Renowned jazz musician and media personality, Gboyega Adelaja was a young student in Howard University, when the criss-cross African band Osibisa blew America away with their Do the Body Dance and more. He shares his experience

From 1970, Osibisa’s first American show was at Cramton Auditorium at Howard University, Washington DC, USA. This show was held sometimes late summer of 1971.

The ecclectic band had done some series of gigs in the United Kingdom before then and were managed by Gery Bron & Associates of 1, Oxford Street.

Their American debut at Howard a school that happened to be the most celebrated and admired Black University in the world was very historic, as the auditorium was packed to the brim. And you know what it was for the flower generation era, when everyone was high on pot. The Americans have never seen an all black African group playing a kind of music they don’t really understand but all went wild each time Osibisa started playing percussions only.

I saw students falling off the Isle, a height of about 6 feet into the floor below, and the entire Cramton Auditorium was seriously energised. I was a Sophomore 2nd year student at Howard then. Many Nigerian students that saw the concert will bear me witness.

Osibisa went from there to play in New York and many other US cities for their first American tour. That was how I became friends with the band and up till now, I am still in contact with Sol Amarfio, Kofi Ayivor, Wendell Richardson & Mike Odumosu (my cousin).

But on a sad note, Osibisa as a group started to loose members when Spartacus R (Bass player) left, Fred Coker of Assagai filled in on Bass for a while before Mike Odumosu came in. Robert Bailey went into drugs and couldn’t play anymore while the late Kiki Gyan came to take his place. The band also experimented with different musicians, but the core three founding members, Mac Tontoh, Sol Amarfio, Teddy Osei were always there until Mac died and Teddy had a mild stroke, but the royalties from their albums and compositions can sustain them for life.

Words by Gboyega Adelaja, edited by Ireho Aito. Images by Google