Review: K.O.G and Zongo Brigade’s Zone 6 Agege

Released via Heavenly Sweetness and Pura Vida Sounds, the 15-track LP draws its title from a coastal suburb in Accra, Ghana’s capital, where K.O.G (born Kweku Sackey) was raised. “The vibe, culture and social structures in this community, enhanced and developed my creativity and love for art,”, he says, adding that the project is “a tribute to my nature, nurture and future”.

Zone 6 Agege boasts various elements that have influenced him on his musical journey – from Ghanaian and West African indigenous rhythms to hip hop and mutated jazz.

The album is a dramatic development, as much homage to the Accra-born artist’s musical roots. So, you’ll hear bits and pieces of heady brew of rock, ragga, funk, griot hip hop and soul, not forgetting palm wine highlife from Ghana.

The project opens with the quasi-mystical, mysterious ‘Intro’, synth atmospherics, street sounds, a solo voice that resembles a call to prayer, and then an incantation concluding with “I am now awake, I am now awake”. This both upsets and excites its listener.

Such musical experimentation also reflects the album’s joint production credit; British producer and musician Tom Excell of The Nubiyan Twist outfit alongside long-time Heavenly Sweetness affiliate producer-DJ Guts.

Throughout the album, core aspects of West African music serve as foregrounded, buffered by surprising touches. On ‘Mayedeen’, which translates from Twi as “I’m quiet”, the pulsing, polyrhythms are sustained by interlocking horns, bass and gorgeous contributions from backing vocalists Sunday Lendis and Lizzie Berchie, who also provide star turns on ‘No Way’.

Another equally stirring song is ‘Gbelemo’, on which K.O.G implores Ghanaian politicians to eschew selfishness and focus on offering opportunities to the community. The track’s psych-prog rock-ish guitar solo from Ben Haskins is set against a riotous choral backing, making it yet another example of how music turns traditional expectations inside out.

On ‘Like a Tree’, K.O.G offers a soulful Afrobeat treatment, calling for “freedom” in a song that’s as much faux-naïve childhood reminiscence as it is an affirmation of the core message of politically conscious Black music. The lines “I want to be like a tree planted by the water/ oh yeah, gimme my freedom!” are backed by the dulcet horn and a flute solo from Harry Fowler to close.

Based on its title alone, ‘Immigration’ might bring to mind something pedagogical, when the song is, in fact, an anthemic tour de force vocal performance from K.O.G. whose soulful delivery is brought into a fierce counterpoint by Driss Yamdah (member of London’s Gnawa Boulandrix) on backing vocals. The latter’s spiky, expressive presence allows K.O.G.’s expressive range as a singer to shine – the music welling and falling back to suggest movement and stasis, as he soberly sings that “everybody needs to survive.”.

On ‘Shidaa’, Kweku gives thanks to his mother for his upbringing, while ‘Hewale’ sets him on a unique path of the indigenous rhythm of the Ga people, urging his maker to give him the power and strength to succeed.

‘Akadatia’ finds K.O.G, once again, down the roots of Ghanaian palm wine highlife music, urging humility in whatever we do. The slick guitar chords on this track, I’m sure, will excite Agya Koo Nimo, one of the torchbearers of the genre.

Overall, Zone 6 Agege allows for the coalescence of disparate musical influences. Nothing stays fixed, as musical sources intersect, even if solidly grounded in K.O.G’s musical heritage.