Ohibo Paronti

The album from Ohibo Paronti is giving a final song of eternal hope for all. Forty years ago, Aberdare’s Rhode Island Red had a colourful past from being told to be quiet by boxer Howard Winston to waking the dead at a funeral parlour, cue the realisation that they were not the only band touring that moniker. Unfortunately, they had just produced a pile of merchandise so with the help of some public house graffiti they picked a band name that wouldn’t be replicated elsewhere. Newly christened Ohibo Paronti, the group performed BBC Wales showcases and high-profile gigs including Hammersmith Odeon led to them being muted as support for a forthcoming North American tour with the mighty Queen, but then the wheels fell off when a management change at the record company left them out in the cold. They carried on purveying a handy line in West Coast harmonies and Steely Dan-style musings with some harder-edged covers (including a fabulous version of The Doors’ ‘Been Down So Long’) to local audiences before calling it a day. An interesting side story in Welsh Music that took a personal tragedy and a global pandemic to bring the three Paronti members back together to rework some old tunes and produce some exciting new material to help them endure lockdown. Ohibo Paronti remains Allan Price, Ian Davies, and Keith Evans.