Obo Addy

Instructor of Ghanaian Drumming and Dance

department: Music
office: Evans Center
specialty: Ghanaian master drummer
email: obo@homowo.org

Obo Addy is a master drummer, a repository of Ghanaian music history, a brilliant musician and an innovative original composer. He is a man of rhythm, deeply rooted in the musical traditions of Ghana, West Africa where he was born. A professional musician by the age of 18, Obo played in Europe, Australia, America, Japan, Israel and many other countries. His life-long experience of playing every kind of music--from the ceremonial music of his father, a Wonche or medicine man, to the big band sounds of the Joe Kelly Band as well as the traditional sounds of the world renowned Oboade--makes him unique. He has toured the United States since the mid 1970's, performing and teaching in colleges and universities and at community centers and festivals.

In 1972, Obo performed at the Olympics in Munich and in 1974 he spent three months touring Aboriginal settlements in Australia. In 1986 he co-founded Homowo African Arts & Cultures with future wife Susan Addy to share his culture in the schools and communities of Oregon. He received a Governors Award for the Arts in Oregon in 1993 as well as a Masters Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission and the Regional Arts and Culture Council. In September of 1996, Obo received the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor given to a traditional artist in the United States. Obo is the artistic director of Kukrudu: African Jazz and Okropong: Traditional Music & Dance of Ghana. In addition to touring, he maintains a busy schedule composing, recording and teaching. In 2005, Obo was commissioned by Portland Taiko to combine the rhythms of Ghanaian drumming with the power of Japanese taiko drums. And that year, his first symphony "Cries of Our Mothers" was preformed by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and the Portland Youth Philharmonic.