Biography  

From childhood on the founder of Odehe was rooted in the world of rhythm, movement and sound. He was born in the Volta Region of Ghana in 1958 as the son of a well known traditional drummer. As his father died very early, he never had the chance to get to know him. The uncle took him to Accra, there he grew up.

Emmanuel can not tell when he started drumming, but he remembers very well his first performance at school at the age of six. Teachers at his school realized his talent, so a school drumming and dancing group was formed, trained by a teacher from the Art Council of Ghana. Over the years Emmanuel showed an unusual interest in these arts for a boy of his age.

So at the age of twelve he was asked to teach his schoolmates in drumming and dancing. Still in his youth he was sent on an official cultural exchange to Russia to learn ballet and on the other side to teach Russian children African drumming and dancing for more than one year. Over there many questions about the origin of rhythms and meaning of movements were asked, which he couldn’t answer then.

This encouraged him to continue research in this field after the twelve years at school. For the following eight years he under- took lots of journeys to several villages all over Ghana and ten other African countries between Mali and Central Africa to get immediate access to traditional cultural knowledge - original rhythms, movements and their cultural significance.

In Accra he was introduced to the National Folkloric of the Art Council of Ghana where he worked as a drummer, dancer and instructor at different schools all over Accra. Within two years he worked in two institutions for handicapped children as well. Committed to the spiritual power of movement and rhythm Emmanuel Gomado devoted himself to create an access to the beauty of rhythm and movement for handicapped and deaf persons. He was also sent to Tamale in the North by the Art Council to learn specific dances to pass it on to other dance groups later.

Within the scope of a big workshop "Creativity" organized by the Art Council in 1982 Emmanuel Gomado led a group and created the drum dance which was chosen as the best in that workshop program. As the National Folkloric was very interested in view of the performances on Cultural Policy Day, he was asked to teach them this dance, which he renamed Aza. Nowadays Aza is very common with Ghanaian cultural groups in Accra as a lasting component part of their programs.

At the end of 1982 he was invited for more than one year to teach the Bomas of Kenya West African dances; over there Emmanuel Gomado acquired more experience in the local dances of  East Africa. The same way he broadened in the following year in Nigeria his professional know how about Nigerian tradition- al dances. Since 1985 he is teaching part of the year in South Africa, USA and Europe, especially in Germany and Scandinavia.