It is not easy to come out from the shadows of a musician as good as Daddy Lumba and claim your own big success but Ofori Amponsah has done just that and more.

After collaborating with Lumba on the evergreen Wo Ho Kyere album, Ofori Amponsah has demonstrated an unusual determination to climb up and up.

From his first album, Asew, which according to him is his biggest selling album ever, he has consistently churned out hit albums in the form of Meprawo, Bo Ho Biom and Sardine.

This year he is out with Otoolege, another album which according to him will “surpass the success of all my previous albums. It may be my best yet”.

When he released Asew, he received quite some criticism from the listening public who felt he was not original enough and that he was towing his mentor’s line.

And to prove that he was capable of more than just singing, he turned to producing other people’s music. He first tried his hands at Kofi B’s Mmoborowa album which was well received by the public.

Then he “dropped” Kofi Nti whose album, Rakia has enjoyed immense popularity. Next was Barosky who does ragga and is already receiving some attention even before his debut. In fact his bit on Kofi Nti’s Odo Nwom is the favourite of many.

Ofori Amponsah’s own Otoolege, an eight cassette and nine CD album is a well oiled piece of work by all standards and all the songs on it are potential hits. Already quite a number of them are receiving considerable airplay.

This album is not very different from his previous albums which all have the same things in common; highly danceable rhythms, and talk about the many faces of love.

According to Ofori this album will appeal to both young old as it has a little something for everybody, from hiplife to highlife. Otoolege, the title song, is arguably the hottest song on the album and significant to Ofori. “I wrote this song when I was going through some difficulties in my relationship.

You know sometimes you want to give your heart and all you’ve got to someone but it is not appreciated”, he said. The song allows Ofori Amponsah to make maximum use of his wide voice range and pitch.

It features a lot of artistes; Barosky, who on this particular song sounds so much like Terry Bonchaka, K. K. Fosu and Kofi Nti. Bonwire, a very danceable song with a very good chorus is another impressive track.

On this song he invites his love, Linda, to come to him so they can share their love together. Lady opens with some beautiful guitar work and has a great rhythm and a very good chorus going for it as well.

It is sang in a mixture of twi and some kind of Nigerian pidgin quite similar to what he used on Cinderella on his previous album. Completing the album are Abelle, Ababio, Odo Tese Aduro, Odo Wine and Hello.

This year, Ofori Amponsah says, he hopes to stage a live concert dubbed “Ofori Amponsah and Friends” to celebrate his music career.