Pat Thomas | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Nana Kwabena Amo Mensah |
Also known as | Paa Thomas, Nana Amoo-Mensah I |
Born | Agona, Gold Coast | August 14, 1946
Genres | Highlife |
Pat Thomas (born Nana Kwabena Amo Mensah; [1] August 14, 1946) is a Ghanaian vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known for his work in highlife bands of Ebo Taylor. [2]
Pat Thomas was born in Agona, Gold Coast (now in the Central Region of Ghana). His father was a music theory instructor and his mother a bandleader [3] .
He started his musical career in the 1960s when he collaborated with Ebo Taylor. [4] In 1974, he formed the band "Sweet Beans" and with them, he recorded his first album False lover. He recorded his second album "Pat Thomas Introduces Marijata" with the band Marijata. [5] After the coup in Ghana in 1979, he relocated to Berlin and later settled in Canada. He is now touring worldwide with his Kwashibu Area Band. In June 2015 they released the album Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band [6] to mark 50 years of his musical career. [7] Thomas is known as "The Golden Voice Of Africa".[ by whom? ] Thomas sings in Fante Language.[ citation needed ]
In the year 2015, the Pat Thomas and Kwashibu Area Band self-titled album was listed by AllMusic as one of the "Favorite Latin and World Albums". [8]
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.
Osibisa is a British-Ghanaian-Caribbean Afro-rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London based Caribbean musicians.
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.
Afro rock is a style of rock music that incorporates African influences, blending elements of Western rock with traditional African rhythms, melodies, and instrumentation. Emerging in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Afro rock reflected a dynamic interplay between the global popularity of rock music and the rich musical heritage of Africa. Prominent Afro rock bands and artists from this period include Osibisa, Assagai, and the Lafayette Afro Rock Band.
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.
Emmanuel Tettey Mensah, was a Ghanaian musician who was regarded as the "King of Highlife" music. He led The Tempos, a band that toured widely in West Africa.
Nana Richard Abiona, better known by his stage name Fuse ODG, is a Ghanaian-English singer, songwriter and rapper. He came to attention with his first Top-10 song on the UK singles chart, "Antenna", and for his second last Top-10 on that chart, "Dangerous Love". He also featured on Major Lazer's "Light It Up (Remix)", which reached No. 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 2016.
Ebo Taylor is a Ghanaian guitarist, composer, bandleader, record producer and arranger focusing on highlife and afrobeat music.
Kwame Yeboah is a Ghanaian musician, guitarist, keyboardist, producer, recording- engineer and multi-instrumentalist. Originally from a village in Western Ghana, his love for music led him all around the world working with international artists and back to his home country where he operated his recording studio, Mixstation until early 2017 and is gaining reputation with bands under his name and supervision such as his band Ohia b3y3 ya.
Kojo Antwi, also known as "Mr. Music Man", is a Ghanaian Afro pop, highlife, reggae musical artist and a former Ghamro chairman. Born Julius Kojo Antwi into a family of 13 siblings, he grew up in Darkuman, a suburb of Accra. He has 22 albums to his name, with "Tom & Jerry" being one of his most popular songs in West Africa Ghana.
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.
Soundway Records is a British, London-based independent record label, founded and run by English DJ and music producer Miles Cleret. Since its initial release of a collection of Ghanaian music in 2002, it has released compilation albums of African, Caribbean, Latin, and Asian music from the 1950s to 1980s.
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.
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.
Jewel Ackah was a Ghanaian highlife and gospel musician. He composed the lyrics of "Arise Arise," the party anthem of the centre-left Ghanaian political party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), popularly sung to the tune of the Christian hymn, "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus". He was dubbed by media pundits as the "Prince of Highlife".
Edward Kofi Donkor (1942–1995) was a Ghanaian highlife musician. He was popularly referred to as Senior Eddie Donkor or Eddie Donkor Senior.
Dick Essilfie Bondzie was a Ghanaian musician, producer and founder of Essiebons label.
Ghana Special 2: Electronic Highlife & Afro Sounds in the Diaspora, 1980–93 is a compilation album released by Soundway Records on 10 May 2024. The compilation collects highlife, a style of music from Ghana, which underwent a shift to more electronic styles in the 1980s.