Obo Addy, Artistic Director of Homowo African Arts & Cultures is a native of Ghana, West Africa. His life-long relationship with music began while watching his father’s intricate drumming. His father who was a wonche, or spiritual healer, guided spiritual ceremonies with his drumming. By the age of six, Obo made the decision to become a professional drummer. At 18, he began to live his dream when he joined his first professional band and later joined the Joe Kelly Band. the pioneer tour of Oboade, the first professional traditional Ghanaian performance troupe to tour the West. Obo left Ghana to perform with Oboade when the group represented Ghana at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany, and in 1974, when the troupe spent three months touring aboriginal settlements in Australia. The group was based in London and performed throughout the world.
Ghana has participated in
the summer Olympic Games
since 1952, but the first athlete to
represent Ghana at a winter games is soon
to occur. Alpine Skier Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampon, nicknamed the “Snow Leopard” is set to race at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
To order cd’s: www.oboaddy.com/recordings
www.cdbaby.com
or www.rhythmtraders.com
Obo, master drummer, teacher, and composer, received Oregon’s Governor’s Award for the Arts in 1993. In 1996, he was honored with the highest award given to traditional artists in the United States, the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Award.
The other performers will include: Alex Addy, Charles Armah, Mashud Neindow, and Richard Mensah Sokpor.
In 1976, Addy settled in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Ten years later, based in Portland, Oregon, he established Homowo African Arts and Cultures as a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Africa’s rich culture, with emphasis on the traditional and still evolving music and dance of Ghana. Homowo is the only group with such a mission in the northwestern United States. The organization presents Ghanaian and American artists in local performances as well as international tours and as teaching artists in educational settings with the traditionally based group Okropong.
