Osibisa Drummer, Sol Amarfio Dies @ Age 84

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Sol Amarfio, ace drummer and one of the founding members of Osibisa, has died. He was 84. He is reported to have died on Tuesday, December 13.

The acting President of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) confirmed his death on Wednesday, December 14.

Yaw Ofosu, a sports journalist, also shared the news in a post uploaded on Twitter on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.

Tweeted he: “Sol Amarfio. Master drummer, songwriter, composer and a member of the legendary Osibisa band! Rest in peace”.

Amarfio, who was born in 1938 in Asere, Accra, played with the Rhythm Aces, Star Gazers, and Comets bands in Ghana before travelling to England via Liberia, Spain, and France in 1961.

Before Osibisa was founded in 1969, he collaborated with other Ghanaian artistes stationed in London, including George Lee and Willie Cheetham, for performances throughout Europe and North Africa.

The Ghanaian-British Afro-Rock group, Osibisa, was established in London in the late 1960s by four musicians from the West African diaspora and three from the Caribbean who lived in London.

Along with such contemporaries as Assagai, Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath, Demon Fuzz, Black Velvet, and Noir, Osibisa was the most popular and long-lasting of the African-heritage band in London.

Nicknamed The Rhythm Man in his teenage years, the self-taught Amarfio travelled the world with Osibisa. His immaculate sense of rhythm was the driving force behind the band’s infectious music.

Amarfio, also a composer, is praised for his ‘Woyaya’ song and he closely collaborated with other members of Osibisa to create some of the band’s most endearing tracks.

In 2018, the management of +233 held a concert to celebrate him when he turned 80 years.

Said he in a 2018 interview: “I do what comes naturally to me behind the drums. I don’t force out anything. I grew up with a lot of music and dance around me and the swing of those things sipped into me. Life is exciting when you travel and earn money while doing what you truly love”.

Osibisa members played an important role in the development of world music and Afro-Rock as a commercially viable genre. The original band, known as the Beautiful Seven, appeared on the first three studio albums.

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