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| Amandzeba Thanks God He Is Alive |
9/23/2005 |
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“Please tell everyone that I will be alright,” were the parting words of Amandzeba Nat Brew after Showbiz had paid him a visit at his Teshie home in Accra last Sunday.
Although Amandzeba looked fairly fit and cheerful throughout Showbiz’s 30-minute visit, he would sometimes wince when he attempted to turn his collared neck or gesticulate with his bandaged right hand.
Yet the exceptional Ghanaian musician kept saying, “I will be alright, I will be alright,” to assure everyone — relations, friends and fans — that he is fine.
Only a couple of weeks earlier, Amandzeba had not been that fine after what he described as a “freak car crash” in Maryland, US that almost cost him his life. “I thank God I’m alive,” he told Showbiz.
Amandzeba and his sound engineer, John Kofi Dade, were in Atlanta, Georgia, in August at the invitation of the Ga-Dangme community in Atlanta, Georgia, to perform at their annual Homowo festival. “The event was good, vibrant and very well patronised,” he said.
“After the performance, we came over to Maryland and were leaving the US on the 27th to arrive here on 29th so that we will have three days preparation for the STAP programme at the Independence Square. We were so much geared for that programme.
“I needed a particular microphone for the Accra show so John and I set out with a driver to get one.
It was a very cool Saturday evening, it had rained a bit, but there wasn’t heavy traffic. Out from nowhere came this sports car from a side road and slammed into ours.
“Thankfully, we had our seat belts on and that must have been our life saver. The way the other car spun and hit us, we would have been thrown out of the car, or at least I would have struck my head against the windscreen.
“Still, I had this sharp pain in my neck, my back, my waist and my hand.” Curiously with all the trauma that he was going through, Amandzeba said he was hugely impressed by the efficiency of the US emergency system.
“Within three minutes, ambulance, police and fire services were at the accident scene. In less than ten minutes, we had been taken to the Shady Grove Hospital to go through X-rays and tests, given medications and treatment and after six hours, we were referred to another hospital.”
Amandzeba said all the time he was in hospital he was thinking about the STAP concert back in Accra and kept praying that he would be fit enough to play by September 3. Then, he said, the doctor said something that put all his plans out of gear. “The doctor said I would be OK to travel only after three weeks!”
For now, however, Amandzeba said he feels a great improvement. “Now, I can stand and sit for much longer than I used to.”
Recently, Amandzeba released his latest album, Lolo Juju and he plans to do performances both in Ghana and abroad to promote it as soon as he can get on the road.
Amandzeba is the only musician in Ghana today to have successfully brought indigenous Ghanaian rhythms like Kpanlogo, Abibinyom, Lakpaa, Agbadza etc to the contemporary level.
Phenomenally, Amandzeba has created another brand new form of music which is a blend of ‘Kpanlogo Rhythm’ from Ghana and ‘juju rhythm’ from a sister West African country, Nigeria.
With numerous awards to his credit, the one he attaches most importance to is the Saas-Fee which together with his entire Amandzeba Group won in far away Switzerland during the Alpihe Music Festival.
This was a contest that for the first time an African group participated, and with pride and joy Amandzeba Group was adjudged the winner.
Source: Kow Ahenakwa, Graphic Showbiz
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