Spirit of Ojah

Music:

Member Since: 12/07/2007
Band Members: Roger Ocquaye - Drums, Arrangements, Vocals *Shervonne Barnett - Vocals *Eric Conn - Guitar *Randy Shay - Guitar *Susan Nelson - Bass *Caxambu - Percussion*Benjamin Roger Ocquaye – Trap Drums, Hand Drums, Vocals, and Arrangements E. T. Mensah & the Tempos Band, Ghana Armed Forces Band ; Ghana El Beats Band, Samuel Sabrie and the Music Maestro; Egypt Andy O Band, Shakata, Can't Stop Dancin, African Roots, African Allstars, Lasaroja, Ojah Show Band; USABenjamin Ocquaye (Roger), born and bred in Ghana, and first founded, managed and played with the El Beats band at Tema. Roger then left Tema, moving to Accra, the capital, playing and recording with E.T. Mensah, the king of Highlife of Ghana and West Africa, in the Tempos Band. His performance with E.T. Mensah took him to the Arab and European music scene for the period of 10 years. In Eqypt, Roger played with Samuel Sabrie, renowned film actor and performer. Then moving to Israel, Turkey, Finland and Austria to complete his international contracts at top five star hotels. During this same period, Roger played internationally with the Ghana Armed Forces, Powerful Mercury Band.Locally, Roger has played, recorded, entertained and captivated fans at festivals and concert halls throughout the Pacific Northwest.*Shervonne Barnett Lead Vocals, Percussion Shervonne began singing in church and later became a singer in the Tacoma, WA City Choir. Most recently, she has worked in Las Vegas with the saxaphonist, Frank Roberts. She has also appeared with the jazz guitarist, Michael Powers. She has performed with reggae artists: Congo Willie, Ras Bongo, The Wise Ones, and the African Knights. She has recorded with artists Kevin Garner and the pop group, Smilie. Shervonne has also studied percussion with Ras Bongos. She competed in the “Shut the Door Show” radio competition on KSRB 1420AM.*Susan Nelson Bass Guitar Susan Nelson, our bassist, was previously with the Afro-pop and reggae group led by Ahmed Tarawally Jr. from Sierra Leone (The African Knights), with an all female Rolling Stones tribute band (Ruby Tuesday) and with several folk-rock groups (The Abram Marx Band, The LynnDave Group, Baby Love Child).*Eric Nightsong Conn Guitar In 1996, Eric was introduced to the musical world of drums and dancing when he met Roger Ocquaye. He was inspired to travel to Ghana, West Africa, where he learned traditional Ghanian rhythms and guitar styles. While in Ghana, he also learned the traditional art of making drums using hand tools. He has custom-made a variety of drums and other instruments and in 2007, he built the electric guitar that he currently plays in the band. Eric is a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, mandolin, sitar, djembe, congas, timbales, tablas, doumbeks, and more. His style is influenced by music from all over the world. He has performed Greek, Middle Eastern, African, Reggae, and East Indian music.*Randy Shay Keyboard and Guitar Randy Shay is a multi-instrumentalist composer/singer/songwriter. He plays keyboards, guitar, bass, mandolin, viol, zither and sings. Randy plays and writes in many different styles. He studied classical music as a kid and then discovered folk, blues, rock, jazz, Indian classical, flamenco, reggae and bluegrass. A few of his influences are Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Paco De Lucia, La Nina De Los Peines, Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Bob Marley, Ralph & Carter Stanley, Bill Monroe, J.S. Bach, Dominico Scarlatti, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Ray Charles, Robert Johnson, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon. Some of the bands he’s played in are Jimmy Free’s Friends (Seattle, The Earth Tones (San Francisco) and The Albert Mroz Band (San Francisco). *Caxambu Congas, Percussion and Backing Vocals Caxambu started playing at five years of age to his father's colorful mambo record collection, on bongos his uncle gave him. Played in bands during his school years and in the mid-'80s was invited to play in the Liberian drum and mask dance company Village Drum & Masquerade; this association lasting until today.Caxambu spent several seasons in Brazil performing w/ Carlos Tolosa, Jorge Pinchevsky, and Jardes Macale, and on Educational TV. Soon afterward helped start the well-respected African music band Sha-Ka-Ta with noted guitarist Mohammed Shaibu, with whom he still plays with in an unplugged setting. In the mid-'90s he formed the successful Brazilian Samba-Reggae band Banda Voou with Antonio Ribeiro, Bryant Urban, and Eduardo Mendonca, with whom he still performs with in the well-known Brazilian music/dance/cultural performing group Show Brazil. With these bands, he has toured the Northwest (Washington state, B.C., Canada, Montana, Oregon, Idaho), Utah, and California. Caxambu also plays for several area dance classes. For the last ten years, Caxambu has been concentrating on Capoeira Angola, the African-Brazilian art form that combines live music w/ martial arts.
Influences: Agbaja. Adowa, Calypso, Funk, Highlife, Jazz, Kpanlogo, R&B, Reggae, Soukous
Sounds Like: E.T. Mensah Tempo's Band, Osibisa, African Rock, Afrobeat, HipLife http://worldmusiccentral.org/dokuwiki/doku.php/hiplife
Type of Label: Unsigned