It has emerged that the final funeral rites of late highlife legend, Nana Kwame Ampadu will be state-sponsored, a move that is very unusual for players within the creative arts circle.
But, explaining the basis of the decision, the Presidency stated that the late Nana Ampadu’s contribution to music in the country was unmeasurable and deserves to be honoured.
Daily Mail GH reports that the Director of Communications for the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, said information will be duly communicated to the family of the late music icon.
Nana Kwame Ampadu passed on at the age of 76 on Tuesday, September 28, 2021, after he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) in Accra.
Nana Ampadu was one time President of MUSIGA and was also the leader of the African Brothers Band, formed in 1963.
The legendary highlife musician has been credited with several popular highlife tracks. He is known to have composed over 800 songs.
He came to prominence in 1967 when he released his song Ebi Te Yie (“Some Are Well Seated”), a song that was seen as critical of the then-governing National Liberation Council (NLC) which toppled Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah.
The song disappeared from the airwaves, only returning after the end of military rule. In 1973, he won a nationwide competition in Ghana and was crowned the “Adwontofoohene,” or King of Singers.