The album cover artwork featured a flying elephant emerging from a primeval forest and became a classic of its time. Osibisa was released in 1971, reaching number 11 in the UK album charts. Uhuru was a big band which played its own brand of highlife as well as hits from American composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Glenn Miller.Īfter a rendezvous with brother Teddy and drummer Sol Amarfio in Tunisia, the trio traveled to London and formed Osibisa in 1969 along with Spartacus R, Robert Bailey, Wendell Richardson and Lasisi Amao.įusing rhythms from Africa with rock and jazz, Osibisa played a central role in developing an awareness of African music among European and North American audiences in the 1970s, bringing it into the pop music mainstream.Tontoh co-wrote all of Osibisa’s major hits, including Music for Gong Gong, Welcome Home and Sunshine Day.
Tontoh then spent a brief period in Accra with the Brigade Band of Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, which played mainly at state functions, before joining the Uhuru Band.
#Osibisa music professional#
The trumpeter and songwriter Mac Tontoh, one of the founding members of the acclaimed 70s band Osibisa, passed away on 16 August 2010 at the age of 69.īorn Kweku Adabanka Tonto in Kumasi, Ghana, Tonto's first professional break came when he joined The Comets, led by his brother, Teddy Osei (who he later collaborated with in Osibisa).They became very popular for highlife and jazz in Ghana and Nigeria during the early 1960s.