About
The fiery afro-futurist collective bring their high-octane live show, fronted by irresistible singer & percussionist Kweku of Ghana (K.O.G)
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“A red hot cocktail of afro-futurist grooves which take us from Accra to Johannesburg, passing by Kinshasa and other planets” Le Monde“An effervescent, life-affirming Pan-African tour” Mojo‘Riotous beats and irresistible delirium” – The Guardian
Born out of deep collaboration between long-time friends Kweku of Ghana and Tom Excell (musical director of Nubiyan Twist), Onipa represent a fiery collaboration between some of the heaviest players on the UK live scene.
The 5-piece live show features KOG on vocals, balafon and percussion, Tom on guitar, percussion and electronics, Dwayne Kilvington (Wonky Logic) on synths and MPC and Finn Booth (Nubiyan Twist) on drums.
Their debut album, ‘We No Be Machine’ was released in March 2020 via Strut Records. The record combines deep afro grooves, electronics and fierce energy in an effervescent celebration of cultural and musical encounters.
This release was followed in September 2021 by with ‘Tapes Of Utopia’, a new mixtape full of dancefloor fire released on Boomerang Records.
Tapes of Utopia harks back to a time of African cassette tapes sold on street markets, a reimagination of mixtape culture, blending genres from analogue tones of Afrobeat, Highlife and Soukous to Afrofuturistic rap and electronics. Tapes of Utopia symbolises a time when technology was decentralised, a vision of utopia where humans are liberated by safe technology that benefits the people not the elite.
Onipa have already played major live shows including The Great Escape (UK), ADE (NL), Eurosonic (NL), Glastonbury (UK), Fusion (DE), Africa Express (AUS/UK), Sauti Za Busara (ZAN), Karbardock (RE) and most recently at the virtual edition of SXSW 2021 (US) where they were picked as festival highlights by KCRW & New York Times.