Traversing over to the other side of the continent, another area of Africa’s music that has also been celebrated more recently is that of Ghana via the imprint, Awesome Tapes From Africa. A music enthusiast from Brooklyn, Brian Skimkovitz travelled to Ghana in 2006 and became hooked on the cassette culture of the region. Street vendors played everything from West African disco and old left-field soul to curious local pop. Much of this style had never been heard outside of West Africa and Skimkovitz made it his mission to transform these obscure vocals into electronic signals for his blog and then label. He wanted to connect the western world with some amazing talent that had previously been overlooked. He plays live using cassettes and tape decks including a performance at London’s Field Day festival last year. He would track down the originators of the cassette (which was not always an easy task) and ask their permission to transform the music to a digital format and reproduce it, giving them 50% of all royalties. “It came out of a feeling of enthusiasm for the music and diversity of talent but now it’s become a way to help these artists get out...
About To Blow: International Club Culture - The Rise & Rise of the African Electronic Music Scene (Part 2)