WOMAD

Nana Tsiboe

Nana Tsiboe is a master of percussion. He was born and raised in Ghana and toured the US at the height of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, sharing stages with Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. Since then he has worked with a breathtaking list of musical legends including Fela Kuti, Paul McCartney, Marvin Gaye, Ali Farka Touré, Oumou Sangare and Nine Simone. Tsiboe’s debut album Asem Ni was released in the early 1990s on the prolific World Circuit label, and his long overdue second album Ahom (which means ‘breath’) was released in 2003. Tsiboe’s musical roots lie in Ghanaian Hi-Life music, the brass and percussion hybrid that became Africa’s first distinctive pop music genre in the 1940s and 50s. His current group goes by the name of Supa Hi Life, and they have performed concerts throughout Europe and beyond. Apart from being a superb drummer, Tsiboe is also a teacher, singer, storyteller and all round superlative entertainer. The whole aim of the BBC’s World On Your Street initiative is to gently wake Britain up to the fact that we have such incredible talents as Tsiboe living and working right here among us. Let’s start counting our blessings!