November 4 is the iTunes release of Akwaaba wo Africa – welcome to Africa in twi, the language of the Ashanti people of Ghana. With this release Akwaaba welcomes the world to its eclectic catalog of African music by locally established, yet globally unknown artists.

We traveled to West Africa to meet with the scores of artists who have existing releases, but who’ve never had the opportunity to take their music outside of their native land.

Acoustic Senegalese musicians, Malian Wassoulou pop stars, Ivorian coupé décalé entertainers, Ghanaian highlife and hiplife singers, Reggae, hip hop and salsa artists… the wealth of music is staggering. Akwaaba signed fair deals with a number of these artists to make their music heard outside of Africa. Akwaaba wo Africa is the introduction to this wide spanning catalog of music you hear in Africa.

The music is available for download on iTunes, or you can buy a CD from CD Baby.

Our first release, Akwaaba wo Africa, was just reviewed by Mondomix, their poetic words are extremely encouraging. We in turn encourage you to practice your French and read the review!

For their Under the Radar 2009 selection, Afropop picked 3 artists featured on our first compilation Akwaaba wo Africa! Bradez and Rose Dede Tetteh from Ghana, and Alassane Sy from Senegal.

Nnamdi Moweta invited Akwaaba founder Benjamin Lebrave to his show, Afrodicia, Saturday December 13 from 2 to 4pm. Nnamdi plays a lot of party music from all over the gulf of Guinea, soukous, highlife, afrobeat, hiplife, coupé décalé… Akwaaba fits right in, check it out!

Yatrika Shah-Rais, host of Global Village every Wednesday on KPFK, hosts a wonderful show, and also runs a great music program at the Skirball Cultural Center. She has invited Benjamin Lebrave to her show on Dec 10 to explain Akwaaba’s concept and mission, and share some of the sounds from our catalog.

Tune into 90.7FM in the Los Angeles area, listen on KPFK’s site or here:

On November 7, Akwaaba Music welcomes you to the release party for Akwaaba wo Africa, its first release, and the introduction to its wide spanning catalog of fair trade African music.

Akwaaba wo Africa – welcome to Africa in twi, the language of the Ashanti people of Ghana. An eclectic sampler of acoustic Senegalese music, Malian pop, reggae, salsa, highlife and hiplife, all recorded in Africa. All of Akwaaba’s artists have released music locally, but have never had the opportunity to take their music outside of Africa. Akwaaba signed fair deals with these artists, splitting its net revenue 50-50 with all of its licensees, and working directly with the artist whenever possible.

For this first event, Akwaaba has received strong support from some of LA’s most prominent purveyors of African sounds. Tom Schnabel and Jeremy Sole, both renowned KCRW hosts and DJs, will share their take on contemporary African music, along with the Bay Area’s own DJ Chief Boima, and Akwaaba founder Benjamin Lebrave. Salt has actively been supporting Akwaaba. It is an elegant and minimal boutique of women’s designer clothing, located on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, CA. It has featured art and hosted exhibits for local artists such as Deborah Glusker and Sherry Olsen (flyer).

For specific information, please join our mailing list.