In Ghana in the 1950s, Teddy Osei (saxophone), Sol Amarfio (drums), Mamon Shareef and Farhan Freere (flute) played in a highlife band called The Star Gazers. They left to form The Comets, with Osei's brother Mac Tontoh on trumpet, and scored a hit in West Africa with their 1958 song "Pete Pete." In 1962 Osei moved to London to study music on a scholarship from the Ghanaian government. In 1964 he formed Cat's Paw, an early "world music" band that combined highlife, rock and soul. In 1969 he persuaded Amarfio and Tontoh to join him in London, and Osibisa was born.
The name Osibisa was described by the band members as meaning "criss cross rhythms that explode with happiness" but it actually comes from "osibisaba" the Fante word for highlife. Their style influenced many of the emerging African musicians over the last forty plus years.
Survival
Osibisa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
we're all going to put our hands up
everybody hands up
everybody
thank you
we love you
oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh
everybody, beautiful
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh
are u there?
I can hear u more, on top
everybody, everybody hands up, everybody
hands up, everybody hear hands up. God bless you o
Thank you
Yeah, yeah, yeah
oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh
Sing this song, sing this song. yeah
oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh
sing this song
come on everybody, thank you so much
oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh.yeah
OSIBISA, OSIBISA, OSIBISA
thank you. God bless you
peace and love
Thank you
OSIBISA (fades)
end
The lyrics provided do not seem to be a part of Osibisa's song "Survival." Instead, they seem to be part of a live performance or an outro to a concert. The words encourage the audience to raise their hands and express gratitude towards them. The repeated lines of "oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh" and "yeah, yeah, yeah" seem to be used to build a sense of excitement and energy among the participants.
"Survival" is a song by the Ghanaian Afro-rock band, Osibisa. It was released in 1971 as part of their self-titled debut album. The track is an instrumental piece that features a unique fusion of African rhythms, rock, and jazz. The band's use of traditional African instruments like the kora and the balafon, mixed with electronic guitars, drums, and saxophone create a distinctive sound that made them popular across the world.
Line by Line Meaning
So at this time
At this moment in time
we're all going to put our hands up
We will raise our hands up together
everybody hands up
Every person should put their hands up
everybody
Every single person present
thank you
Gratitude is expressed
we love you
We have affection for you
oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh, oh, hohhh
Vocalizations conveying enthusiasm
everybody, beautiful
Everyone present is beautiful
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Vocalizations conveying agreement or excitement
are u there?
Is there anyone listening?
I can hear u more, on top
I can hear you better now
everybody, everybody hands up, everybody
Everyone should raise their hands up together
hands up, everybody hear hands up. God bless you o
I ask that everyone raise their hands up as I wish blessings upon them
thank you
Gratitude is expressed
Sing this song, sing this song. yeah
Let's all sing along to this song
come on everybody, thank you so much
Everyone should join in, with gratitude expressed
OSIBISA, OSIBISA, OSIBISA
Repetition of the band name
thank you. God bless you
Gratitude is expressed and blessings wished upon everyone
peace and love
Desire for peace and love to prevail
Thank you
Gratitude is expressed
OSIBISA (fades)
The band name is repeated as the song fades out
Writer(s): Mac Tontoh, Teddy Osei
Contributed by Aaliyah G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@juangonzales2626
Qué tal junta de tambores africanos
ellos hacen un ritmo muy inolvidable
con gran fuerza sin duda lo ejecutan
en el fondo es un gran tema, grande
con las voces de todos integrantes
aunque al comienzo un poco flojo
avanzando el tema es excelente
por eso queda en los recuerdos
de aquellos jóvenes q disfrutan
GRACIAS POR HABERLO SUBIDO.
@dimebucker2
+Aquinasish this should help:
Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say "I should get my fair share." And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, "everyone should get their fair share." Now, that's a wonderful sentiment -- indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However, dad's smart-ass comment just dismissed you and didn't solve the problem that you still haven't gotten any!
The problem is that the statement "I should get my fair share" had an implicit "too" at the end: "I should get my fair share, too, just like everyone else." But your dad's response treated your statement as though you meant "only I should get my fair share", which clearly was not your intention. As a result, his statement that "everyone should get their fair share," while true, only served to ignore the problem you were trying to point out.
That's the situation of the "black lives matter" movement. Culture, laws, the arts, religion, and everyone else repeatedly suggest that all lives should matter. Clearly, that message already abounds in our society.
The problem is that, in practice, the world doesn't work the way. You see the film Nightcrawler? You know the part where Renee Russo tells Jake Gyllenhal that she doesn't want footage of a black or latino person dying, she wants news stories about affluent white people being killed? That's not made up out of whole cloth -- there is a news bias toward stories that the majority of the audience (who are white) can identify with. So when a young black man gets killed (prior to the recent police shootings), it's generally not considered "news", while a middle-aged white woman being killed is treated as news. And to a large degree, that is accurate -- young black men are killed in significantly disproportionate numbers, which is why we don't treat it as anything new. But the result is that, societally, we don't pay as much attention to certain people's deaths as we do to others. So, currently, we don't treat all lives as though they matter equally.
Just like asking dad for your fair share, the phrase "black lives matter" also has an implicit "too" at the end: it's saying that black lives should also matter. But responding to this by saying "all lives matter" is willfully going back to ignoring the problem. It's a way of dismissing the statement by falsely suggesting that it means "only black lives matter," when that is obviously not the case. And so saying "all lives matter" as a direct response to "black lives matter" is essentially saying that we should just go back to ignoring the problem.
The phrase "Black lives matter" carries an implicit "too" at the end; it's saying that black lives should also matter. Saying "all lives matter" is dismissing the very problems that the phrase is trying to draw attention to.
@dayana29e
Esta canciòn la andaba buscando desde hace mucho..A mi padre le encantaba este grupo y este era uno de sus discos favoritos...Me trae muy buenos recuerdos Osibisa..buena musica, grandes musicos...Gracias y saludos desde Trujillo- Perù !!!
@juliolopez9332
Me.siento.muy.feliz.al.saber.que.alguien.esta.alegre.jl
@Rifuar1
Bueno cuando aparecio este disco en 1972 fue un real hit. hasta hoy permanece fresco. gracias por compartirlo. desde Perú, America del Sur, gracias.
@kpete9219
One of the best beginnings to any song! I especially love that they allowed the goof up at the beginning to remain in the song. I loved Osibisa's earlier albums more than the later ones. We painted the cover of an Osibisa Album that I had on our suite wall in the hall in the dorm at Northern Michigan University. Many times I had their albums playing, especially on the weekends and many people would stop by and ask who they were.
@danielemignano6103
OMG WTF moments of playing this music is as real as watching the beautiful amazing sun rise turning night into day Let there be light Let there Be osabisa ☸️🔯☦️☪️☮️🕎🕉️✡️☯️🛐✝️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️✌️✌️✌️✌️✌️🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
@HDSKevin
Pelos como escarpias.
Los descubrí por casualidad hace mucho tiempo, hablando de música con gente aleatoria, mucho mayor que yo, en un bar, hará como 10 años. Y desde entonces el nombre del grupo no se me borra de la cabeza. Son una maldita joya.
@franklinpalma2662
Tremenda canción esta de Osibisa. Me divertí muchísimo con éste tema. Gran fusión de instrumentos. Todo un magnífico recuerdo.
@cormoran440
hermosa cancion del grupo sudafricano Osibisa,la escuchaba a finales de los 60 en radio Miraflores,en un programa de 7 a 8 de la noche que tenia el recordado Enrrique Llamosas, que recuerdos
@harrietacquah2545
Osibisa fue un grupo de oeste africa no sudafricano. Son de Ghana 🇬🇭
@juangonzales2626
Conjunto Sudafricano de la mejor música
hacen deleitar grandemente a gran mayoria
que escucha con mucho agrado a Osibisa
generan admiración y ganas de imitarlos
con cualesquiera sea el grupo que tenga
solo sacar los sonidos y el coro maravilla
jóvenes de hoy tienen aquí la gran muestra.