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[[File:MuGlobe-018a4b29c5061498.jpg|thumb|right|320px|alt=Nana Ampadu, founder of the African Brothers International Band.|Nana Ampadu, founder of the [[African Brothers International Band]].<br />Image: Yaw Pare; Music In Africa. [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ CC BY-NC 4.0]. [https://musicinafrica.net/magazine/ghana-mourns-death-highlife-maestro-nana-ampadu/ Source].]]

== Summary ==
Nana Ampadu (1945–2021) was a Ghanaian singer, composer and storyteller associated with [[Highlife|highlife]] and [[African Brothers International Band]]. His songs used narrative, metaphor and social commentary to address everyday experience and public life.<ref name="amp-gn">[https://gna.org.gh/2021/09/profile-of-highlife-legend-nana-ampadu/ Ghana News Agency: Profile of Highlife Legend Nana Ampadu, 30 September 2021]. Accessed 23 October 2026.</ref>

== Life and career ==
Known earlier as Patrick Kwame Ampadu, he helped establish the [[African Brothers International Band|African Brothers]] in 1963. The ensemble's 'Ebi Te Yie' became a breakthrough in 1967 and attracted political readings. He also held leadership roles in Ghana's music organizations, including MUSIGA and the Ghana Folklore Board. He died in September 2021.<ref name="amp-gn" /><ref name="amp-bio">[https://nanakwameampadu.com/biography Nana Kwame Ampadu: biography and public service]. Accessed 23 October 2026.</ref>

== Music and style ==
Folklore and fable supplied ways to speak indirectly about power, relationships and moral choices. The songs belong to guitar-band highlife, with a multiple-guitar texture that also absorbed [[Reggae|reggae]] and rock elements. Storytelling was therefore part of the music's structure and public effect, rather than an incidental message added to dance accompaniment.<ref name="amp-gn" />

== Works and performances ==
'Ebi Te Yie', 'Agatha' and 'Oman Bo Adwo' provide entry points into the catalogue. His biography emphasizes the continuing circulation of those compositions and his position as a storyteller. Recordings credited to the [[African Brothers International Band|African Brothers]] also document a collective band history, which should be distinguished from Ampadu's individual authorship.<ref name="amp-bio" />

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