Salif Keita and Kojo Antwi to set Accra ‘ablaze’

THAT Kojo Antwi is known to own 24th night in Ghana cannot be disputed. His trademark annual concerts on Christmas Eve have not only been known to draw huge crowds but more than that, they have seen some of the best performers on the continent showing up to give a good account of their legendary status.

Two things Antwi has managed to do with perfect ease is one, how he has consistently beaten his own stage record with successful spectacular performances and second, how he continues to attract the biggest names in the business to perform at his 24th night shows.


Over the years Antwi has managed to feature such African and international music stalwarts as Freddie Meiway, Steel Pulse, Aisah Kone, Monique Seka just to name a few and on each occasion they have proved to be worthy guests of the legendary Ghanaian musical virtuoso.


It seems however that Kojo Antwi, who always raises the bar of perfection, is seeking to outdo himself this Christmas Eve when his show comes to the National Theatre in Accra once again. This time Antwi has managed to snare the biggest fish in the pond of African music in the person of the legendary Malian singer Salif Keita. He is in town to perform on the same stage as Antwi.


Keita needs no introduction as he is one of the greatest musicians ever to have emerged from Africa and is described as the "Golden Voice of Africa". He has toured the world and brought his brand of world music to the people of the world and has ably sold the continent in the process.


Salif Keita’s last performance in Ghana was in 2004 when he performed at the Independence Square hence this would be an opportunity to see him perform in a closed setting as the National Theatre with better acoustic effects and all.


The show dubbed The Night of the Titans is aptly named as it pitches two of the greatest artistes on the continent against each other in a friendly duel with then ultimate winners from this match-up being the audience in the auditorium.

He is known to perform with his full band and the show on Christmas Eve is likely not to be an exception to this practice. Surely his ensemble will include balafons, djembes, guitars, koras, organs, saxophones, and synthesizers.


With such a huge band with him, he is likely to perform some of his great tracks like Gaffou, Madan, Bob, Moriba, Laban, Dery, Tu Vas Me Manquer, Calcula and Yambo. Kojo Antwi’s 24th night concert seems to be the most biggest event of the holiday season which would see many shows taking place.


The host of the show himself should not be discounted in this discussion as Antwi with his world class Rainbow Tribe Band and ably supported by music director Kwame Yeboah will ensure that patrons would be entertained very well.


Likely to be performed from Kojo Antwi’s rich collection of music are Me Nya Ntaban, Mmrika, Me Tonko, Bo Me Nkomo De, Odo Maayea, Baasumo Mi, Makoma Doctos, Men Ndadaa Me, Dadie Anoma and Medofo PA.


Sharing the same stage with these two great artistes on the much anticipated The Night of the Titans are young artistes Irene Logan, Nana Yaa and Asem. It promises to be a night of highlife, world music, francophone music and a dose of hiplife and it would start at 8:00pm at the famous National Theatre of Ghana.