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Many parents dream of seeing their children become doctors, lawyers, or engineers. For legendary Ghanaian highlife musician Obuoba JA Adofo, the preferred career choice for his son was computer engineering. The reason had nothing to do with job security and everything to do with what he believed lurked behind the curtains of the music industry.
Speaking in an interview with Nayas, the veteran musician revealed that he initially discouraged his son, Rubean Adofo, popularly known as Adofo Jnr, from pursuing music because he feared the spiritual dangers that came with the profession.
According to JA Adofo, he even enrolled his son in a computer school, hoping keyboards and computer codes would replace microphones and concert stages.
“I enrolled him in a computer school, but he refused to continue. He insisted that he wanted to follow in my footsteps and become a musician. I told him I couldn’t allow it because, during my prime, there was a lot of juju in the music industry. If you weren’t careful, someone could destroy your life,” he recalled.
For the highlife legend, those fears were rooted in personal experience. He explained that competition in the industry during his heyday often extended beyond record sales and live performances, with jealousy and alleged spiritual attacks becoming part of the conversation. In his view, some musicians paid a heavy price for rivalries that had little to do with music itself.
Despite his father’s reservations, Adofo Jnr refused to abandon his musical ambitions. He traded the computer classroom for the recording studio and remained determined to build a career in highlife.
That decision eventually proved invaluable to the family’s musical legacy. When members of the renowned City Boys Band left the group, threatening its future, Adofo Jnr stepped forward to keep the band alive. What once looked like youthful defiance became the very lifeline the group needed.
Today, JA Adofo has entrusted the leadership of City Boys Band International to his son, who continues to carry the family’s musical heritage across Ghana and beyond. The band has continued to earn recognition, perform on international stages, and remind audiences that while rumours of juju may linger in music folklore, talent, perseverance, and a timeless highlife rhythm still steal the show.
In the end, the computer lessons never quite worked out. Fortunately for highlife fans, Adofo Jnr found his true operating system behind a microphone instead of a monitor.
