Black Prophet
Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
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Come Friday, December 15, at the Alliance Franciase in Accra, Black Prophet, the young Ghanaian reggae sensation will launch his maiden album "Legal Stranger" at the Alliance Francaise in Accra with a performance that will involve other groups.
The album, which has twelve tracks comprise messages that are highly relevant to contemporary Ghana. It makes subtle comments about peace, unity and love. Indeed, it is a successful blend of reggae beats and Ghanaian traditional rhythms.
A dynamic musician, Black prophet will be backed by his group Thunderstrike, who will entertain fans alongside Kusun Ensemble, a group that has created waves in Europe, Australia and the United States.
With lyrics in English, Twi and Ga, the album effectively utilises elements of indigenous African music that freely expose the power of African reggae while revealing the beauty of fusing different styles of music.
Black Prophet has performed in several European cultural festivals including Summer Jam, (Cologne, Germany), Black Star (Amsterdam, Holland) and Knockout (Den Haag, Holland). He has also recorded a number of albums with his former group, Vibration Kings.
The album launch is being sponsored by the French Embassy, Alliance Francaise, Afriqiyah Airways, Benign & B' Exotique, Kusun Productions, Chopitall Restaurant and Soundcheck.
Source: The Stateman - The Stateman
Reggae enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting the debut solo album from Kenneth Wilberforce Zonto Bossmon, also known as Black Prophet.
The wait is now almost over: Legal Stranger, a 13-track album recorded with several different producers and backed by the European/Ghanaian band Thunder Strike, is on its way.
The artist describes his hotly anticipated effort as a "classic roots" album with African overtones.
Dressed in his African print, and wearing a turban, Black Prophet sat down with the Saturday Statesman to talk about how far he has come.
Bossmon was born in Accra, and at the tender age of seven, he had his first public performance with the Ola Williams band. Shortly thereafter he started performing as a solo artist under the name Home Culture.
Bossmon feels that he has been blessed with the talent of performing and communicating through his music, summing it up thus: "Music has been part of me and my parents have been most supportive."
Black Prophet, who likes to play football, guitar and write songs, follows in the footsteps of Ghana's spiritual reggae pioneers, citing influences like hip-hop, roots-reggae and African traditionalism in his music.
The young artiste likens Ghana"s music industry to a growing plant, one that is in need of some water. "I wish people will appreciate good music and know what to do with it," he says.
Like many great reggae performers Bossman is deeply committed to his art, and the power of spiritual music. "The industry lives in me and I live in it. My music is to educate and elevate people from their slumber."
Black Prophet exhibits this social consciousness in his latest album where he encourages people, especially the African youth, to have faith in themselves and fine tune their God-given talents for the benefit of their people rather than, as he calls it, "enslaving themselves in a foreign land".
While Bossmon isn’t against Africans experiencing other cultures he feels Ghanaians should first learn to appreciate what they have rather than choosing to live abroad.
Uncompromising in both his music and his ideals, Black Prophet stands alone in the Ghanaian reggae scene, although the artist has at times tried to share the stage.
Locally, he played and recorded with the band Vibration Kings but, "it proved to be difficult to maintain a live band in Accra during the new millennium," he says, adding "Hip-life was on the rise and the music climate changed" - Ghana Base
Ghana's finest reggae star Black Prophet, whose music and stagecraft has caught on well with music fans in Europe and America, is out with his latest musical album, 'Prophecy'.
The album, which has 12 tracks, contains messages that are highly relevant to contemporary Ghana.
The tracks make important comments about peace, unity and love. Indeed, it is a successful blend of reggae beats and Ghanaian traditional rhythms.
With lyrics in English, the album effectively utilises elements of indigenous African music that freely exposes the power of African reggae while revealing the beauty of fusing different styles of music.
The album has songs like 'No Pain No Gain', 'Time Bomb', 'Where Is Jah Love', and 'Resource' among several others.
His lyrics which often deal with the suffering of people living on the streets or in ghettos have inspired a lot of passion in Ghana, since he sings for the poor and marginalized.
These are the people who have not been fortunate to be within the circle of influence. Black Prophet has also been inspired by some of reggae's greatest.
But like a messiah, he has come to condemn what many feared to do; singing against political corruption, social problems, and many ugly issues that indicate that the 'beautiful ones are not yet born'.
Black Prophet exhibits social consciousness in his latest album where he encourages people, especially the African youth, to have faith in themselves and fine-tune their God-given talents for the benefit of their people.
Indeed the audience that watched Black Prophet's live musical concert at the Alliance Francaise a few weeks ago were convinced that the “Prophecy” album produced by Killa West Music is undoubtedly the best from the renowned reggae artiste so far.
Having travelled across Europe and America to perform on the same stage with some of the world's greatest reggae superstars, Black Prophet disclosed that he would soon embark on a world tour to promote his latest album.
By George Clifford Owusu - Modern Ghana
The name prophet is synonymous with people who preach the word of God. They are believed to be people ordained by God to deliver special messages to their people.
In the Ghanaian music arena there is one such prophet, Black Prophet who delivers his message through reggae music.
Ghana has seen a lot of reggae musicians who have raised the nation's flag on international scene and notable among them are Rocky Dawuni, Shasha Marley and Black Prophet.
Black Prophet, born Kenneth Wilberforce Zonto Bossman in 1977 in Accra, has been in the reggae music industry for some years now.
In an interview with Joy FM's DJ Black on the Open House Party entertainment show on Saturday, Black Prophet recalled a landmark achievement in his music career some years ago when the famous Shaba Ranks came to Ghana.
He recounted a situation where he personally confronted the music star with one of his songs which impressed Shaba Ranks. In appreciation, Shaba gave him a very nice footwear.
In the early stages of his music career, Black Prophet managed the ‘Acoustic Boys’ where they played for Makola market women for money. He also performed at major functions and beaches.
As time passed, the Acoustic Boys metamorphosed into Vibration Boys and then to the Vibration Kings releasing their first recording in 1996 titled Captivity.
Black Prophet now manages a band in Europe called Thunder Strike which performs at major vanues in Europe. He has toured various parts of the world with major reggae artistes like Rita Marley, Pliers, Don Carlos, Yellowman, Steel Pulse, Lucky Dube, Alpha Blondy, Buju Banton & Dean Fraser.
The reggae prophet made his debut in 1998 with his album called Chains. He and the Thunder Strike’s current album ‘Prophecy’ contains eight new tracks and four from their first album. Some of the songs are Hot and Cold which features Sway, Good feeling featuring 2 face and Natural resources.
He also did some recordings at the famous Tuff Gong studio which is currently being managed by Dean Fraser one of the world’s best producers.
The Tuff Gong studio is very synonymous with legendary reggae legends like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, the Marley brothers and Sizzla and a host of others.
His ‘Natural resources’ track, he explained focuses on politicians who misappropriate the country's resources to the detriment the poor.
- Ghana Nation
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Biography
Black Prophet is a gifted Ghanaian reggae singer. His unique, harmonious reggae beat combined with a glamorous African cadence offers a very distinctive sound to his rhythm.
In 2003, Black Prophet made his first tour to Europe, where he played on various festivals in the Netherlands and Belgium. Since then, he has returned to Holland on a regular basis, backed by his Thunder Strike band. As his reputation further grew across continental Europe, he has been constantly invited to play at shows and festivals alike. In 2007, Prophet’s ‘Doubting me’ was named best reggae song of the year at the Ghana national Music Awards. A year later, he headlined the Oland Roots festival in Sweden, where he heralded several songs from his new album ‘Legal Stranger.’ A very humble artist with a modest upbringing, Prophet is considered Ghana’s most prominent international reggae export.
Prophet was born in Accra, and at the tender age of seven, he had his first public performance with the Ola Williams band. He released his first album ‘Chains’ in 1998. Shortly afterwards, he started performing as a solo artist under the name Home Culture. Like many great reggae performers he is deeply committed to his art, and power of spiritual music. “The industry lives in me and I live in it. My music is to educate and elevate people from their slumber.” During the 2010 European tour, he will showcase his newest single “Good Feeling” produced by world-renowned producer Dean Fraser during his first visit to Kingston, Jamaica. Prophet has toured extensively across the world sharing the stage with many international performers including: Rita Marley, Pliers, Don Carlos, Yellowman, Steel Pulse, the late Lucky Dube, Alpha Blondy, Buju Banton & Dean Fraser.
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