KOO NIMO -- ‘Efie ne Fie’ (Home sweet home)

KOO NIMO -- ‘Efie ne Fie’ (Home sweet home)

Any avid observer/learner of Asante history (Ashanti) must listen to and properly understand the songs of Koo Nimo who is great musician and historian of Asante folklore.

One example of his many great songs is entitled "Efie ne Fie" which in English means "home sweet home".

Koo Nimo used this song to tell the most important history of the Asante Kingdom in Asante Twi dialect.

‘Efie ne Fie’ - Home sweet home. No matter how far you are away from here remember your home and the history from which you evolved!.

Koo Nimo was born Kwabena Boa-Amponsem on 3 October 1934, initially known as Daniel Amponsah, he is also a leading folk musician of "Palm wine" music or Highlife music originating from Ghana in West Africa.

Koo Nimo was born in the village of Foase, in the Atwima District of the Ashanti Region in Ghana where he worked in various jobs in science and medical-related fields while maintaining his interest in music. In 1957, when the former British colony of the Gold Coast became the independent country of Ghana, Koo Nimo first received national acclaim through the formation of the Addadam Agofomma ensemble.

Many of his songs tell traditional stories and are sung in the Twi language. Along with one or two guitars and vocals, the traditional Ashanti palmwine ensemble consists of traditional instruments of West Africa, including the apentemma and the donno, the frikyiwa (metal castanet), the prempensua (rhumba box), the ntorwa (hollow gourd rattle with beads or seeds woven around it on a net), and the nnawuta (consisting of two iron bells that provide the key rhythmic pattern) or dawuro (banana-shaped bell).

In 1990, eight of Koo's songs were released as a compact disk entitled Osabarima. This was the first work by a Ghanaian artist to be put on CD.

Then in January 1992, at Columbia University, New York, USA, Andrew L. Kaye presented his dissertation entitled "Koo Nimo and his circle: A Ghanaian Musician in Ethnomusicological Perspective" and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree for his work. In 1998, he was employed as a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington in Seattle, United States (US), for two years, before taking a similar position at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, also in the US.

In March 1997, the Ghana government celebrated Koo Nimo along with others when Ghana attained 40 years of independence by awarding gold medals to Koo and forty of other distinguished citizens of Ghana. This was in recognition of his efforts to preserve traditional culture. In the next month he received the Konkoma Award for his contribution to Ghanaian Highlife Music.

Learn a little more about this legendary and exceptionally unique Ghanaian musician in this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koo_Nimo