Dela Botri
Ghanaian Legendary African Traditional Jazz musician and flute instrumentalist born Dela Botri is popularly known for his undiluted pan-african lifestyle and music over three decades now.
Dela Botri, known as the founder and leader of Hewale Sounds is an internationally acclaimed musician. Father of the ‘Gouda’ music group and grandfather to many musicians who come to him for career advice, a word of encouragement and collaboration. Botri is actually more than a traditional music artist.
He is an exceptional talented and versatile musician, the finest artist who plays all the chromatic scales on the Atenteben.This Ghanaian traditional musical instrument is a flute made out of bamboo. Botri is the master mind of the development of the capabilities of the atenteben to fit all music genres due to his capabilities of reading and writing music.
Botri composes and arranges all his music, while improvising, creating, improving and extending traditional rhythms, beats and sounds. His music stands on the interface of tradition and modernity. He waxes into the contemporary, while keeping a link to his roots.
Leader and Artistic Director Dela Botri started his career at the age of 10. A percussionist at first and later on he mastered the skills of the atenteben (Ghanaian traditional bamboo flute). After having performed with the Nyame Mei Cultural Troup of Cape Coast as from an early age of 15, he then joined the Pan African Orchestra in 1990 where he mastered and refined his skills as well as a percussionist as an atenteben player. In 1996 he decided to start his own musical group. Hewale Sounds was born.
Between 1996 and 2004 Botri was asked to lecture and teach the skills of his unique method of playing the Atenteben at the University of Ghana’s International Centre for African Music and Dance by Emeritus Professor Kwabena Nketia who is the founder and by then the Director of the Centre who was financed by the Ford International Foundation.
Speaking on Kfm TV’s flagship show dubbed Ghana Nti with Efya Stard, the legend touched on many things including the fact that, there has not been very major attention given to the traditional side of music and most of the problems lies within the media. Dela as known by many made it loud that major part of the media lacks research that will bring forth the very importance of traditional (African) music together with it’s associated culture and provisions.
He asserted that, very little or no attention is paid to the old good traditional vibes and even the people who do it. Sighting himself as an example, the artiste told Efya Stard that a time came when he was not popular with what he was doing and that caused a particular media team to neglect him until he came into the lime light.
Watch excerpts from his interview via the link below:
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPIrGSHpzg_/?utm_medium=copy_link
Source: www.urstrulypraiznews.com
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