Osibisa is a British Afro-pop band, founded in London in 1969 by four expatriate African and three Caribbean musicians. Osibisa were one of the first African bands to become widely popular, leading to claims of founding World Music. In Ghana in the 1950s, Teddy Osei (saxophone), Sol Amarfio (drums), Mamon Shareef and Farhan Freere (flute) played in a highlife band called The Star Gazers. They left to form The Comets, with Osei’s brother Mac Tontoh (born Kweku Adabanka Tonto, 25 December 1940, Kumasi, Ashanti, Ghana died Monday 16 August 2010, at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana) on trumpet, and scored a hit in West Africa with their 1958 song “Pete Pete.” In 1962 Osei moved to London to study music on a scholarship from the Ghanaian government. In 1964 he formed Cat’s Paw, an early “world music” band that combined highlife, rock and soul. In 1969 he persuaded Amarfio and Tontoh to join him in London, and Osibisa was born
Afro-rock superstars perform “Sunshine Day” on UK television, 1976.
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