{{Short description|Ghanaian musician (1936–2012)}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | name = Obo Addy | image = Obo Addy.jpg | caption = Addy in 2009 | image_size = 250px | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = January 15, 1936 | birth_place = Accra, Ghana | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|9|13|1936|1|15}} | death_place = Portland, Oregon, U.S. | origin = | instrument = Drum | genre = Worldbeat | occupation = Musician, dancer, professor | years_active = 1969&ndash;2012 | label = | website = }} '''Obo Addy''' (January 15, 1936 &ndash; September 13, 2012) was a Ghanaian drummer and dancer who was one of the first native African musicians to bring the fusion of traditional folk music and Western pop music known as ''worldbeat'' to Europe and then to the Pacific Northwest of the United States in the late 1970s. He taught music at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.<ref name="nhf">{{cite web|url=https://arts.gov/honors/heritage/obo-addy |title=Obo Addy: Ghanaian-American Drummer |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=Arts.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |access-date=February 25, 2024}}</ref>

== Biography == Addy, born into the Ga ethnic group in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, was one of the 55 children of Jacob Kpani Addy, a ''wonche'' or medicine man who integrated rhythmic music into healing and other rituals. Obo Addy's earliest musical influence was the traditional music of the Ga people, but he was also influenced as an adolescent by popular music from Europe and the United States, and performed in local bands that played Westernized music and the dance music of Ghana known as highlife.<ref name="Baer">{{cite news|title=Obo Addy Loses Battle With Liver Cancer|url=http://www.opb.org/news/article/obo-addy-loses-battle-with-liver-cancer/ |last=Baer |first=April |publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting|date=September 13, 2012 |access-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916210229/http://www.opb.org/news/article/obo-addy-loses-battle-with-liver-cancer/ |archive-date=September 16, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Kronos Quartet commissioned a string quartet from Addy for their 1992 album ''Pieces of Africa''.

Addy was employed by the Arts Council of Ghana in 1969, and played his native Ga traditional music in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany. He moved to London, England, and began touring in Europe. In 1978, he moved to Portland, Oregon in the United States, where he taught at Lewis & Clark College. He also led weekly drumming workshops at Portland's Lincoln High School.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Obo Addy (1936-2012) |url=https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/addy_obo_1936_2012/ |last=Larson |first=Zeb |access-date=February 25, 2024 |website=Oregon Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref>

In 1989, he established the Homowo African Arts and Cultures organization, a non-profit that sponsors the annual Homowo Festival of African Arts in Oregon.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wyden |first=Ron |date=2000 |title=Portland's Homowo Festival |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/loc.afc.afc-legacies.200002932/ |access-date=2023-07-22 |website=lcweb2.loc.gov}}</ref> The organization was later renamed as the Obo Addy Legacy Project.<ref name="Baer"/>

Addy died on September 13, 2012, following a prolonged battle with liver cancer.<ref>{{cite news|last=Singer|first=Matthew|title=Obo Addy Has Passed Away|url=http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-29179-obo_addy_has_passed_away.html|newspaper=Willamette Week|date=September 13, 2012|access-date=January 1, 2013}}</ref><ref name="obit">{{Cite web |title=In memoriam: Obo Addy |url=https://drummerszone.com/news/in-memoriam-obo-addy/artist-news-1-11038/article/ |access-date=July 22, 2023 |website=Drummerszone}}</ref> He was survived by his wife, Susan, and his six children, two stepchildren, and nine grandchildren. One of Addy's son's, Alex, continues to teach Ghanaian drumming at Lewis & Clark College.<ref name="L&C">{{cite web|title=Alex Addy |date=n.d. |url= https://college.lclark.edu/live/profiles/2782-alex-addy |access-date=October 7, 2025 |website=Lewis & Clark College}}</ref>

== Awards and honors == He was awarded a Master's Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission and Regional Arts & Culture Council, along with the Oregon Governors Award for the Arts.<ref name="Baer"/> In 1996, he became the first native African<ref>{{Cite web|title=Celebrating Traditional Music With Obo Addy|url=https://www.ghanashowbiz.com/celebrating-traditional-music-with-obo-addy/|last1=O|first1=Monica|date=2015-05-08|website=GhanaShowBiz.com™|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821155009/https://www.ghanashowbiz.com/celebrating-traditional-music-with-obo-addy/|archive-date=21 August 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> to win a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/1996|title=NEA National Heritage Fellowships 1996 |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=www.arts.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |access-date=December 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519210352/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/1996 |archive-date=May 19, 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="obit" />

== Recent albums == * ''AfieyeOkropong'' (Alula Records) * ''Wonche Bi'' (Alula Records) * ''Let Me Play My Drums'' (Burnside Records) * ''The Rhythm Of Which A Chief Walks Gracefully'' (Earthbeat Records) * ''Okropong'' (Santrofi Records)

== References == {{reflist|30em}}

== External links == *{{IMDb name|id=1803935}} * [http://oboaddy.com/ Obo Addy: Master Drummer home page] * "[http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=3666 Addy vs. Addy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927000836/http://www.wweek.com/story.php?story=3666 |date=2007-09-27 }}". Zach Dundas. ''Willamette Week Online''. February 26, 2003. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20041225175204/http://www.lclark.edu/dept/music/addy.html Obo Addy page] from Lewis & Clark College site *[https://worldmusiccentral.org/2018/06/20/artist-profiles-obo-addy/ Obo Addy profile at World Music Central] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080517134947/http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20041223172826502 Article about Addy family] *[http://www.opb.org/television/programs/artbeat/segment/drummer-obo-addy/ Oregon Art Beat: Drummer Obo Addy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017070802/http://www.opb.org/television/programs/artbeat/segment/drummer-obo-addy/ |date=2015-10-17 }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Addy, Obo}} Category:1936 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Ghanaian drummers Category:Ghanaian dancers Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners Category:Lewis & Clark College faculty Category:Musicians from Portland, Oregon Category:Musicians from Accra Category:Ga-Adangbe people