Tuesday, August 2, 2016

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT GHANA’S ICONIC HIGHLIFE MUSICIAN DAASEBRE GYAMENHAH

As the nation of Ghana mourn the passing on of the an icon in the music industry Daasebre Gyamenah www.cypressgh.blogspot.com brings to you some notable moments in his life and career.

In 1999 the highlife artiste hit Ghana with one of the best contemporary highlife albums of all time and also one of the best in his music career. The album, ‘Kokooko’ was very instrumental in elevating Daasebre to an iconic status in the Ghana music industry.

In 2002 after being nominated in several categories at the 2002 Ghana Music Awards, Daasebre took home four awards: Song Writer of the Year, Best Male Vocal Performance, Contemporary Highlife Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

In 2006 Ghana was shocked on June 19, 2006 when it was reported that one of Ghana’s favourite highlife singers, Daasebre was arrested in transit at Heathrow Airport in London for possessing two kilograms of substances suspected to be cocaine with a street value of almost 84,000 pounds. He was charged with the illegal importation of narcotic drugs into the UK but the artiste maintained a not guilty plea.


In 2007 Daasebre Gyamenah after spending 11 months in prison in the UK, arrived back home after winning a case of illegally importing narcotics into the UK. After maintaining that he was innocent of the charge, he was detained for almost a year while the case was tried in British court. A jury later found him not guilty and he was released.

In 2007 upon arrival back home after false charges were leveled against him for trying to smuggle drugs into the UK, Daasebre revealed he returned from jail with a diploma in Information Technology (IT) and mathematics –qualifications he got at no cost to him. He also revealed he had been compensated thousands of pound by the UK government for wrongful conviction. This revelation made headlines for several months in Ghana.

In 2016 Daasebre tried to make a comeback into the Ghana music scene with a new album titled”Yenfi Ta.” Gyamenah, filed in 5 categories at the 2016 VGMAs namely, Highlife song of the year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Highlife artiste of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year. Unfortunately, he was not nominated for any.

Daasebre undoubtedly had a good life and managed to leave an indelible mark in the hearts of Ghanaians with his refreshing music, something only a few people in the world can achieve.

May he rest in peace.

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