Kokoroko Is Expressing Their Love for Underrated Classics

When the London Afrobeats-jazz band Kokoroko started out in 2014, they were learning the ropes by playing covers of West African songs before writing their own music. It was a way to study the music of the older generation while developing what is now known as their sound. The eight-piece outfit, founded by Sheila Maurice Grey and Onome Edgeworth, has since expanded its remakes to include Black American and Black British music. Their latest EP, from Metropolis Studios, features an exclusive cover of the Memphis duo Sweet & Innocent’s “Express Your Love”, a soulful record from 1972 that wholly reconciles with Kokoroko’s smooth and rhythmic flow. 

“We try as a rule never to do anything and say that's going to be successful,” Onome tells OkayAfrica. “It's always from a place of love, and when we cover music like “Express Your Love”, we try to forget if people know this song or not, if it's going to make us money or not; what really matters is if we are really going to enjoy and learn from it.”

For the EP tracklist, the band includes other sultry R&B songs like “Idea 5” and “Da Du Dah”, from their last album Tuff Times Never Last (2025), making for a cohesive work that is as sweet brass as it is soft vocals.

While remakes and cover versions of jazz standards are instrumental to the genre, as not only do they preserve the legacy of classic tracks but also introduce them to new audiences, Kokoroko is spotlighting the underrated ones, reinterpreting and endowing them with a fresh take. Since its inception, the band has covered unsung numbers from Steve Monite to Ebo Taylor, William Onyeabor, and Bunny Mack on tours, recording and releasing them for audiences to go find the originals. 

“It was also the same time we were covering Jean Adebambo,” Sheila comments about discovering the Sweet & Innocent. “Finding the duo really transformed our set, and with Noushy from Cote d'Ivoire on the vocals, it gave her a moment. Whenever we play these songs live, someone from the audience always reconnects with them. They're such a great conversation starter and a way to know how much different songs mean to different people from the older and present generations.” 

For a band that seeks to connect with the African community in the diaspora, live performance is equally important as studio recording. Onome, who found the Memphis duo through a Dutch label, stresses that it is not only African listeners that are connecting with their covers, but also some European audience: “After a show in France, I was asking some of the listeners how they got to know some of our covered songs, and they were telling me about how they grew up listening to those songs due to the import of African music via repressed and rereleased records,” he recalls.

But beyond paying homage to underrated classic songs, Sheila also wants to recognize past legends that were probably doubtful of their influence: “I was looking up an old interview of Adebambo speaking about her music and she sounded quite unsure, so it's really beautiful covering a musician who might not really have believed in herself and her voice but had great impact on a generation, still.” 

There has been a challenge in covering songs from West Africa because of language barriers, though. Whether it's by remaking some tracks from King Sunny Ade’s Synchro System (1983) or while playing Palmwine music from Ghana, “When it comes to West African music, you can't take the country out of the music, so wherever it's played, there's always an imprint of the country in the music. And this made us realize early enough that we can't play Nigerian or Ghanaian music like we grew up in Nigeria or Ghana, but that we're gonna play it like we grew up in London, and it's going to sound a little bit off, but we also recognize there is also something beautiful in playing songs in your own sense,” says Onome. 

If there is one thing in particular about Kokoroko, it's their fascination with lesser-known artists. The remix of their 2022 album Could We Be More, for instance, features a set of new and underrated musicians, from Angolan artist Vanyfox to Chicago vocalist keiyaA to Atlantan Stefan Ringer. But while remixes sometimes allow misinterpretation and play, the band understands the pressure of covering original songs. “One time we were playing a Ghanaian song in Hamburg, and some of the Ghanaians in the audience wanted us to play it in their language,” Onome recalls. At times, there are translators in the audience, trying to explain lyrics to the band.

Kokoroko might have the freedom to cover classics across genres, but they try not to forget what music means to them. “It's really about how this song has impacted us, and how we can present it to others in a way that's honest,” Sheila concludes.