Ata Kak

Ata Kak (born September 29, 1960 in Kumasi , Ghana ), real name Yaw Atta-Owusu , is a Ghanaian highlife and hip house producer whose debut album Obaa Sima, published in 1994, achieved worldwide popularity in 2006. Previously, his identity was unknown for two decades.

Life

Yaw Atta-Owusu and his wife Mary fled to Dortmund in 1985 due to a military coup . There he took German lessons and wanted to study. When his first son was born, however, he had to keep the young family afloat with short-term jobs as a harvest helper and English teacher. After moving to the vicinity of Düsseldorf , he became a drummer in a reggae band - without any previous musical knowledge, but with a great interest in music . After a short time he practiced singing and also became the band's lead singer. Since the cover of the songs of other bands was too little for him, he soon began to write songs.

After moving to Toronto in 1989, he became a member and songwriter of the highlife band Marijata and worked as a cook and as a music teacher in a church. After two years, he left the band, got second-hand equipment and began writing and recording music with a friend in his Ontario apartment . He was mainly inspired by funk , reggae and highlife , but also by pop greats such as Michael Jackson , Stevie Wonder , The Bee Gees and Elvis Presley . A performance by hip-hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five made a big impression on him and he began rapping in his native Twi - probably as the first artist ever, as the young hip-hop scene in Ghana was rapping in English. These different influences helped him to create his own style. He produced his first album Obaa Sima under the stage name Ata Kak, which means something like "little twin brother" . With no label and no ways to publish his music, he sent the recordings to his brother in Ghana in the hope that he could help him. His brother designed the cover with a university professor friend of his, but the album was also unsuccessful. A mere 50 cassettes were produced that didn't sell and the album was soon forgotten.

discovery

The Obaa Sima tape remained unknown for a long time until the ethnologist and blogger Brian Shimkovitz discovered it in 2002 at a street stall in Ghana, where he was spending a semester abroad. He published it in 2006 on his blog, founded especially for this purpose, and since 2011 on the label Awesome Tapes From Africa with the aim of identifying the artist. He didn't succeed for several years until he got his son's mobile phone number via detours and was able to establish contact with Yaw, who now lives in Ghana again. Delighted with the interest in the recordings 22 years ago, Yaw agreed to a re-release .

reception

The reissue of Obaa Sima in 2015 received rave reviews from around the world and has been treated in many magazines, radio stations and events.

After the great success of the re-release, Yaw is now supported by Shimkovitz and an agent and went on tour with other musicians from London in 2016. In an interview with FACT he announced that he would record new songs after the tour - this time with better equipment and a band.

In 2017, the Red Bull Music Academy shot a documentary about him under the title "Ata Kak - Time Bomb" .