Edikanfo African Super Band to regroup

Ghanaians old enough to remember the showbiz scene of the late 1970s and the early 1980s in Ghana will not fail to remember Edikanfo African Super Band.

Nicknamed The Pacesetters, Edikanfo knocked on the door of world fame, and possible fortune, when it recorded and released in 1981 the album ‘Roots of Highlife’ and the hit song ‘Nka Bom.’

Just when the sky was the limit for this dynamic band, the coup de tat of the last day of 1981 put the brakes on the band’s successes when for years Ghana had to endure night curfews and the business of dance band, being largely a night time activity, found the members unable to ply their trade and therefore had to leave the country.

Well, the good news is that the band is regrouping this year and already gigs have been lined up for it to perform in Germany in the summer.

“We’ll be going into the studio in February to record fresh songs,” bassist and songwriter Gilbert Amartey Amar, popularly known as Chikinchee told ghanbusinessnews.com last Friday in a telephone interview from his base in Amsterdam, Holland.

Already, German producer Markus Coester who is digitizing music for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation has expressed interest in working with the band and there are plans to record previously unreleased material, as well as new material, and embark on a tour.

The English producer Brian Eno was the one who produced the band’s very successful album in 1981 and was released and distributed worldwide by EG Music.

Also, Mick Fleetwood and Fleetwood Mac followed up to Ghana to shoot the musical film ‘The Visitor’ with the band.

The band’s members are now based in different parts of the world and are involved in different music projects.

Band leader and trumpet player Osei Tutu and Paa Akrashie (saxophone) are in Ghana, bass player Gilbert Amartey Amar, lives in Amsterdam, keyboard player Ismael Odai is based in London, drummer and lead singer George Williams lives in Scotland and percussionist Albert Williams lives in the USA.

Unfortunately, guitarist Kwesi Okran, percussionist and master drum player William Quist, as well as Faisal Helwani, who formed the band, have all passed on.

The group says Kwesi Okran and William Quist will be replaced.

Available information on the internet indicates that Edinkanfo’s music is in demand as fans keep asking where and how to find their CD.

Stay tuned.

By Baba Abdulai