Profile of Daasebre Gyamenah –

Daasebre Gyamenah is an Akan name. Daasebre was born from a Muslim and a Royal home. His full name at birth was Daasebre Gyamenah Abubakar Siddiq. His late mother was a Muslim who died when Daasebre was only three months old.

Daasebre was a Ghanaian highlife musician who became very popular for his hit album Kokooko (1999) which featured Lord Kenya. Kokooko was the first major fusion of hiplife and highlife in Ghana. He released an Album in the late 80s with no success. After spending time in various African states he returned to Ghana in 1992 only to make music 7 years later. Kokooko made him and Lord Kenya, who was featured on a song, gain huge success in Ghana and also among Ghanaians abroad. Many successful albums followed thus earning him one of his many nicknames “Hitman”.”Wo da enda”,”Ahoofe”,”Still I love you” are a few of his popular songs. Among youths and old, he is popular and beloved. Daasebre’s songs are mostly mid tempo and include many hip hop elements. He featured many hip life artists like none of his genre colleagues. A major element of his songs is the Akan way of storytelling by use of proverbs. In 2006 Daasebre took a flight from Ghana to London to work on his music. At Heathrow airport he was arrested by police. His luggage contained cocaine of which he claimed to have no clue of. Eleven months in prison had a big impact on him. He was never convicted of the crime due to facts suggesting he did no not know of the existence of the drugs. His following lead single for his next album “Saa Na Etee” was mainly about his arrest. He talked about it in songs like “Twaso” and “Gye Me”.

In January 2016, Gyamenah released what turned out to be his final album, Yenfii Ta, and in May released a song from the album and his final single, “Ntamago”.

He died in the early hours of 29 July 2016 at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra. Many tributes to him followed after his death. “Kokooko” by Sarkodie and “Daasebre Gyamenah” by Daddy Lumba are two which have gained popularity.

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