A.B. Crentsil, Obour storm USA, UK

Ghanaian residents in America and Britain celebrated the Christmas and New Year in a nostalgic and exciting manner when Ghanaian musicians A.B. Crentsil, Obour and others gave spectacular performances in some cities as part of the second phase of the “Best of Ghana Muisc World Tour” from December 24 to 31.

The music crew, which included hiplife artistes like Lord Kenya, Baba Shanti, Castro, Screw Face, Kokoveli, T-Blaze of “Feeling No Ye Deep” fame and FBS, performed in Maryland and Massachusetts in USA on December 24 and 28 respectively as well as in Club Nyce and Mylton Kenes in London on December 30 and 31.

In Maryland, the large crowd, made up of Ghanaians from various parts of America and other foreigners, were first welcomed to the concert by a talented Ghanaian drummer based in America by name Nana Frimpong Manso. He played different types of drums and other instruments in an expert manner which left the audience spell-bound.

The excitement increased as A.B. Crentsil took the stage and gave a rendition of some of his old tunes such as “Anyen”, “Osookoo” and “I Don’t Know Why”. The crowd was not satisfied as he was about to leave the stage and screamed out “Moses, Moses”.

A.B. Crentsil had no option than to stay and perform his “sex-comic” song, “Moses” to their amusement. The Ghanaian audience who understood the Twi language could not control their laughter as A. B. Crentsil creatively eluded the Biblical story of the parting of the Red Sea by Moses to love making. He was joined by the crowd as he danced and comically stimulated himself on stage.

There were other dashing performances from Baba Shanti, who sang a hit from his debut album “Mina”, Lord Kenya, Akwaaba Dancers and Dickie D, a Ghanaian hip-hop artiste based in the US. The audience in Wooster, Massachusetts also had a taste of the excitement as the same artistes gave similar performances there. Both concerts were organized by Family Tree Entertainment in collaboration with a US-based Event Management Company called Nyce Entertainment.

The team carried the excitement over to Britain where they held concerts at Club Nyce in London and Mylton Kenes. Though the crowd that showed up was as massive as that recorded in America, the concerts held here became more exciting than the previous since it had more hiplife artistes from Ghana on the bill.

As usual, Obour and A.B Crentsil wowed the crowd with songs like “Adjoa”, “Anyen” and “Juliana” from the “Best of The Lifes” album. They later gave separate performances of songs from their individual albums. A. B. Crentsil was a sight to watch as he proved to all that his talent still keeps him young.

The night saw great performances from others like Castro, Screw face, Kokoveli, T-Blaze and Old Soldier.  All members of FBS, who had separated to pursue solo albums, re-united to give the crowd in London a neatly choreographed rendition of their hit song “Oluman Boogey” among others. The shows were made possible by Family Tree and Alordia Productions based in London.

Bearing a similar concept to that of their concerts in Denmark, Germany and other parts of Europe during the early part of 2007, the America/ Britain version of “Best of Ghana Music Tour” was meant to promote Ghanaian music in the outside world, sensitize Ghanaians living abroad about the importance of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and also to raise funds for the establishment of a Ghana Music Archive, a library where all forms of old copies of Ghanaian musical works would be kept for record purposes.

Before each concert was staged at the various venues, a documentary on NHIS as well as various Ghanaian tourist sites were shown on a projector screen and this, according to a representative from Family Tree Entertainment, was to “position Ghana at a very strategic point on the world map and also to let Ghanaians living abroad have the opportunity to know what was going on in their home land.”

“Best of Ghana Music World Tour” was sponsored by Western Union Money Transfer, GT Onetouch Pre-paid Roaming Service, Kasapreko Alomo Bitters, North American Airlines, Ghana International Airlines, GPHA and Franko Trading.