Off the Grid

‘The word [Onipa] means ‘human’ in Akan, the ancient language of the Ashanti people of Ghana,’ frontman Kweku Sackey (aka KOG – Kweku of Ghana) tells us in the notes to Off the Grid, Onipa’s fourth album in five years. And the irresistible non-stop variety of their pan-African, Afrofuturist music certainly celebrates and embodies both the joy and the restlessness of the human spirit. ‘We like to go deeper, into more traditional sounds. If you like Afrobeats, then this is where it actually comes from … We play the roots version…’

In the company of some of the most intriguing fresh talents from across the African Continent, the quartet – Kweku (vocals and incisive rapping), Tom Excell (composer/producer/guitarist), Wonky Logic (synths) and Finn Booth (drums) – take listeners along this 14-track pathway through African musical cultures. The many highlights include ‘Marching Over’, with Dele Sosimi’s Afrobeat-powered vocals and piano floating in an ambiance inspired by Cameroonian Baka Pygmy music; the passionate vocals of the Mandinka-infused ‘SH33ME’; the intense Saharan-style bluesy chorale of ‘My Father’, questioning the weight of the patriarchy on its sons, and the sci-fi dancefloor destructor that is ‘Danger’, featuring Xhosa punk diva Moonchild Sanelly. And then there’s the buoyant challenge of the final celestial track, ‘Joy’… are we humans going to rise to our challenges?