Koo Nimo to perform @ Alliance Française

GHANAIAN LIVING legend Agya Koo Nimo and his Adadam Agofomma group will on Friday March 26 entertain traditional/contemporary music fans at the Alliance Française in Accra as part of the 2010 edition of Semaine de la Francophonie.

Koo Nimo, who studied the classical style, scales and arpeggios but did not want to be a Segovia, ended up becoming an African guitarist, using a personal technique to do justice to the music of his roots, which he fully understands.

During his studies in the United States, he came to appreciate the work of a number of African American musicians, including jazz musicians Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson and Thelonius Monk.

A number of years after his return, he had a chance meeting in Kumasi with Jacqueline Smith Bonneau, a jazz pianist who was a niece of the great American jazz pianist Thelonius Monk.

Indeed, his music career and outlook took a different turn after that meeting. He was subsequently invited to New York to take part in a film dedicated to the memory of Thelonius Monk in 1982.

Between 1969/70, Koo Nimo spent his time at the University of Salford (UK) studying laboratory instrumentation.

This gave him the opportunity to study harmony and the classic guitar at the Manchester School of Music. His experiences led to the composition of one of his hit songs - a popular ballad tilted ‘Aburokyire Abrabo’.

To counter the ever-growing pressure of Western "pop" on Ghanaian musicians, Koo Nimo set up the Adadam Agofomma, which promotes traditional music, drumming and dancing.

The group received international recognition in 1976 when it represented Ghana in the Festival of Folk Music organized by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, USA.

In 1984 Adadam Agofomma found themselves in London following an invitation to represent Ghana in the African Music Village organised by the Commonwealth Institute in Holland Park.

In recognition of his services to Ghanaian music as a performer, teacher and administrator, Koo Nimo was elected President of the Musicians Union of Ghana in 1979.

He was appointed interim chairman of the Copyright Society of Ghana in 1985 and more recently he has been made an honorary life member of the International Association for the study of popular music along with such distinguished names as Professors J.H.K. Nketia and John Collins.

In 1988 Koo Nimo was invited to Trinidad and Tobago by UNESCO to take part in a film exploring the social, cultural and historical links between West Africa and the West Indies.

Here he met the legendary Lord Kitchener, Grand Master of the Calypso, and played with the world’s greatest steel pan player, “Boogsie” Sharpe.

The visit resulted in a film called ‘Crossing Over’, which won first prize in 1989 for the best video documentary in Trinidad and Tobago, gaining a similar award in 1990 in Martinique.

In July 1988, Koo Nimo was a star artiste at a performance during the Serious Fun Festival at the Alice Tulley Hall in the prestigious Lincoln Centre in New York.

In November and December of the same year he was invited to attend the 8th International Conference on Guitar in Martinique. He met and studied with great guitarists such as Laurindo Alwerda (Brazil), Larry Coryell, Chet Atkins, Stanley Jordan, Sharon Isbin (U.S.A.), Manuel Barrueco, Marcel Dadi, Jean Felix Lalanne (France) and Leo Brower.

Semaine de la Francophonie 2010, which is being organized by the embassies of member countries of La Francophonie represented in Ghana, is sponsored by Culture France, Alliance Française Foundation, Mayor of Paris, SDV, CFAO Motors, ORSAM, Auto Parts Ltd, Total, VW, Air Liquide, Allianz, Max Mart, Novotel, Irani Brothers, Royal Air Maroc, AGS, Golden Stork, Bethel Industries, Hachette, Accra CAN, CAF, Enjoy Accra and Maquis Tante Marie.