Ricky Viviey
Deka Worwor
Sensational highlife music of Ghana, West Africa fusing rich local traditional rhythms and melodies along the lines of Amandzeba of Ghana or Mano Dibango of Cameroun.
Ricky began his professional music career in the late 70's with the King of Highlife, C.K Mann, and other highlife greats. As part of the Carousel 7 horn section, they kept the nightclubs of Ghana dancing to the tunes of "Araba Lucy and "Maatow Aboa". He completed a full tour of the national music cycle and decided to explore the rest of Africa.
In 1979 he left for Ivory Coast where he became a resident musician at "La Canne a Sucre", a popular nightclub in Abidjan. His exceptional skills on the trumpet soon caught the ears of audiences and musicians alike. He was soon playing alongside Ren Pelagyi with Ishmael Isaac as the band leader. Together, they toured numerous African nations including, Burkina Faso, Togo, Senegal, Mali, and Niger. He also had the privilege of performing with the internationally reknowned Kassav, Toure Kunda, of Senegal, and Experience 7. He recorded as a session musician on the album of numerous Ivorian stars. Other major stars he performed with are Hugh Masekela, Mano Dibango, Kanda Bongoman, Salif Keita and Osibisa.
Ricky returned home in 1990 to join the famous Marriots International Band, and soon after, The Gold Nuggets of Ashanti Goldfields at Obuasi. Among the band members was Shasha Marley who was recently backed by The Wailers on his latest release "Maata". In 1994 he met Amandzeba of (Worgber Gyerker) and together began to produce Ghanaian music reflective of the experience, pride and essence of Ghanaian culture which they agree needs to be preserved. They embarked on a tour of several nations including The Netherlands, Cote D'Ivoire, Egypt, US, U.K and Switzerland. During the Swiss tour this 24-member group won the Alpine Music Festival Award for Best Musical Performance. Ricky also performed with Amandzeba at the Massa Music Festival in 2007, organized in Cote D'Ivoire to help stop the civil war.
To date Ricky has two cds on the market, "The Golden Sound of Trumpet" and "Deka Worwor". He aspires to use this cd to promote peace between the people of Tsito, Peki, Alavanyo, Nkonya and other parts of Ghana where conflicts exist. He composes, directs, and produces and is currently working on his third cd, "The Golden sound of Trumpet" Vol II in California , US.
World: Highlife