George Darko

The music of West Africa is fused with influences of Western pop music and rock by Ghana-born guitarist and vocalist George Darko. Based in Germany, since the early-1980s, Darko has continued to bring a contemporary sensitivity to his tradition-rooted music since returning to live in his homeland of Ghana. Darko has been involved with music much of his life. As a youngster, he learned traditional dancing and drumming. A teacher, who built his own guitar, inspired Darko to switch to the stringed instrument. Despite continuing to be exposed to traditional music, Darko was enchanted by the music of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. Graduating from school, he recorded and released a solo cassette, The Reborn Avengers. After spending six months in Egypt, in 1976, working with a United Nations "peace keeping force" in Ismalia, Darko settled in Germany, where he helped to form a band, Bus Stop. The group's debut album, Friends, was released in 1982. Darko continued to be the band's guitarist on their second album, Highlife Times, two years later. With the band's third album, Moni Palavi, Darko assumed the role of the group's lead vocalist. When Bus Stop disbanded in 1988, Darko continued to perform as a soloist.