Samuel Kwesi Oppong

Samuel Kwesi Oppong, known as S. K. Oppong, was a Ghanaian actor, musician and storyteller. He led the Osofo Dadzie drama group, whose Twi-language plays entertained Ghanaian television audiences on Sunday evenings for 17 years, and he was recognisable for his trademark sideburns.

Music

A guitarist and bandleader in the music business since the 1950s, he founded the S. K. Oppong Guitar Band, which toured widely and had highlife hits from around 1959, including "Obaa Kunadu", "Akwankwaa Hiani" and "Kyere Me Ade a Meye".

From concert party to Osofo Dadzie

He then founded the S. K. Oppong Drama Group, which toured with Nana Kwame Ampadu's African Brothers Band, providing the comedy and drama for its concert party shows; he became famous playing female roles. The group first appeared on television in 1972 in "Aku Sika", written by Ampadu, on the programme Anansekrom. GBC-TV then made it the station's resident drama group, and it was renamed Osofo Dadzie after its central character, a pastor who summed up each play's moral. The plays tackled corruption, nepotism and bribery and were hugely popular from the 1970s to the 1990s. Oppong often sang in them and usually played men of virtue. When Osofo Dadzie disbanded in 1989 he led the Kantata Drama Group.

Death

He died at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on 3 December 2001 after a long illness. The Information Minister, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, called him "a role model who educated Ghanaians through the arts". He was buried at the Osu Cemetery.