Koo Nimo | |
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 Portrait of Koo Nimo | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kwabena Boa-Amponsem |
| Born | Foase, Ashanti Region Ghana |
| Origin | Accra, Ghana |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | Late 1950s–present |
Koo Nimo (born Kwabena Boa-Amponsem [1] on 3 October 1934), [2] baptized Daniel Amponsah [1] is a leading folk musician of Palm wine music or Highlife music from Ghana. [3] [4]
Born in the village of Foase, in the Atwima District of the Ashanti Region in Ghana, West Africa, he worked in various jobs in science and medical-related fields while maintaining his interest in music. In 1957, when the former British colony of the Gold Coast became the independent country of Ghana, Koo Nimo first received national acclaim through the formation of the Addadam Agofomma ensemble. Many of his songs tell traditional stories and are sung in the Twi language. Along with one or two guitars and vocals, the traditional Ashanti palm wine ensemble consists of traditional instruments of West Africa, including the apentemma and the donno, the frikyiwa (metal castanet), the prempensua (rhumba box), the ntorwa (hollow gourd rattle with beads or seeds woven around it on a net), and the nnawuta (consisting of two iron bells that provide the key rhythmic pattern) or dawuro (banana-shaped bell).
In 1990, eight of Koo's songs were released as a compact disk entitled Osabarima. This was the first work by a Ghanaian artist to be put on CD. [5] In January 1992, at Columbia University, New York, USA, Andrew L. Kaye presented his dissertation entitled "Koo Nimo and his circle: A Ghanaian Musician in Ethnomusicological Perspective" and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree for his work.
In 1998, he was employed as a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, for two years, before taking a similar position at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. [6]
In 2006, Koo Nimo moved back to Ghana, to the city of Kumasi. He appeared in a January 2007 episode of the American travel show Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations , where he is shown playing music, discussing his music, and enjoying a lunch of stewed greater cane rat with host Anthony Bourdain. [7]
In 1979, in recognition of his services to Ghanaian music as performer, teacher and administrator, Koo Nimo was elected President of MUSIGA (the Musicians' Union of Ghana). His countrymen appreciated not only his music, but his love and respect for tradition. In 1985 Koo Nimo was appointed interim chairman of COSGA, the Copyright Society of Ghana. More recently he has been made an honorary life member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, along with such distinguished names as Professor J. H. K. Nketia and John Collins.
In February 1991, in recognition of his services to music and to his country, Koo Nimo received the prestigious Asanteman award from the Asantehene. In March, he received the Flagstar Award from ECRAG (Entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana). In 1991, he was invited to serve on the National Folklore Board of Trustees.
In March 1997, the Ghana government celebrated the 40th Anniversary of independence by awarding gold medals to forty of its distinguished citizens, one of whom was Koo Nimo. This was in recognition of his efforts to preserve traditional culture. In the next month he received the Konkoma Award for his contribution to Ghanaian Highlife Music.
He was recognized and awarded at the maiden Entertainment Achievement Awards. He was awarded for his unbridled contribution to the Ghanaian music industry, for over decades of great contribution to the Ghana Music. [8] Sometime in 2017, the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) awarded Koo Nimo through their Music Department, he was honored with a Life Time Achievement Award.
Koo Nimo received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 Vodafone Ghana Music Awards in Accra for his contribution to the Ghanaian music industry. [9]
Highlife is a Ghanaian music genre that originated along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It encompasses multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional African music, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and guitars which lead the band and its use of the two-finger plucking guitar style that is typical of African music. Recently it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound.
There are many styles of traditional and modern music of Ghana, due to Ghana's worldwide geographic position on the African continent.
George Darko was a Ghanaian burger-highlife musician, guitarist, vocalist, composer and songwriter, who was on the music scene from the late 1960s. A native of Akropong, Ghana, Darko was popular in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and his songs are some of the most timeless and enduring highlife tracks in Ghana's music circles. Some of his contemporaries include Ben Brako, C.K. Mann, Daddy Lumba, Ernest Nana Acheampong, Nana Kwame Ampadu and Pat Thomas, among others. He was widely considered to be one of the pioneers of burger-highlife with his first hit "Ako Te Brofo" which was released in 1983. The song remains popular among Ghanaians both at home and abroad, and is still played at funerals and parties.
Palm-wine music is a West African musical genre. It evolved among the Kru people of Liberia and Sierra Leone, who used Portuguese guitars brought by sailors, combining local melodies and rhythms with Trinidadian calypso to create a "light, easy, lilting style". It would initially work its way inland where it would adopt a more traditional style than what was played in coastal areas.
Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian Akan language, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity in the 2010s throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Germany.
Daddy Lumba is a Ghanaian singer-songwriter and musician and has about 34 albums to his name. Born Charles Kwadwo Fosuh, he is widely regarded as the greatest Ghanaian musician of all time.
John Collins is a UK-born guitarist, harmonica player and percussionist who first went to Ghana as a child in 1952 for a brief period and later became involved in the West African music scene after returning to Ghana in 1969. He is a naturalised Ghanaian.
Nimo or NIMO may mean:
Ebo Taylor is a Ghanaian guitarist, composer, bandleader, record producer and arranger focusing on highlife and afrobeat music.
The seperewa, also known as seprewa or sanku, is a Ghanaian harp-lute, similar to the Dagaare/Sisaala koriduo, the Mandé kora, the Gere duu, and Baoule aloko.
Kwame Nsiah-Apau, known by his stage name Okyeame Kwame and nicknamed Rap Doctor, is a Ghanaian musician, songwriter, creative director and a Developmental Activist. His dual roles as an artist and an activist have led to his recognition as an "artivist."
Teddy Osei is a musician and saxophone player from Ghana. Osei is best known as the leader of the Afro-pop band Osibisa, founded in 1969. Born in Kumasi, Osei was introduced to musical instruments while still a child. He began to play the saxophone while attempting to create a band with his college friends in the coastal city of Sekondi. After graduating from college, he worked as a building inspector for a year before creating a band called "The Comets." The Comets enjoyed brief popularity before Osei traveled to London in 1962. He received a grant from the Ghanaian government to study at a private music and drama school for three years, before being forced to leave by a regime change in Ghana. In 1969, he founded Osibisa along with several other musicians. The band remained popular through the 1970s, before experiencing a decline, although it continues to perform today.
Nana Kwame Ampadu was a Ghanaian musician and composer credited with numerous popular highlife tracks and he is known to have composed over 800 songs. He was also known as Adwomtofo Nyinaa hempɔn. Ampadu was the lead singer, chief songwriter, and founder of the "African Brothers Band". He is regarded as a pioneer of highlife and afrobeat music and one of the most illustrious Ghanaian musicians of the 20th century.
Gyedu-Blay Ambolley is a Ghanaian highlife musician, songwriter, producer, and composer. The first musician from Ghana and the world to formally incorporate rap forms into local highlife rhythms, Ambolley created the musical genre Simigwa.
Samuel Ofori Amponsah, also known by the name Mr. All 4 Real, is a Ghanaian singer-songwriter from Agogo, Ashanti Region, Ghana. Throughout his career, he has released fourteen solo albums, the most recent being "Million Dollar," which was released in 2020. He is regarded as one of Ghana's best 21st-century highlife musicians.
Benjamin Paapa Kofi Yankson, known as Paapa Yankson was a Ghanaian highlife singer, songwriter, and producer. He recorded two dozen albums during his career; his hit songs included "Wiase Mu Nsem", "Show Your Love", "Wo Yere Anaa Wo Maame", and "Tena Menkyen". He won multiple awards, including Best Composition for his song "Yaaba" at the 1997 Konkomba Awards. He was a recipient of the Grand Medal of Ghana for his contribution to Ghanaian music.
Charles Kofi Amankwaa Mann, known as C. K. Mann, was a Ghanaian highlife musician and producer. His music career spanned over four decades; he won multiple awards for his songs. He was awarded the Grand Medal of Ghana by John Agyekum Kufour in 2006.
Kofi Boakye Yiadom, known by his stage name Kofi B, was a Ghanaian highlife musician. He was known for songs such as "Mmobrowa", "Bantama Kofi Boakye" and "Koforidua Flowers", among others. He was inspired by the likes of Amakye Dede, Kojo Antwi and Ofori Amponsah.
Marx Morris Twumasi, known as Morris Babyface or Morris D’Voice Lovit is a Ghanaian music producer, singer and songwriter who hails from the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Morris is known to have recorded most prominent artist in Ghana with the likes of Pat Thomas, Kojo Antwi, Obour, Ofori Amponsah, A. B. Crentstil, Kontihene, Okomfoo Kwadee, Esther Smith, Nana Ama, Obrafour, Lord Kenya etc.
Kwame Gyasi (1929–2012) was a Ghanaian highlife musician. He originated the Sikyi highlife sub-genre which combined electric organ with the known highlife genres.
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