Kaakyire Turns Actor

VETERAN GHANAIAN highlife musician Kaakyire Kwame Appiah, the man who in the past spiced up Christmas festivities with his smash album ‘Bronya’, is currently making the best of the new era in Ghana’s arts and entertainment industry.

Kaakyire, whose music career seems to be on a hiatus, is now diverting his attention to the revival of the movie industry. Now an actor/producer, he is set to hit the industry with his first movie ‘Owuo Safoa’.

The film is a fictional but epic story of the importance of death in the lives of human beings, even though not many would appreciate that.

Shot at locations in the Central Region, it tells the tale of indigenes of a certain village who sign a deal with death, not to die again. It however gets to a point where the villagers just keep aging.

As the hardships of old age hits them they start clamouring for death, but no avail. The deal with death is irreversible, and what transpires needs to be seen by all.

The movie stars known Ghanaian faces like Nii Odoi Mensah, who is the President of the Ghana Actors’ Guild; Joseph Pamfoe, otherwise called Joe Shortingo; Daniel Adeleye; Solomon Sampa; Clement Bonney aka Mr. Beautiful Asare Bediako and a host of others.

Kaakyire told BEATWAVES on Wednesday that acting propelled him to entertain and that is his reason for returning to the industry which has started showing signs of hope. He said in 1987 he used to act on stage, stating that that was how he got the name Kaakyire.

“I used to be in the African Heroes Band from 1987 to 1992. During the time, any time we do drama, I used to play the main character as Kaakyire, which literally means the last born.

So after so many years, I realized that I know how to act, and besides I am music producer, why not I produce my own movies too? That is my simple reason, I just don’t want to throw my first career away”, he explained.

He said his movie debut is not going to be a nine-day wonder because he is going to release a number of movies to contribute to the growth of Ghana’s film industry.

Besides the fiscal gains he wants, he said he will use his movies to promote new faces in the industry. Kaakyire’s latest pal in the movie industry is Joe Shortingo. However, he said his interest in movies does not mean he is saying goodbye his music. He revealed that he has almost finished work on his latest album titled ‘Ice Cream Baby’. Kaakyire has other albums such as ‘Samathan’, ‘Dineka Bronya’ and ‘Atrapo’ to his credit.