Gnonnas Pédro

The late, legendary Senegalese musician Gnonnan Sossou Pierre Kouassivi, better known as Gnonnas Pédro, was a pioneer of modern agbadja; a contemporary take on the traditional agbadja rhythm that's popular in Togo, Benin and Ghana. Born on January 10, 1943, in Lokossa, Benin, Kouassivi – a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist – began carving out a vital reputation as a lynchpin of his local scene in the early 1960s with Benin band Los Panchos, later assembling his own group Les Dadjés in Benin. Throughout his four decades-long career, “Le Roi du Rhythme Agbadja", as he was affectionately known, also gained notoriety as a member of several popular groups and dabbled with various West African musical styles, including highlife and juju. He cultivated a successful career with Orchestre Poly-Rythmo during the 1970s, amassing a number of Yoruba highlife hits that included "Fes Jaiye", which was performed by a collection of musicians at the 2nd All-Africa Games in 1973. Kouassivi took his first steps as a solo artist in 1975 with the release of his debut album Dadjes: The Band Of Africa, releasing four albums over the next two years, including 1999's Irma koi and a best-of album in 2003. With a love of Cuban-adjacent music, Kouassivi joined African salsa supergroup Africando in 1996 and was catapulted onto the global stage during the 1990s. Pedro died of prostate cancer in Cotonou, Benin, on August 12, 2004, age 61.

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