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Music in Me BY MIRANDA LEON
Sodexo employee shares love of reggae Why do musicians risk it all? Daniel Yeboah, reggae artist and Sodexo employee at Sargent dining hall, says it best himself: “Music is life.” Even though he has worked at Sargent for the past 13 years, Yeboah started out as a musician and plans on always being one. Under the stage name “Atta Ghana Boy,” he is now a member of two different reggae bands, Hydro and Gizzae. Yeboah, a native of Ghana, picked up his first instrument, the African drums, at age 5. Shortly after, Yeboah began composing his own music, performing vocals and playing the bass guitar. He also taught African elementary school children how to play instruments. Eventually, Yeboah became part of an African band, Super High Kings, and traveled all over the world. “In ‘97 we went to Canada … Montreal, Toronto and then we came back to the United States, and we played Dallas, Texas, Chicago, Florida, New York,
Atlanta,” Yeboah said. It was after the concert in Atlanta, Ga., with the Super High Kings that Yeboah risked it all. “When we finished the show the leader (of the band) said we should come back to Ghana before we get paid, but five of us guys decided not to go back because if we went back, the leader was not going to pay us the money we deserve,” Yeboah said. “When the leader becomes leader, he wants to let everybody down. We decided to stay here, you know, and make a different life.” Yeboah lived in Atlanta for nine months until he was asked to relocate to Chicago in 1998 by people in the reggae music business who knew of his work in Africa. Yeboah recalls this offer as “another big change” in his career. Risking it all was worth it in Yeboah’s case. The promotion paid his rent and provided him with a monthly salary. “I started getting in contact with Jamaican bands and other musicians,” Yeboah said. “I started surviving, you know.” One of the musicians Yeboah met upon arriving to Chicago was a Jamaican artist named Doggi. “Doggi was a good singer (but) he’s » See MUSIC IN ME, page 2
Dan Q. Tham and Brian Cacioppo/The Daily Northwestern and Miranda Leon/The Current
@thecurrentnu
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