ADAHA DANCE BAND

Adaha Dance Band as the name suggests is a band that re-lives the glory days of dance band music in Ghana and Africa. The band's performance traditions are inspired by legends such as King Bruce and the Black Beats, E. T. Mensah and the Tempos, Jerry Hanson and the Ramblers, Bobby Benson, Amakye Dede and the Apollo high-kings band etc.

Conceptually, the name 'Adaha' was coined in the 1930s by the local youths along the coastal areas of the Gold-Coast who imitated the military dance bands in a local fashion. However, the band performs dance band highlife with its related genres such as Funky-life, Calypso, Samba, Juju-highlife and Afro-beat. Made up of thirteen members, the ensemble features two drummers (jazz and traditional), a keyboardist, a bass guitarist, three trumpeters, an alto saxophonist, a turner saxophonist, a flugelhorn player, a trombonist and two vocalists - all of whom are currently graduates and undergraduates of the University of Ghana, School of performing arts.

The band was formed in February 2018 by Kweku Boateng (current bandleader), a graduate from the Music Department, University of Ghana, to resuscitate the dance band genre which seems to be fading away due to current trends. The band therefore staged its first revolutionary concert which was dubbed “The Pampanaa concert” on the 4th of April, 2018, with the Ghana Police Central Band and the Accra-West District Band also on the bill of performances. Since then, the band has been performing on several platforms both regular
(hotels, restaurants, conferences, etc) and ceremonies such as the Odade3 Torch Awards, and the Republic Day concert.