Pure Akan

If there is one artist in recent times who embodies artistry with true Ghanaian originality, that is Pure Akan and he is doing this while blending music and culture perfectly.

He has sold out the Alliance Francaise in Accra twice, performed at the Brecht Festival in Germany, won The British Council Creative Enterprise award, performed at the Youth Konnect Africa Summit Accra and various venues across his home country. His collaborator collection, pans across big Ghanaian shots like Sarkodie, Efya, King Ayisoba, FOKN BOIZ and UK based Dj Juls.

Often caught dipping into prodigious fusions of highlife, hiplife and melodious raps to deliver a refreshing sound that is unique to his Ghanaian roots, his sound is contemporary and infectious, picture a mixture of Isaac Hayes and Outkast with a touch of Chance the rapper. The likes of Osibisa, Bob Marley, Obrafour, Okomfour Kwaadee and J.A Adofo are some of the names he mention as musical influence among the wide range of other Ghanaian music that played at home when he was a young boy. He is born Kwabena Appiah and hails from Obo-Kwahu in the eastern part of Ghana.

In 2017, Akan released his debut album Onipa Akoma to swift and awe-inspiring praises, his ability to weave storytelling, poetry, folklore and indigenous Ghanaian rhythms into a culturally significant body of work that resonated with the young and old, secured him a spot in the minds of music lovers and instantly termed the album a classic. His follow up, Nyame Mma, a 16 track thematic masterpiece that is reminiscent of a storytelling by the fireside where African stories were told was released in October 2021 garnering over a million streams since its release.

Akan performs mostly in Twi (a widely spoken Ghanaian language) with unique energy draped in tones and aesthetics of African cultural representation which makes him a sensation to see live.