me tremendously on the campaign trail in the run-up to my victory in the elections of 2016, for which I remain eternally grateful”, the president stated.
Hotfmghana.com has learnt that the burial and final funeral rites will be held in his home town Obo Kwahu in the Eastern Region on October 8, 2022.
