‘Osibisa won’t disappoint Ghana’ - Exclusive Men of the Year Africa Awards organisers

Organisers of Exclusive Men of the Year (EMY) Africa Awards yesterday confirmed Osibisa as one of the headline artistes for this year’s awards ceremony scheduled for Saturday and also discredited claims that the group may not live up to expectation.

The world-class Afro-pop group which was formed in 1969 by four Africans and three Caribbean musicians has over the years thrilled millions of music lovers around the world.

With its music fusion of African, Caribbean, jazz, funk, rock, Latin and R&B, the group remained an all-time best African-heritage band to the world.

On Saturday, it will be sharing stage with celebrated Ivorian star Freddy Meiway and other great talents from Ghana such as Efya, Irene Logan, Tema Youth Choir and The Patch Bay Band.

A lot of expectations await the group’s performance as Ghanaians can’t wait to watch Osibisa on stage again. They are expected to bring its years of experience to bear on stage at the awards ceremony.

But there are also doubts if they could give music fans what Osibisa is well noted for since it has outlived its relevance and stagecraft in recent years, due to aging and the demise of key members such as Mac Tontoh, Kiki Gyan and others, even though its leader, Teddy Osei, is still alive.

However, Executive Director of Exclusive Men of the Year Africa Awards, Daniel Soboh, otherwise called Kojo Rana, debunked the assertions in an exclusive interview with NEWS-ONE yesterday.

According to him, he is very sure Osibisa won’t disappoint its fans as he described the group as a “legend”.

“Osibisa definitely won’t disappoint. They never disappoint and they will give us a great show of a life time,” he said.

“Osibisa songs are timeless. We use their songs for events and the songs are very much alive. These are legends who are not local champions but international legends and, of course, they have first generation and second generation and we are bringing the two generations together. We are bringing Sol Amarfio and Wendell Richardson who are original members of the first generation of Osibisa and then we have Bessa Simons who is leading the second generation. So they are coming together to give us a performance of a life time. And, of course, we are also going to award them as well,” he added.

This year’s EMYs is the second of its kind being organised by Exclusive Men’s Magazine and Carbon AV. It is to celebrate excellence and also to inspire the young generation of men to aspire to reach the heights of the astute gentlemen who are celebrated every year at the awards.

The main award ceremony is slated for June 24 at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel, Accra, and it promises to come with a lot of attractions.