Black-and-white city walkabouts, boxing practices and native dances are all present in this new clip for Kae Sun‘s “Burden of Love”. The track is the latest single off the Ontario-via-Ghana singer’s solid Outside The Barcode EP — which you can stream in-full below and download for free. Watch “Burden of Love” above. Video by Armand Kajangwe and Crooked Seas.
“I wanted to go back to a highlife feeling with this album,” says Ebo Taylor who does just that, as evident by the classic single, “Yaa Amponsah”. Taylor, the veteran musician who has been making music for over 5 decades, shares a real treasure with this single. A staple recording for highlife artists dating back to the 1920s, the song “Yaa Amponsah” is about a Cape Coastal man so smitten by a woman’s beauty that he asks her to marry him, and divorce her husband. Similar traditional Fante songs, chants, and children’s rhymes contribute to Taylor’s personal journey in music that he wishes to keep alive. Stream “Yaa Amponsah” below!
(Not too long ago,) Okayafrica was put on to “I am An African” by Papa Ghana(thanks Spoek Mathambo!), the Ghanaian-rooted, Gandhi-quoting, Dutch musician whose influences are just as broad as his audience. Papa Ghana takes An African Minute to tell us about his single, the message in his music, and what we can look forward to next.
1.Who are you (besides “An African”)?
My name is Jefferson Osei a Ghanaian born and raised in the Netherlands. I’m 23 years of age. Student, football player by heart, 1/7 of the creative collective Daily Paperand 1/3 of L’Afrique Som Systeme.
2. How would you describe your music and its audience?
First of all I want my music to be approachable for everyone in the world. People should start smiling when they play my music, no matter what colour of skin or religion. I’m influenced by many cultures therefore I use a variety of styles and genre in my music such as afro-beat, coupe decale, kuduro, grime, dubstep, electro and hip hop. So if I were to discribe my music in one word I would say: Diaspora Beat, yeah I know you have never heard of it. It’s music made by people whom are away from their established or ancesteral homeland influenced by other cultures. I would describe my audience as people of all kinds of race whom are not stiff in the hips.
3. Who/What/Where are some your biggest music influences to date?
I have a broad taste in music. Fela Kuti, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, 2Pac, DJ Premier, Kanye West, Salt ‘n Pepa, Aaliyah, R. Kelly, Lil’ Wayne, Daft Punk, Dizzee Rascal, Magic Som Systeme, Buraka Som Sistema, D’banj, and Sarkodie. As you can see I have been influenced by many Artists whom made different types of music.
4. You just dropped a video for your single “I Am An African,” why did you choose to debut with this song?
This song has a message to all people in the world. We need more unity in the world. Africa is the homeland where it all started a long time a go. I want people to remember this, cause no matter what colour or religion we are all Africans.
5.What’s next for Papa Ghana?
My first priority is my bachelor degree in school and launching the first Daily Paper clothing line. I’m also working on The Mandingo EP, my new EP with various music styles. It should be released somwhere in the summer, on African time.
6. We noticed that Papa Ghana is sounds similar to “propaganda.” If Papa Ghana were to spread propaganda, what would it be?
Be the change you want to see in the world.
Check out more OKA’s African Minute interviewees- folks whose work reflects a new perspective of Africa:
Congolese superstar rapper Hugo Million
South African fashion designer Gareth Cowden
Nigerian songstress Zara Gretti
Zimbabwean celebrity hair and make up stylist Jackie Mgido
Kenyan comic artist Chief Nyamweya
Rwanda’s fashion designer House of Tayo Oli Benet and Senegalese skaters
Zimbabwean self-taught illustrator/activist Sindiso Nyoni
Awesome Tapes From Africa’ssecond release as a newly formed label will be a reprint of northern Ghanaian singer/multi-instrumentalist Bola‘s casette Volume 7. The tracks feature soul vocals and kologo plucks from Bola backed by drum machines and synthesizers. The basically inexplicable music video for “Tigantabame” features goat-stealing, checker-outfitted dancing and possible juju. Watch it above, stream previous single “Abayetidu Ma” below. Pre-order Bola’s Volume 7, out 4/3.
London/Ghana’s Donae’omugs around a rooftop alongside moves from street dancer Belle Fisher, who kind of resembles a b-girl Yo-Landi(no diss!) in this new video for grime-electro banger “Big Ben (The Richard Branson Riddim)”. The new joint boasts a haywire synth melody and Donae’o rapping of style as big to di ben and riches like a certain Virgin tycoon. Watch the video above, the single drops April 9.
Ghanaian-Canadian singer Kae Sun teams up with Alister Johnson aka DJ Catalist — the brains behind Zaki Ibrahim‘s track of 2k11 choice “Something In The Water” — for his latest single. In “We Changed” Catalist crafts an underworld bass dub laced with hip-hop beats which Kae Sun fills with soulful croons of a past-lover, now-friend. Stream “We Changed” below and grab it on iTunes now.
In Teshie, on the outskirts of Ghana’s capital, Accra, prevails the curiously morbid yet wonderfully upbeat art of fantasy coffins. Its godfather, known as Paa Joe (below), is one out of a handful of artists in the Ghanaian district making something that everyone will need but will largely overlook in the meantime.
Having run his business since the sixties, Paa Joe’s work has been exhibited for people to oooh and aaah at in a string of notable art galleries and museums around the world. He is also the nephew and former assistant of the late Seth Kane Kwei who is the professed pioneering father of fantasy coffins in the early 1950s in Ghana. The coffins are referred to, locally, as “Abebuu adekai” which means “boxes with proverbs” and are fast becoming an integral part of the funeral customs in the Greater Accra area. From pineapples to cows to Coke-bottles, each coffin is designed to reflect the life of its occupier with ambition, character, and trade being the most common sources of inspiration for the artist.
From feelings of uneasiness to amazement and sheer delight, his art has certainly received a mixed reception. Paa Joe insists that coffins are something special and should be treated with sensitivity and respect. When asked about his process of work, he maintained, “It can’t be rushed. I have to really think about the design.” One thing’s for sure, fantasy coffins are redefining what it means to go out in style.
Legendary Ghanaian highlife and afrobeat composer Ebo Taylor dishes on his upcoming album Appia Kwa Bridge in this extended video interview. Recorded with the Berlin-based Afrobeat Academy, the 74 year-old guitarist’s new LP — his “most personal to date” — will feature Fante anthems (“Ayesama” and “Nsu Na Kwan”), a remake of a ’20s highlife classic (“Yaa Amponsah”), and a poignant acoustic tribute to Taylor’s late wife (“Barrima”). Watch Ebo Taylor divulge on his inspirations and showcases his highlife guitar in the video above. Stream a few cuts off Appia Kwa Bridge below, out April 16 on Strut.
Londontown via Ghana’s Donae’o, whose EP and Sarkodie collab we featured earlier this year, hits us up with the grimy electronic “Big Ben (The Richard Branson Riddim)”. The new joint boasts a haywire synth melody and Donae’o rapping of style as big to di ben and riches like a certain Virgin tycoon. Stream “Big Ben (The Richard Branson Riddim)” below, the single drops April 9.
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In honor of the West African nation’s Independence Day, we get this Ghana remake of Jay-Z and Alicia Keys‘ big apple anthem. The track comes from London/Accra spoken word heavyweight Tuggstar aka The Poetman featuring Abena Malika, whose pipes recreate Alicia’s chorus incredibly faithfully. Big up Nkrumah, put the black star in the air, chale! Download “Ghanaian State of Mind” for free for the next 48 hours, you can find the track on Tuggstar’s upcoming Family Ties LP.
Video Premiere: Kae Sun ‘Burden Of Love’
Black-and-white city walkabouts, boxing practices and native dances are all present in this new clip for Kae Sun‘s “Burden of Love”. The track is the latest single off the Ontario-via-Ghana singer’s solid Outside The Barcode EP — which you can stream in-full below and download for free. Watch “Burden of Love” above. Video by Armand Kajangwe and Crooked Seas.