#TBT #HistoryMakers #MacTontoh "It (High Life ) has been with us all this time. We have lived on it... We have made it to vibrant music in the world, so it's popular, only sometimes you have to add the indigenous to it to cut across... We (Osibisa) thought let's go revisit the kete, the adowa and infuse it with the western influences that we have and it worked. That traditional part, that indigenous part of it caught the eyes of the world because there's some energy that the traditional music have... Some Power... Some Fire that is good for mankind... We must perform like Ghanaians, and for that matter Africans. My advise is that whatever we do, should be African/Ghanaian oriented and that is what will win the trophy for us in the industry... -Mac Tontoh (December 25, 1940- August 16, 2010) Mac Tontoh is a Ghanaian and global icon who with Osibisa introduced the world to Ghana's High-Life music that cut across the continent and the world and eventually gave birth to Afro-Beat. Osibisa was named one of the best bands in the world by Rolling Stone Magazine. I was privileged to be invited to Mr. Tontoh's home for an interview a year before his death coming face to face with an idol I had admired for years looking at his images on my mother's records. He was extremely welcoming with vibrant energy and great hope for the future of what he planned to do in collaborations with the young artists in Ghana and contribution to MUSIGA in making it a true home and advocacy group for artists. I hope the artists young and old left behind will continue the work he started and never had the chance to complete due to his untimely death. May his greatness live on through those whom he left behind and are yet to be born! #OurBlackStarNation #HighLifeMusic #OurGlobalFusion (at Ghana)
