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The Sound Odyssey

Gemma Cairney takes British artists for musical collaborations in different countries.

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The Sound Odyssey: Series 1: Kojey Radical travels to Ghana

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Kojey Radical travels to Ghana

26/09/2018

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - The Sound Odyssey, Series 1, Kojey Radical travels to Ghana

Gemma Cairney takes Kojey Radical to Ghana, West Africa for a musical collaboration.

Gemma Cairney takes poet and rapper Kojey Radical to Ghana, West Africa for a musical collaboration with Kyekyeku, part of a new generation of lively young Ghanaian musicians.

The Sound Odyssey is a new series in which Gemma Cairney takes British artists for musical collaborations in different countries around the world, hearing the musicians in a new light, and exposing their artistic process as they create something new in different and unfamiliar surroundings with an artist they have never met before. 

For this programme, MOBO-nominated musician Kojey Radical, travels to Ghana, a country that he hasn’t been too since he was 12 years old.

Born and raised in East London 25-year-old Radical is a spoken word-poet and rapper, a dancer, model, illustrator and video artist. The son of Ghanaian parents, he grew up channelling his energy into writing poetry, and went on to study illustration at London College of Fashion before turning to music. His sound is a unique blend of soul, jazz and gospel, grime, rap and electronica.

Ghana has a proud and long history as one of Africa’s richest musical hotbeds, thanks in part to its inception of ‘highlife’, the genre that originated there.

Kojey will be collaborating in Accra with Kyekyeku, part of a new generation of young lively Ghanaian musicians combining the musical traditions of highlife and afrobeat , who also sees himself as a social chronicler of contemporary Africa.

In Accra, Kojey begins to discover and understand more about his own diaspora, visiting Independence Square and the mausoleum of Kwame Nkrumah, who he first learnt about through conversations with his dad who was in Accra in 1957 when Ghana became independent.  

He also visits YFM the number one Urban Youth radio station in Ghana, before heading to a local rehearsal studio, the challenge, to create a new track with Kyekyeku and a group of local musicians. 

Presented by Gemma Cairney
Produced by Jax Coombes 
A BBC 6 Music Production for BBC Radio 4

The Sound Odyssey: Series 1

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