Gyedu-Blay Ambolley (GH)

Gyedu-Blay Ambolley is also known as the 'James Brown of Ghana'. With his full-fat afrofunk sound, which he called simigwa-do, he broke through in the Ghanaian music scene in 1973. His funky, jazzy, and soulful approach to highlife hit like a bomb. In the sixties he played in the Uhuru Dance Band, and learned from Ebo Taylor, among others. He formed The Apagya Show Band with Taylor in 1974. We are now more than 40 years and 30 albums later and Ambolley is a living legend. It is not without reason that his music appears on many hip re-issues, from something more obscure like Afrodisiac to labels like Soundway and Analog Africa. At the beginning of 2019 he already visited Paradiso North with his first European tour, now he is back with his Sekondi Band for another evening full of groovy afro funk and highlife.