Award-winning hip hop artist Sway Dasafo completes ACCES 2019 line-up

Sway joins about 80 notable speakers at this year’s pan-African trade event. The MOBO and BET Hip Hop Award winner will participate in an ACCES Conversations session alongside Nigerian star Banky W on 30 November.

The ACCES Conversations series have previously hosted renowned music industry professionals Mr Eazi, Blinky Bill, Blick Bassy and former Fela Kuti manager Rikki Stein. This year, the series will also witness talks by Ghanaian musicians Sarkodie, Samini and Efya.

Additionally, ACCES 2019 will hold informative panel discussions featuring music industry leaders including Chocolate City vice-president Aibee Abidoye (Nigeria), Boomplay Ghana manager Elizabeth Ntiamoah (Ghana), Simfy OTT music services head Oye Akideinde (Nigeria), Ditto Music Founder Lee Parsons (UK), Airforce1 Records managing director Joe Chialo (Germany), broadcaster, DJ and curator Rita Ray (UK) and Grammy-nominated musician, author and rights activist Mark Levine (US), among many others.

ACCES is a leading pan-African trade event for music industry players to exchange ideas, discover new talent and create business linkages. The music trade event will take place in Ghana for the first time at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Alliance Française and The Goal Coast Hub.

This year’s event will also host networking sessions, exhibitions and showcases by artists from across the African continent and diaspora.

About Sway Dasafo

Sway Dasafo was born Derek Andrew Safo to Ghanaian parents in North London on 5 September 1982. He spent part of his childhood in Ghana and returned to the UK where he developed a fascination for English literature, which he later combined with his love for music and knack for public speaking. While in high school, Sway was part of a 11-member North London collective known as One. Sway took part in open-mic competitions and landed a solo record on the first ever BBC 1Xtra playlist in 2002.

In 2006, he released his debut album This Is My Demo, which became one of the most critically acclaimed UK rap albums of all time. The album helped Sway to become the first British rapper to win a US BET Hip Hop Award and landed him a spot on the Mercury Music Prize shortlist. Prior to the release of This Is My Demo, Sway became the first unsigned rapper to win a MOBO Award,

Other albums by Sway include The Signature LP (2008), Deliverance (2015) and Verses from the Vault (2018).

The Signature LP earned him fame in the US, with big stars like Akon, Lupe Fiasco and Pharrell Williams showing interest to sign him to their recording stables. In 2008, Sway signed to Akon’s Konvict Muzic record label joining big names such as Lady Gaga and T-Pain. He featured Akon on the ‘Silver & Gold’ song off The Signature LP album.

Sway has collaborated with top names including Mark Ronson, Childish Gambino, Sarkodie and Ayigbe Edem. He is also the only other rapper featured on Lupe Fiasco's US Billboard No 1 album Lasers released in 2011. His song ‘Level Up’ became his highest charting single, landing at No 8 on the Official UK National charts.

About ACCES

ACCES is a pan-African trade event for music industry players to exchange ideas, discover new talent and create business linkages. ACCES is held in a different African city every year, attracting active music industry players from across the globe.

ACCES is organised by the Music In Africa Foundation, a non-profit and pan-African organisation, in partnership and with the support of Siemens Stiftung, Goethe-Institut, Reeperbahn Festival International, Alliance Française, BMG, MediaSound Hamburg, the Multimedia Group, Africa Art Lines, Afrikayna, the Gold Coast Hub, the Year of Return, the Prince Claus Fund and the ANT Mobility Grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

This year ACCES has a partnership with Reeperbahn Festival. The partnership creates a framework for the festival to collaborate with ACCES in facilitating sustainable business engagements and exchange between European and African music businesses and professionals, as well as the provision of performance opportunities to musicians in both territories.

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