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Sol Amarfio

Ghanaian drummer (1938-2022)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ115723694
Source-derived summary

Solomon Amarki "Sol" Amarfio (22 September 1938 – 13 December 2022) was a Ghanaian drummer and songwriter. He was the drummer of Osibisa and also wrote songs for the band. With the band he scored a worldwide hit with The Coffee Song (1976), Sunshine Day (1976) and Pata Pata (1980).

Biography

Amaerfio was born on 22 September 1938 in Asere in Accra. He started drumming at the age of 14, which he learned himself. and received as a teenager the nickname "The Rhythm Man". After playing in several bands in Ghana, in around 1960 he moved to London, where he played with other Ghanaian artists, including the brothers Teddy Osei (saxophone) and Mac Tontoh (trumpet). Together with other African and Caribbean musicians, he founded the group Osibisa in 1969. They played a mixture of Western and African music. Amarfio wrote several of the band's songs and they scored several hits, including in the Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) and the United Kingdom.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sol Amarfio” as ghanaian drummer (1938-2022). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1938, 2022, 1976, 1980—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1938-09-22. The account is most persuasive where Amarfio, Ghanaian and drummer can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as ghanaian drummer (1938-2022). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q115723694. VIAF identifies the subject as 87193844. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1938, 2022, 1976 and 1980.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Sol Amarfio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.