The Ghanaian songwriter gives visuals to his single “Sarki” featuring the Dambe, a combat sport popular in the Hausa community dating back to the 10th century, matched with Kirani’s heavy bars.
Kirani Ayat is a Ghanaian singer, songwriter and rapper often performing in hi native Hausa for a genre-bending style that’s a blend of afro-fusion, hip-hop and alté. Having worked with some of Ghana’s biggest names in rap including Sarkodie on “Dodo” and Medikal on “4get Everybody” Kirani has been busy carving out his own niche of from the heavy trap of his 2019 single “Stages” to the smoother alté cuts like “These Days” featuring Berlin based production duo Re.decay.
Kirani has also been busy community building as one of the founders of Kokrobite Skate Crew. Kirani started skating in 2017 after living and working in Santa Monica, California, and was instrumental in bringing his passion back to Ghana with the initiation of the first fully functional skatepark in the country. The collective is an outlet for the youth in the Kokrobite community (a seaside tourist town for surfers) to channel their energy into something productive. Needless to say, Kirani has been busy, his prolific music career constantly updating and innovating next to his initiatives.
In this most recent video, Kirani takes us on an adventure into the wrestling world of Dambe. The Dambe is a brutal style of combat sports popular in the Hausa communities in Nigeria, Niger, and some parts of Senegal. This tradition has its origins dating as far back as the 10th century and is slowly gathering a big global audience thanks to the advent of social media platforms. “Sarki” is a story about bravery, ambition, and resilience. We are taken on a journey through the life of young boy Hafiz, A coconut seller in a small village whose dream is to become a Dambe warrior just like his idol the greatest fighter of the land Kirani Ayat. Against his mum’s wish and the doubts of his friends.
Listen to “Sarki” in our Pan African Rap playlist on Spotify and Deezer.
