Government to hold state burial for highlife musician Nana Kwame Ampadu
The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has taken a decision to honour the late legendary Ghanaian highlife musician, Nana Kwame Ampadu, with a state-assisted burial.
This will be done in honour of his contribution to the growth of the Ghanaian music industry.
Announcing during a Jubilee House Press briefing on Thursday, November 11, 2021, the Director of Communications for the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, said information will be duly communicated to the family of the late singer.
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.