A fusion of cultures for Ghanaian troupe bringing highlife to France
What happens when a Ghanaian singer forms a band in Bayonne with musicians from the southwest of France? The answer is Ah! Kwantou – a dynamic troupe empowered by cultural exchange.
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Band co-founder Kyekyeku writes and sings in English, Pidgin, French and his mother tongue, Twi. He says he's proud of his band's mix of Ghanan, French and West African sounds.
Kyekyeku has played at Montreux Jazz Festival and Paris’s New Morning, and collaborated with musicians Peter White, Pat Thomas, Mayra Andrade, and Blick Bassy.
He lives between Accra, Ghana, and Bayonne, France. With Ah! Kwantou, Kyekyeku aims to fuse the two cultures he calls home.
"The main inspiration is to exchange our influences from our sides of the Atlantic," he told RFI after performing at the Africolor Music Festival, adding that he wants to offer a refreshing sound that mixes the band members’ cultures.
Likewise, Ah! Kwantou bass player Kevin Bucket told RFI: "We all come from different backgrounds – mostly soul music, funk, hip hop, and of course, Ghana's highlife – and thought we could create an interesting, unheard mix."
Kyekyeku says ah kwantou means voyage.
"It's about travelling around the world, getting inspiration, getting in tune with sounds, and then immersing ourselves into those materials," he says.
The musician’s roots are in Afrobeat and highlife, a genre popular in Ghana, but less so in France.
Originating in coastal Ghanaian cities under British colonisation in the 19th century, highlife plays African rhythms and melodies with Western instruments like jazz horns and guitars.
"The idea is to put all of these sounds together for music with a lot of rhythm, a lot of energy and groove," Kyekyeku says.
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