Ata Kak

Were you moved by Sugarman’s story? Then get a load of this: In 1994 a certain Yaw Atta-Owusu from Ghana self-published a fascinating album titled Obaa Sima, combining dance and Afro-house with original rap. The record was released in an astounding run of 50 cassettes… and then the trail went cold. In 2002 the American collector Brian Shimkovitz bought a copy during a visit to Africa and was so enthralled with it that he started a now-famous blog (and later a label) devoted to popularizing music from that corner of the world: Awesome Tapes From Africa. Shimkovitz searched for the artist in vain until 2014, when he finally discovered that Yaw Atta-Owusa had been living in Canada, was doing fine, and was ready to head out on tour.