Averagenoon (talk | contribs) |
No edit summary Tags: Reverted Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit |
||
Line 24: | Line 24: | ||
In [[Ghana]] in the 1950s, [[Teddy Osei]] (saxophone), Sol Amarfio (drums), Mamon Shareef, and Farhan Freere ([[flute]]) played in a [[highlife]] band called The Star Gazers.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=924}}</ref> They left to form The Comets, with Osei's brother Mac Tontoh on trumpet, and scored a hit in West Africa with their 1958 song "(I feel) Pata Pata."<ref name="Larkin"/> In 1962, Osei moved to London to study music on a scholarship from the Ghanaian government. In 1964, he formed Cat's Paw, an early "world music" band that combined highlife, rock, and soul. In 1969, he persuaded Amarfio and Tontoh to join him in London, and Osibisa was born.<ref name="Larkin"/> |
In [[Ghana]] in the 1950s, [[Teddy Osei]] (saxophone), Sol Amarfio (drums), Mamon Shareef, and Farhan Freere ([[flute]]) played in a [[highlife]] band called The Star Gazers.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=924}}</ref> They left to form The Comets, with Osei's brother Mac Tontoh on trumpet, and scored a hit in West Africa with their 1958 song "(I feel) Pata Pata."<ref name="Larkin"/> In 1962, Osei moved to London to study music on a scholarship from the Ghanaian government. In 1964, he formed Cat's Paw, an early "world music" band that combined highlife, rock, and soul. In 1969, he persuaded Amarfio and Tontoh to join him in London, and Osibisa was born.<ref name="Larkin"/> |
||
Joining them in the first incarnation were [[Grenada|Grenadian]] Spartacus R (bass); [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] Robert Bailey (keyboard); [[Antigua]]n Wendell Richardson (lead guitar and lead vocalist); Nigerians Mike Odumosu and Fred Coker (bass guitar) and Lasisi Amao (percussionist and [[tenor saxophone]]).<ref name="Larkin"/> The |
Joining them in the first incarnation were [[Grenada|Grenadian]] Spartacus R (bass); [[Trinidad and Tobago|Trinidadian]] Robert Bailey (keyboard); [[Antigua]]n Wendell Richardson (lead guitar and lead vocalist); Nigerians Mike Odumosu and Fred Coker (bass guitar) and Lasisi Amao (percussionist and [[tenor saxophone]]).<ref name="Larkin"/> The Beautiful Seven recorded three albums for MCA, Osibisa, the self titled debut, and Woyaya, both produced by Tony Visconti, both issued with covers designed by Roger Dean and both released in 1971. The third album Heads was released in 1972 and graced a cover designed by Mati Klarwein who had designed Santana’s Abraxas cover in 1970. |
||
Richardson, Spartacus and Amao departed in 1972. Richardson to join rock band Free, Spartacus for his own projects and Amao would form Zzebra. |
|||
Osei replaced Richardson with Gordon Hunte for the bands forth studio offering (and first soundtrack album) Superfly TNT which was released in early 1973. Bailey departed at the end of these sessions. |
|||
The band were then signed to Warner Brothers for a two album deal with Happy Children being recorded in London’s Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park. Interestingly this album featured no guitar players. For the follow up album Osibirock released in 1974 Osei recruited welsh guitarist Paul Golly. |
|||
In early 1975 Osibisa who were now signed to Gerry Bron’s Bronze Records released Welcome Home which featured Wendell Richardson who had been convinced by new members Kiki Gyan and Kofi Aviyor to visit the studio (Roundhouse) whist they were laying down tracks for the bands seventh studio effort. This included adding his beautiful and sublime vocals to Sunshine Day which became a world wide hit. |
|||
The band spent much of the 1970s touring the world, playing to large audiences in Japan, Australia, India, and Africa. During this time Paul Golly (guitar) and Ghanaians Daku Adams "Potato" and [[Kiki Gyan]] were also members of the band. In 1980, Osibisa performed at a special Zimbabwean independence celebration, and in 1983 were filmed onstage at the [[Marquee Club]] in London. |
|||
Osibisa had an important series of gigs in India in 1981 culminating in the release of the ''Unleashed - Live in India'' album. The band engaged in a return to India performing at the November Fest 2010 on 28 November 2010, at the Corporation Kalaiarangam in [[Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 April 2006|title=2006 seminars at Musical Workshop Labyrinth, Crete, Greece|url=http://worldmusiccentral.org/2006/04/04/2006-seminars-at-musical-workshop-labyrinth-crete-greece/|access-date=18 April 2016|website=Worldmusiccentral.org}}</ref> |
Osibisa had an important series of gigs in India in 1981 culminating in the release of the ''Unleashed - Live in India'' album. The band engaged in a return to India performing at the November Fest 2010 on 28 November 2010, at the Corporation Kalaiarangam in [[Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=4 April 2006|title=2006 seminars at Musical Workshop Labyrinth, Crete, Greece|url=http://worldmusiccentral.org/2006/04/04/2006-seminars-at-musical-workshop-labyrinth-crete-greece/|access-date=18 April 2016|website=Worldmusiccentral.org}}</ref> |
Revision as of 09:21, 22 November 2021
Osibisa | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Also known as | O-S-I-B-I-S-A, Osi Bisa, Osibisi, Osibissa, オシビサ |
Origin | London, England. Accra, Ghana. |
Genres | Afro Rock |
Years active | 1969–present |
Labels | MCA Records, Bronze, Island, Decca (US), Warner Bros., Red Steel, Flying Elephant, BGO |
Website | Official website |
Osibisa are a Ghanaian-English Afro Rock band, founded in London in 1969 by four expatriate West African and three Caribbean musicians.[1] Their music is a fusion of African, rock, highlife, Caribbean, jazz rock, funk, Latin and even some traces of R&B and Prog.
Osibisa were the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in London, alongside such contemporaries as Assagai, Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, Demon Fuzz, and Noir, and were largely responsible for the establishment of world music and Afro-Rock as a marketable genre.
The original band which featured on the first three studio albums were universally known as The Beautiful Seven.
History
In Ghana in the 1950s, Teddy Osei (saxophone), Sol Amarfio (drums), Mamon Shareef, and Farhan Freere (flute) played in a highlife band called The Star Gazers.[2] They left to form The Comets, with Osei's brother Mac Tontoh on trumpet, and scored a hit in West Africa with their 1958 song "(I feel) Pata Pata."[2] In 1962, Osei moved to London to study music on a scholarship from the Ghanaian government. In 1964, he formed Cat's Paw, an early "world music" band that combined highlife, rock, and soul. In 1969, he persuaded Amarfio and Tontoh to join him in London, and Osibisa was born.[2]
Joining them in the first incarnation were Grenadian Spartacus R (bass); Trinidadian Robert Bailey (keyboard); Antiguan Wendell Richardson (lead guitar and lead vocalist); Nigerians Mike Odumosu and Fred Coker (bass guitar) and Lasisi Amao (percussionist and tenor saxophone).[2] The Beautiful Seven recorded three albums for MCA, Osibisa, the self titled debut, and Woyaya, both produced by Tony Visconti, both issued with covers designed by Roger Dean and both released in 1971. The third album Heads was released in 1972 and graced a cover designed by Mati Klarwein who had designed Santana’s Abraxas cover in 1970.
Richardson, Spartacus and Amao departed in 1972. Richardson to join rock band Free, Spartacus for his own projects and Amao would form Zzebra.
Osei replaced Richardson with Gordon Hunte for the bands forth studio offering (and first soundtrack album) Superfly TNT which was released in early 1973. Bailey departed at the end of these sessions.
The band were then signed to Warner Brothers for a two album deal with Happy Children being recorded in London’s Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park. Interestingly this album featured no guitar players. For the follow up album Osibirock released in 1974 Osei recruited welsh guitarist Paul Golly.
In early 1975 Osibisa who were now signed to Gerry Bron’s Bronze Records released Welcome Home which featured Wendell Richardson who had been convinced by new members Kiki Gyan and Kofi Aviyor to visit the studio (Roundhouse) whist they were laying down tracks for the bands seventh studio effort. This included adding his beautiful and sublime vocals to Sunshine Day which became a world wide hit.
The band spent much of the 1970s touring the world, playing to large audiences in Japan, Australia, India, and Africa. During this time Paul Golly (guitar) and Ghanaians Daku Adams "Potato" and Kiki Gyan were also members of the band. In 1980, Osibisa performed at a special Zimbabwean independence celebration, and in 1983 were filmed onstage at the Marquee Club in London.
Osibisa had an important series of gigs in India in 1981 culminating in the release of the Unleashed - Live in India album. The band engaged in a return to India performing at the November Fest 2010 on 28 November 2010, at the Corporation Kalaiarangam in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.[3]
Changes in the music industry meant declining sales for the band, and a series of label changes resulted. The band returned to Ghana to set up a recording studio and theatre complex to help younger highlife musicians.
In the 1990s, their music was anthologised in many CD collections, with some of them allegedly unauthorised and paying no royalties whatsoever to the band. This has been disputed by Osei however who, along with Amarfio and Tontoh, ran the band from the 1980s onwards. In the early 1990s, Osei regrouped the band, and many of their past releases began coming out properly and legally on CD. This included a remaster series with bonus material and various new releases of hitherto unreleased material and live concerts on the Red Steel / Flying Elephant label collaboration.
Work progressed on new material culminating in the 1996 release of Monsore, the first album of new material since the late 1980s. The revitalised band continued to tour and record fairly consistently until Osei's stroke some fifteen years later. Osei cut back his touring schedule due to the effects of his illness.
Various new recording and release projects were carried out from the mid-1990s onwards with remastered, remixed and re-recorded projects seeing the light of day on a fairly consistent basis. This included previously unreleased material from the African Flight period, the incomplete follow up which had a working title of 'African Dawn', live projects including the band's fourth official live offering, Aka Ka Kra. A new studio album, Osee Yee was released in 2009.
After the removal of personnel by Osei in 2014/15, a new recording project with Osei at the helm commenced in late 2015, shortly after the successful placement of material that was chosen for Richard Linklater's, Boyhood. However, apart from one track included on the band's 2020 The Boyhood Sessions album, these recordings featuring Osei remain unreleased to date.
The name Osibisa was described in lyrics, album notes and interviews as meaning "criss-cross rhythms that explode with happiness" but it actually comes from "osibisaba" the Fante word for highlife.[4][5] Ace Ghanaian hip-hop music producer Hammer of The Last Two stated that his debut production, Obrafour's Pae Mu Ka album, the highest selling hiplife album to date, was inspired by a single song ("Welcome Home") by Osibisa. He also had the chance to work with Kiki Gyan a few days before his death.
Album covers
Their first two albums featured artwork by the progressive-rock artist Roger Dean (before he became widely known for his artwork), depicting the flying elephants which became the symbol for the band. The third album, Heads, features a cover by Mati Klarwein, known for his covers of Santana’s Abraxas and Miles Davis (Bitches Brew). Osibirock, the band's sixth studio release featured "Negro Attacked by a Jaguar" (1910) by Henri Rousseau. Playing on the original flying elephants theme, the Ultimate Collection set features elephants with tank turrets for heads, an early Roger Dean idea reborn for the project. In 2009, their Osee Yee album featured the flying elephants once more, this time painted by Freyja Dean (Dean's daughter). Roger Dean's logo for the band continues to be used on many of the releases comprising classic material. Artwork for many of the reissues and 1990s material onwards was put together by Frank McPartland and the designer Rachel Gutek.
Musicians
- Saxophone: Teddy Osei (born 1937)
- Trumpet: Mac Tontoh (born Kweku Adabanka Tonto, 1940–2010),[6][7] Colin Graham,[8]
- Flute: Abdul Loughty Lasisi Amao (died 1988)[9]
Discography
Studio albums
- 1971 – Osibisa – (Billboard Hot 200 No. 55 – UK No. 11 – Can.#49, AUS #13[10])
- 1971 – Woyaya – (Billboard No. 66 – UK No. 11 – Can.#61, AUS #15[10]) - Although conventionally spelled Woyaya, the title is actually Wɔyaya (with an open-o), which comes from the Ghanaian Ga language.[citation needed]
- 1972 – Heads – (Billboard No. 125 – Can.#86, AUS #19[10])
- 1973 – Superfly T.N.T. Soundtrack (Billboard #159)
- 1973 – Happy Children (Billboard #202, AUS #46[10])
- 1974 – Osibirock (Billboard #175, AUS #67[10])
- 1975 – Welcome Home (Billboard #200, AUS #75[10])
- 1976 – Ojah Awake
- 1979 – Mystic Energy
- 1980 – Celebration
- 1981 – African Flight
- 1983 – African Dawn (unreleased)
- 1989 – Movements
- 1990 – African Criss Cross
- 1995 – Monsore
- 1998 – Urban Village (unreleased)
- 2003 – African Dawn, African Flight
- 2004 – Wango Wango
- 2009 – Osee Yee
- 2021 – New Dawn[11]
Live albums
- 1977 – Black Magic Night: Live at the Royal Festival Hall
- 1982 – Unleashed - Live in India
- 1984 – Live at The Marquee
- 1998 – Live at Cropredy
- 2001 – Aka Kakra
- 2005 – Blue Black Night
Compilations
- 1972 – Spirits Up Above
- 1973 – Best of Osibisa (AUS #88[10])
- 1981 – Osibisa Likes (India only)
- 1992 – Africa We Go Go
- 1992 – Uhuru
- 1992 – The Warrior
- 1992 – Ayiko Bia
- 1992 – Jambo
- 1992 – Gold
- 1992 – Celebration: The Best of Osibisa
- 1992 – Criss Cross Rhythms
- 1994 – The Very Best of Osibisa
- 1997 – Hot Flashback Volume 1
- 1997 – Sunshine Day: The Very Best of Osibisa
- 1997 – The Ultimate Collection (2 CDs)
- 1999 – The Best of Osibisa
- 2001 – Best of Vol.1
- 2001 – The Very Best of Osibisa (3 CDs)
- 2002 – Millennium Collection
- 2002 – Best of Osibisa
- 2008 – Selected Works
- 2008 – Sunshine Day: The Hits
- 2009 – The Very Best of Osibisa
- 2015 – Singles As, Bs & 12 Inches Box Set (4xCD)
- 2020 – Sunshine Day: The Boyhood Sessions (50th Anniversary Edition)
- Contributing artist
Videography
- 1983 – Warrior (VHS) (recorded 5 April 1983 at the Marquee Club, London)
- 2003 – Osibisa – Live (DVD Plus) (same show as above)
- 2012 – Live from the Marquee Club (same show as above)
Literature
- Lloyd Bradley, Sounds Like London: 100 Years of Black Music in the Capital, 2013. (Contributors)
- Charles Aniagolu: Osibisa – Living In The State Of Happy Vibes And Criss Cross Rhythms. Victoria (CDN): Trafford Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1-4120-2106-5.
- Brigitte Tast, Hans-Jürgen Tast be bop – Die Wilhelmshöhe rockt. Disco und Konzerte in der Hölle, Verlag Gebrüder Gerstenberg GmbH & Co. KG, Hildesheim, ISBN 978-3-8067-8589-0.
References
- ^ "OSIBISA: FULL ILLUSTRATED BIOGRAPHY". Modernghana.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 924. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
- ^ "2006 seminars at Musical Workshop Labyrinth, Crete, Greece". Worldmusiccentral.org. 4 April 2006. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ "OSIBISA". Donaldclarkemusicbox.com. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
- ^ "Ghana Base dot Com | The Ghanaian Highlife Music Story". Ghanabase.com. 19 April 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
- ^ "Osibisa Founder, Teddy Osei's Last Tribute To Mac Tontoh". Ghanaweb.com. 12 October 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ "Mac Tontoh – Godfather of Music". Modernghana.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ "The Official OSIBISA Website – Colin Graham profile". Osibisa.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016.[dead link]
- ^ "Abdul Lasisi Amao | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 226. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ Needs, Kris (23 April 2021). "Osibisa - New Dawn review". Loudersound.com. Retrieved 2 October 2021.