Kwabena Onyina

Kwabena Onyina, known as King Onyina, was a Ghanaian highlife guitarist, composer and bandleader who shaped guitar-band highlife from the 1950s. He brought jazz harmonies and classical ideas into the style and influenced a generation of musicians, among them his nephew Pat Thomas.

Early life and first band

He was born on 15 March 1932 in Agona, in the Ashanti Region, and started playing guitar at 16. His first group, the Cooler's Band, was renamed Onyina's Guitar Band in 1953 under its manager Daniel Kyei, and made its first recordings for Decca the same year.

"King" Onyina

He earned the title "King" by winning a national guitar band competition in Accra in 1961. In 1963 he travelled with a cultural delegation accompanying President Kwame Nkrumah to Mali, Tunisia, Poland and the Soviet Union, alongside E. K. Nyame and the Broadway Dance Band, and in 1964 he played in London at a concert organised by the Ghana Musicians Union.

Music

Besides guitar he played piano, trumpet, saxophone and organ, and wrote songs in Twi and English on love, society and Pan-African themes. His best-known compositions include "Wiase Nsem Adoso", "Odo Ye Owu", "Lumumba", "Nantiyie", "Ohia Asoma Wo" and "The Destiny of Africa". Musicians he influenced include Dr K. Gyasi, T. D. B. Agyekum, Ofori Dominos and Otis Asamoah.

Later life and death

He served as Ashanti regional chairman of the Musicians Union of Ghana until ill health forced him to step down, and he campaigned for musicians' copyright. He died in his hometown in May 2010, aged 78.