He has an interesting name, and maybe you’ve been in e-rooms adjacent to the cult following that Ata Kak’s sole release has garnered, but don’t let your curiosity get the best of you by listening to this bogus “remaster” of Obaa Sima, uploaded via YouTube about a year ago. It sucks, and whoever thought they were doing us a favor by splitting the original mono recording clearly didn’t appreciate the fact that there is definitely more technical to it than that. All of our hopes now rest on Brian Shimkovitz and his Awesome Tapes from Africa label (based in Los Angeles), who are offering the first global, truly remastered release of Obaa Sima on March 2. I am (and we should all be) so excited!!
For the sake of catching people up to speed: Obaa Sima was originally self-released by Kak back in 1994 to relatively little fanfare in the two countries chosen for extremely limited cassette distribution — Ghana, his home country, and Canada, for some reason. The album received more than a positive reaction online in the decade that followed, and eventually Shimkovitz tracked down a physical version of the tape at a movable stall in Cape Coast, Ghana in 2002.
I’ve sampled a few of the mono tracks available online, and there’s just something so god damn fun and somewhat MJ-esque about Kak’s music. Here’s an instrumental track off the upcoming remaster, but be aware that vocals await, destined to make you smile idiotically:
Obaa Sima tracklisting:
01. Obaa Sima
02. Moma Yendodo
03. Adagya
04. Medofo
05. Daa Nyinaa
06. Yemmpa Aba
07. Bome Nnwom
• Awesome Tapes from Africa: http://www.awesometapes.com
More about: Ata Kak
