Mustapha Tettey Addy

Mustapha Tettey Addy (* 1942 in Accra ) is a Ghanaian drummer.

Life

Addy comes from a respected family of drummers from the Ga people . His father, the priest Kpani Kofi Addy , taught him the art of drums, traditional chants and ritual dances of the people at an early age. After his father's death in 1963, he followed him as Dadefoiakye (head of the ritual drummers). At the same time he worked at the Institute for African Studies at the University of Ghana, where he had the opportunity to get to know the musical styles of other regions and to learn from the Ewe drummer Husunui Afadi Adono Ladzekpo . He was also a member of the Ghana Dance Ensemble during the 1960s .

From 1965 he went on research and concert tours through Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. He also gave concerts in Eastern Europe, the Federal Republic of Germany, England and the USA. In 1974 he founded the Ehimomo group . He settled in Düsseldorf, where he started to work as a percussion teacher and from where he toured Europe with his group.

Between 1972 and 1981 Addy recorded seven albums. The most successful of these was Come and Drum , which was recorded in a church in Düsseldorf in 1979 in cooperation with the international academy for dance and culture Die Werkstatt . In 1982 he returned to Ghana, where he again worked at the Institute of African Studies and began to collect Obonu music , the ceremonial royal music of the Ashanti region .

In 1986 he founded a group that was initially called The Drummers , later The Obonu Drummers , and with which he recorded the album Royal Drums of Ghana in Accra in 1991 , which for the first time made ceremonial music accessible to an international audience that otherwise only for enthronement and funeral ceremonies could be played.

Between 1992 and 1993 Addy toured Germany, England and the USA with the Obonu Drummers. With the partners of the 1979 recording, he played a sequel to the album Come and Drum under the title Come and Dance . After retiring to a life as a farmer between 1995 and 1997, he resumed his concert activities with the new Royal Obonu Drummers . On the JazzFest Berlin he joined in 1999 with the percussion Orchestra of Reto Weber on. He is considered to be the likely inventor of the dance rhythm Fume Fume .

Discography

• Master Drummer from Ghana , 1972
• Come and Drum with Abdur Rahman Kpani Addy , Michael Küttner , Rolf Exler , 1979
• Les Percussions Du Ghana , 1979
• Master Drummer from Ghana - Volume Two , 1980
• Solo drumming , 1984
• African Ritual Music , 1984
• The Royal Drums of Ghana , 1991
• Come and Dance with Michael Küttner, Rolf Exler, 1993
• Kpanlogo Party , 1993
• Secret Rhythms , 1997
• Smart Boys , 1999