Kweku Sackey aka K.O.G (Kweku of Ghana) is a multi-dimensional creative force, combining exquisite writing skills with shamanistic live performance, fierce raps, perfectly on pitch singing across a massive vocal range and some absolutely wicked dance moves. Not to mention his skills as a percussionist, arranger, bandleader and art director.
Rightly celebrated for exhilarating live performances that can transform the energy of any audience, he is a true poet and storyteller, using a mix of English, Pidgin and Ga to paint sonic pictures that reach deep into the souls of everyone ready to listen.
“I love to make music that CONNECTS, REVIVES , EDUCATES and ENTERTAINS, drawing on the spiritual, physical, emotional and mental well being of us as individuals and our quest to maintain balance with the universe.”
Born in Accra, Ghana, to a physicist father who had studied in England, and his mother a Nurse, he grew up with a diverse range of international influences alongside Ghanaian styles.
“I was influenced a great deal by a range of artists from jazz to opera and traditional and folk music: Tom Waits, Quincy Jones, Bob Marley, Sizzla, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ebo Taylor, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Atongo Simba, George Clinton, Pavarotti, Warsaw Village Band”
Resident for over 10 years in Sheffield, UK, music has taken him to perform in 15 countries at huge stages all over the world, from Glastonbury’s legendary West Holts stage to Fusion (Germany), Sauti Za Busara (Zanzibar), Kabardock (Reunion) and the Commonwealth Games (Gold Cost, Australia), winning the 2018 Young Commonwealth Performer and performing for Nelson Mandela’s family.
A prolific writer and collaborator, he needs a range of projects to showcase the different sides of his unique talent. He is the lead vocalist for afro-futurist project Onipa (Strut Records, Wormfood) and hi-life/hiphop/funk band K.O.G and the Zongo Brigade (Heavenly Sweetness), as well as collaborating extensively with Nubiyan Twist; his song ‘If I know’ off the Freedom Fables album (Strut, March 2021) was performed live on Later with Jools Holland and A playlisted twice on BBC6 Music.
Kweku is deeply aware of his heritage and of his role as an ambassador both through space and time, negotiating culturally between African and Western influences and between the traditional and the modern: always open to new innovations and ideas while firmly rooted in a deep lineage. This openness has informed recent collaborations with a wide wide range of producers and writers, including iZem, Afriquoi, Congo Natty, Dark Sky, Dizraeli, Chiminyo, Umoja and many more in the pipeline.
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