Africa Is a Country

Music Video Premiere: DJ Mellow and Steloo’s “Séké”

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Music Video Premiere: DJ Mellow and Steloo’s “Séké”

By
Boima Tucker

Africa is a Country is pleased to premiere the music video for “Séké” by DJ Mellow and Steloo:

The song, whose title means “crazy” in Ga, is part of Brussels-based DJ Mellow’s A Slice of Bass EP. The collaboration between him and Accra’s Steloo came about via Max Le Daron, who I mentioned Monday was one of the participants in Akwaaba Music’s Roots of Azonto project. As Max describes, the track came about:

When I was in Ghana for the Roots of Azonto I met Steloo, who was willing to MC on my tunes. We did a few try outs then I put one draft of DJ Mellow’s tune in the studio and Steloo insisted to record on it. It clicked and Mellow finished the tune in Brussels, using samples from the Roots Of Azonto Soundbank… Et voilà!

And thus we have another great example of Azonto’s persistent impact on international dance music. However, the catchy beat, and striking production don’t really remind me of Azonto per se. To me, the beat harkens back to around 2008, the hey day of U.K. Funky, a sound that I believe was integral to the formation of Azonto, and the current wave of Afropop all over West Africa. I hear it blending perfectly with the early sounds of producers like Roska, Crazy Cousins, or Donaeo, themselves influenced by the West African and Caribbean rhythms of their parents’ homelands. Take into consideration contemporary U.K. Funky oriented and Ghana inspired producers such as The Busy Twist, and it seems like feedback loop just keeps getting louder.

*The video was shot in Accra by Ghanaian photography artist Amfo Connolly, then edited in Brussels by Pierrot Delor from La Lune Urbaine collective. This post is part of our Liner Notes series, where musicians talk about making music.

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