Watch out for 19-year-old Australian/Ghanian musical talent Genesis Owusu. His newest release pays homage to his African heritage while sounds so gloriously fresh.
In regards to the creation of ‘Sideways’ Genesis says: “The three of us were scanning and researching a whole bunch of sounds when we came across this creaky little rhythm that would soon become the foundation of the song. Something about the way the sound moved just reminded me of the sounds of my birthplace, Ghana. We had already recorded a couple of tracks beforehand (*foreshadowing*) so I definitely wanted to try something different. We had been listening to a song called ‘Atomic Bomb’ by a Nigerian artist named William Onyeabor so the African vibes were already in the room. I started singing what would become the chorus of the song, which was reminiscent of Pidgin English, which is essentially a grammatically simplified version of English used a lot in Africa. The phrase “Onyame gye me, gye me, O” is a Twi (Ghanaian language) phrase that translates to ‘O God, save me, save me, oh’.” he continues. “The song has a lot of significance for me personally, as both an artist and an African, as I progressively push my own sound further while also being able to proudly pay homage to a cultural foundation that hasn’t always been correctly appreciated by people outside of it. I get to forward a sound and create my own product of Afrofuturism.”
image provided by press agency
