The other day Michael Soumah gave me a stack of CDs, among them a demo by Rahmane Diallo. Wow! His voice is somewhat reminiscent of Baaba Maal’s, but the beauty of his songs is all his. One song, Sira, actually gives me goosebumps. Luckily Michael hooked it all up and introduced me to Rahmane, and to his friend and manager, Mama Diop. I met with them in the Patte d’Oie suburb of Dakar, we chat, shared ideas – and shared some delicious ceebu jën. Rahmane and Mama were both very excited about Akwaaba, we are now working together to push this music further.
ABK took me to Accra’s Top Radio, where I met Prof, a scholar and radio host, who’s been talking about Akwaaba on the air and getting feedback froma number of artists. Today I met with gospel singer Madam Peace, rapper Nyansapo, and hiplife singer Ntakra, and they are all interested in the Akwaaba adventure!
I landed in Accra last night, arrived at my hotel without noticing that right across the street is a radio station! I just met with Quophi, a radio host and hiplife producer. We chat about music, I told him about Akwaaba, and he played a few dancefloor bangers for me… I am about to listen to plenty of current hiplife at Strawberry, a small sidewalk bar right across the street.
Today I also met Ben “ABK”, an artist manager, event promoter, music video director and camera operator. Who also finds time to practice karate for a couple of hours – black belt, 4th dan! I met Ben looking for a CD distributor in a huge outdoor market… needle in the haystack style. Tomorrow he’s taking me to meet with hiplife artists he’s worked with. He played a couple of tracks by KK Fusu and Sherifa Gunu… goo stuff. To be continued!
