{"id":111074,"date":"2022-09-05T12:39:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T10:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/?p=111074"},"modified":"2022-09-05T14:49:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T12:49:20","slug":"katapila-techno-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/katapila-techno-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"DJ Katapila\u2019s Techno Africa from the Ghanaian underground"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ghanaian DJ and producer Katapila\u2019s latest EP via British label Club Yeke is a perfect illustration of the movement shaking today’s electronic scene: a frantic digital back-and-forth between London and the pan-African electronic underground.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKatapila is one of the artists we have been wanting to work with for the longest time\u201d, <\/em>Tash LC said. She\u2019s the owner of Club Yeke, a boisterous English record label founded in 2019. It manages the likes of Jumping Back Slash, Kouslin and Kush Arora. \u201cThe quality of his instrumentations, vocal parts and its incredible kicks allow him to produce an incredible sound, somewhere between the European techno scene and the core essence of Ghanain music\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

True godfather of the Accra scene for over a quarter of a century, Ishmael ‘DJ Katapila’ Abbey unabashedly performs on local dancefloors, funeral or at weddings: \u201cthey call me Katapila <\/em>(Editor\u2019s Note: a reference to chain track also called caterpillar tread) because I\u2019m like a machine. I clear out passageways to lay down roads<\/em>\u201d, Ishmael said. The producer is a pioneer on a mission: \u201cto educate, you have to entertain. Here in Accra, my music makes people enjoy themselves and dance but it also lifts them up. That is the reason why a massive amount of young people here follow my work closely<\/em>\u201d. An audience that has now extended to Europe: \u201cin Ghana, people don\u2019t go to clubs like in Europe. In England, people dance in closed spaces. Even big events, like festivals, are somehow contained and closed off. Here in Accra, there is music in the streets, in the open air, at parties or in large informal gatherings<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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