Nana Kwame Ampadu

Nana Kwame Ampadu was a Ghanaian highlife singer, songwriter and bandleader, and the founder of the African Brothers Band. He is credited with more than 800 songs and is counted among the greatest Ghanaian musicians of the 20th century. His best-known song is "Ebi Te Yie" (1967).

Early life

He was born Patrick Kwame Ampadu on 31 March 1945 at Obo Kwahu in the Eastern Region, to Opanyin Kwame Ampadu and Mercy Afua Ntiriwaa, both of Obo.

African Brothers Band

He formed the African Brothers Band in 1963, with Eddie Donkor among the founding members. The name answered Kwame Nkrumah's call for African unity. The group became the African Brothers International Band in 1973.

"Ebi Te Yie"

He came to national attention in 1967 with "Ebi Te Yie" ("Some are well seated"), a story of animals at a meeting in which some sit comfortably while others are pushed around. Many listeners heard it as criticism of the ruling National Liberation Council, and the song disappeared from the radio until military rule ended.

Drama, politics and honours

He toured with the S. K. Oppong Drama Group, which performed short plays at his band's concerts and later became the cast of the long-running TV drama Osofo Dadzie. His song "Obra" became the theme of the TV drama of the same name, and he wrote the theme song for the Operation Feed Yourself programme of the 1970s. In 1992 he composed a campaign song for Jerry John Rawlings's National Democratic Congress.

He won the first National Dance Band Competition in 1972. In 1973 the Arts Council of Ghana gave him the title Odwontofoohene, "chief of singers", and in 1977 he received the Grand Medal of the Volta (Civil Division).

Death

He died on 28 September 2021, aged 76, at the Legon Hospital in Accra.