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Osibisa

Osibisa

Osibisa has been played over 20 times on NTS, first on 8 June 2014. Osibisa's music has been featured on 24 episodes.

Osibisa is a British Afro-pop band, founded in London in 1969 by four expatriate African and three Caribbean musicians. Osibisa were one of the first African bands to become widely popular, leading to claims of founding World Music.

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. 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 "Pete Pete." 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.

The name Osibisa was described by the band members as meaning "criss cross rhythms that explode with happiness" but it actually comes from "osibisaba" the Fante word for highlife. Their style influenced many of the emerging African musicians over the last forty plus years.

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Osibisa

Osibisa has been played over 20 times on NTS, first on 8 June 2014. Osibisa's music has been featured on 24 episodes.

Osibisa is a British Afro-pop band, founded in London in 1969 by four expatriate African and three Caribbean musicians. Osibisa were one of the first African bands to become widely popular, leading to claims of founding World Music.

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. 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 "Pete Pete." 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.

The name Osibisa was described by the band members as meaning "criss cross rhythms that explode with happiness" but it actually comes from "osibisaba" the Fante word for highlife. Their style influenced many of the emerging African musicians over the last forty plus years.

Original source: Last.fm

Tracks featured on

Most played tracks

The Dawn
Osibisa
Movieplay1971
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Osibisa
MCA Records1971
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Osibisa
Warner Bros. Records1974
Ojah Awake
Osibisa
Bronze1976
Phallus C
Osibisa
MCA Records1971
Keep On Trying
Osibisa
Island Records1976
Music For Gong Gong
Osibisa
MCA Records1971
Do You Know
Osibisa
MCA Records1972
Ayiko Bia
Osibisa
Soundwings0
Survival
Osibisa
Decca1972