Abrantie Amakye Dede shocked fans at the FAMOUS 5 concert on Good Friday and sent the entire audience at the Conference Center into a frenzy when he spoke flawless English during his performance.
Until last Friday, it was widely believed that the celebrated musician could not speak English but he proved beyond doubt that he had learnt how to speak English and could speak it well.
“Yeah, ahaaaa, today, Abrantie would speak English for you. You people say Abrantie cannot speak English. Okay. So today Abrantie would speak English for you.
Wait….wait….You also say Abrantie is a serious man. Today it would be serious. The serious man is here and my brother Kojo Antwi, the Music Man is also here.
“You see. I am happy because you support musicians like me and I thank you. Madam is here. The former First Lady and I know that she likes my music. Yes Madam likes Abrantie songs,” Amakye Dede noted in a statement that was greeted with wild jubilation and what seemed like a standing ovation.
True to his words, the evergreen highlife don succeeded in sweeping the former First lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, off her feet to dance to his live band music.
Mrs. Rawlings can dance and she proved it on the night. Her steps were a sight to behold and she had a way of going down while swiveling her waists rhythmically. She smiled throughout the dance and clapped her hands intermittently.
Abrantie arrived at the FAMOUS 5 concert in his sleek Range Rover with a customized registration number plate ‘SERIOUS 1-11’ and even before he mounted the stage, his name was on the lips of almost everyone.
The event, FAMOUS 5, was organized to bring together Ghana’s top five famous musicians to share one stage. A team of stakeholders in the music industry were brought together to select the top fifty most famous musicians in Ghana, after which an Electoral College shortlisted the number to fifteen and further shortlisted it to a final five.
The final top five include Kojo Antwi, Amakye Dede, Kwabena Kwabena, 5-Five and No Tribe, the only gospel group among the lot.
On the performance night, Abrantie simply stole the show. He spent well over an hour on stage treating the audience to the best of highlife music which saw them on their feet, dancing away every single bit of the song and singing along with the musician.
Kwabena Kwabena was the first to perform, followed by 5-Five, No Tribe, Abrantie and then Kojo Antwi. None of the musicians had the level of audience response that was accorded Abrantie and many wondered why the organizers did not reserve his performance for the very last show. Amakye Dede started singing in 1973, approximately some 38 years ago with the Kumapim Royals led by the late Akwasi Ampofo Agyei. Interestingly, he is still doing new songs and would soon release his latest album.
At the latter part of last year, Abrantie made headlines when he performed non-stop for a little over six hours at the ‘Abrantie Amakye Dede Live In Concert’, a show he said was his best in 2010.
In 1980, Abrantie formed the Apollo High Kings and has over twenty-five all time hit albums to his credit. He is best known for some of his best hits including ‘Dabi Dabi Ebe Ye Yie’, ‘Sokoo Na Mmaa Pe’, ‘Iron Boy’, ‘Seniwa’, ‘Brebrebe Yi’, among others.
Copyright © 1994 - 2024 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
