Gig review: K.O.G. at The Crescent, York

K>O>G. performing at The Crescent, York. Picture: David MartinK>O>G. performing at The Crescent, York. Picture: David Martin
K>O>G. performing at The Crescent, York. Picture: David Martin
The Sheffield-based singer fuses Ghanian highlife with hip-hop, funk and rock.

Kweku Sackey, aka Kweku Of Ghana, aka K.O.G., may have been based in Sheffield for much of his musical career, but his sound is deeply rooted in an African village upbringing where the rhythms of traditional music and Ghanaian highlife collided with his eclectic ear for hip-hop, funk and rock.

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Now he’s on a mission to sonically transport his UK audiences back home and help them shed a few inhibitions along the way when it comes to dancing like no-one’s watching – with the help of his outstanding live band.

K.O.G. has built a deserved reputation with his various projects, notably as guest vocalist with Nubiyan Twist, but he’s now taking his second proper solo album Don’t Take My Soul out on the road. It’s so hot off the press that he only has one vinyl copy to flog at the York show – but rest assured it’s out there to buy now, and it’s well worth your attention, especially the title track, which makes an early appearance, and the brassy standout Live For Today.

The charismatic Kweku’s dynamic voice brings the rhythms to life, leaping from quick-fire raps to octave-leaping soulful singing, while playing a whole battery of percussion instruments. He’s probably a much more amiable boss as a band leader than, say, a Fela Kuti or a James Brown, but his musicians are every bit as tightly drilled, moving telepathically to every cue.

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They may look as though A-level Geography is the closest they’ve been to Ghana, but they play this music like they were born to it. The drummer possibly has more limbs than standard, the single trumpet player sounds like an entire brass section and the guitarist is a master of melodic highlife rhythms.

Backing singer Amy Clark is an energetic foil to the main man and showcases her impressive vocal range during a trance-like interlude led by K.O.G.’s kalimba playing. Credit tom for support act Afrodesia, based in Leeds, who do sterling work getting the crowd warmed up with their irresistible jazzy grooves.

The record is a snapshot of K.O.G.’s music, but it really takes flight in the live experience – an Afro-futurist musical odyssey ranging freely from deep spaced-out dub to joyful, spiralling energetic highlife, all expressing a deeply positive message. There’s not a body in the room that isn’t in perpetual motion, nor a face without a broad grin on it.

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