Portland observer., September 14, 2011, Image 1

Hispanic Heritage
Celebration
Milagro Theater
brings an extensive
lineup o f events
Residential
Farming
From goats to food­
buying clubs, new
rules considered
See El Observador, page 21
City
Roses
VPM r
See Metro, page 13
Read back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
Volume X X X X I. N um b er 37
Wednesday • September 14. 2011
Established in 1970
C o m m itte d to C u ltu ra l D iv e rs ity J
L j
A World Beat Music Legacy
Master
drummer’s
contributions
celebrated
living room at his home in north
Portland, surrounded by the earth
tones of West African paintings,
masks, and sculptures.
In Oregon, Addy has toured vir­
tually every school in the state, as
well as the Cornish Institute and
Lewis and Clark College, educating
kids of his music and culture. With
his wife, Susan, in 1986, he created
the non-profit, Homowo African
Arts & Cultures, which for over 15-
years held an annual festival in Port­
land celebrating African culture.
Addy was awarded the National
Heritage Fellowship A ward from the
National Endowment for the Arts in
1996, making him the first Africa-
born artist to receive the highest
award a traditional artist can receive
in this country.
"Through his music and teach­
ing, Obo has affected hundreds of
thousands of lives in the Pacific
Northwest and beyond," said Su­
san, "His legacy is being written as
he continues to share his talent with
young people around the country."
Now, undergoing his second bout
with cancer at 75 -years-old, Obo
and his wife will celebrate the 25th
anniversary of Homowo, recently
renamed the Obo Addy Legacy in
his honor at a benefit dinner on
Saturday, Sept. 24. The 6:30 p.m.
event, in the atrium at Emanuel Hos­
pital, which may be one of his last
public performances.
Those influenced by Addy will
be telling stories and many of his
friends from the music industry will
e n te rta in , in clu d in g Jan ice
Scroggins, LaRhonda and Mark
Steele, Norman Sylvester, Okropong
and Israel Annoh.
Bom in 1936 in Accra, Ghana, the
son of a Wonche medicine man,
Addy was designated a “master
drummer” at age six. Raised by his
father in a family of 55 siblings, all
drummers, dancers, and singers,
Addy embodied the values and
musical traditions of the Ga ethnic
group.
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserve
When drum master Obo Addy
first traveled to the Pacific North­
west in the early 1970s after an inter­
national music tour, he found Port­
land to be unlike any other city.
Walking on the street, the people
were warm and smiled back, but best
o f all, he had the background to give
a voice to an African music scene
that was non-existent He thought,
“This must be the place.”
Today, there are few who haven’t
heard or seen Addy perform. Since
his arrival in 1978 as the first African
musician to settle in Portland, the
master drummer and dancer has
shared his music with millions, cre­
ating a lasting legacy.
With his charismatic spirit, rapid-
fire hands, and powerful voice, he
has driven thousands of people to
dance to the infectious beat of his
drums. Touring internationally as a
young man and Ga master of Ghana,
Addy introduced the genre of mu­
sic known as worldbeat, or what he
describes “a world music” or “mu­
sic of the world”.
“Why not bring our music to
people who had never been to
Ghana,” said Addy, sitting in the
by
Obo Addy, Portland's
m aster drummer and
dancer from Ghana,
Africa, will be honored
for his decades o f
music and teaching
at a benefit dinner
this month.
PHOTO BY
C ari H achmann /T he P ortland O bserver
co n tin u ed y f on p a g e