- LP+DVD (Color)
- Recommended
Ata Kak
Obaa Sima (Anniversary Remaster)
Awesome Tapes From Africa - Cat No: ATFA054dlx-C1
- updated:2026-01-21
【今回新たに高品質コピーを発見したことでリマスター再発が実現。見開きジャケット仕様に加え、アーカイブ写真を増補、さらにドキュメンタリーDVDが付属のデラックスエディション！スプラッター・カラー盤】
チープでシンプル愛おしいシカゴハウス、ニュージャック、ヒップハウスのダンスグルーヴに、素っ頓狂すぎる無邪気な歌声＆コーラスにラップにハイライフにラガマフィン、完全にずるすぎます。面白すぎる。アフリカ・テープ秘宝音楽発掘最前線Awesome Tapes From Africaが満を持してリイシューに成功した奇跡の産物。拍手。1994年のガーナでカセットのみ50本程度のみ流通されていた幻の作品。
Track List
In late 2013 I was trying to take a disconap before djing a New Years party in Glasgow. All I could think about was finally getting in touch with Ata Kak. I decided to book a oneway flight to Toronto and I was not going to leave until I found some family contacts. It turned out Yaw's son Jeffrey still lives there and we had this incredible meeting in a townhouse complex on the edge of town.
I couldn't believe it when I finally spoke with Yaw and explained to him how well-loved his music had become. ATFA the label had been operating for several years by then but the tape that really started the whole thing couldn't get reissued. Once we got in touch all the complexities of how to actually do that came into focus. It always irked me that our reissue of Obaa Sima didn't sound excellent. Nevertheless, it has a sonic charm that endures. Obaa Sima was a kind of manifesto for the whole Awesome Tapes From Arica blog project when it started. That sound and approach embodied something I wanted to further explore.
After years of enjoying his music, it was thrilling to finally meet Yaw and hear his story. I wanted to let everyone hear the music in the highest resolution possible but we couldn't make it happen. In early 2024, by some cosmic coincidence, I made a new friend in my Berlin neighborhood who causally introduced himself by saying, "I have a clean copy of Obaa Sima, you can have it if you want." Not just wildly kind but also serendipitous as we reach the 10th year since the cassette's reissue.
This new remaster, lovingly rendered from an almost impeccable source, is a revelation for anyone who wished to hear more of how this music was meant to sound. Our longtime collaborator Jessica Thompson carefully restored it with updated tools in her state-of-the-art studio.
Over the past 15 years or so, as I DJ these Ata Kak songs at almost every show, I still feel a sense of wonder upon listening. You can go deep into the crevices of the very audible audio artefacts and hear a lot. Maybe it's a little sad to part ways with the wows and flutters whose contours I'd grown to know like the back of my hand. When I visited Yaw in Kumasi a few years ago for a documentary shoot, it was shocking to learn that his brother had actually sold quite a few copies of the tape. As we moved through Kejetia market one day we encountered a handful of folks who remembered hearing Obaa Sima back around its release in 1994. More recently, thanks to a few Ghanaian-made viral TikToks, I've learned how many people of a certain age heard these songs as staples at funerals and other local dance parties. The music reached a lot more people despite what Yaw had reported.
I was also surprised to learn that the album was originally recorded at a slower speed—we have included a slow version download here. In the years since, the concerts that Ata Kak has performed have been one of the absolute joys of my life to experience. It couldn't have been achieved without the intense dedication of Ata Kak's booking agents at the time QuJunktions and his London-based bandmates, including Esa Williams, Pax Nindi, Binisa Bonner and Tim Tapsell. Hearing Obaa Sima live is astounding and thousands of people all over the world have been there too. —Brian Shimkovitz, Berlin 2025
I couldn't believe it when I finally spoke with Yaw and explained to him how well-loved his music had become. ATFA the label had been operating for several years by then but the tape that really started the whole thing couldn't get reissued. Once we got in touch all the complexities of how to actually do that came into focus. It always irked me that our reissue of Obaa Sima didn't sound excellent. Nevertheless, it has a sonic charm that endures. Obaa Sima was a kind of manifesto for the whole Awesome Tapes From Arica blog project when it started. That sound and approach embodied something I wanted to further explore.
After years of enjoying his music, it was thrilling to finally meet Yaw and hear his story. I wanted to let everyone hear the music in the highest resolution possible but we couldn't make it happen. In early 2024, by some cosmic coincidence, I made a new friend in my Berlin neighborhood who causally introduced himself by saying, "I have a clean copy of Obaa Sima, you can have it if you want." Not just wildly kind but also serendipitous as we reach the 10th year since the cassette's reissue.
This new remaster, lovingly rendered from an almost impeccable source, is a revelation for anyone who wished to hear more of how this music was meant to sound. Our longtime collaborator Jessica Thompson carefully restored it with updated tools in her state-of-the-art studio.
Over the past 15 years or so, as I DJ these Ata Kak songs at almost every show, I still feel a sense of wonder upon listening. You can go deep into the crevices of the very audible audio artefacts and hear a lot. Maybe it's a little sad to part ways with the wows and flutters whose contours I'd grown to know like the back of my hand. When I visited Yaw in Kumasi a few years ago for a documentary shoot, it was shocking to learn that his brother had actually sold quite a few copies of the tape. As we moved through Kejetia market one day we encountered a handful of folks who remembered hearing Obaa Sima back around its release in 1994. More recently, thanks to a few Ghanaian-made viral TikToks, I've learned how many people of a certain age heard these songs as staples at funerals and other local dance parties. The music reached a lot more people despite what Yaw had reported.
I was also surprised to learn that the album was originally recorded at a slower speed—we have included a slow version download here. In the years since, the concerts that Ata Kak has performed have been one of the absolute joys of my life to experience. It couldn't have been achieved without the intense dedication of Ata Kak's booking agents at the time QuJunktions and his London-based bandmates, including Esa Williams, Pax Nindi, Binisa Bonner and Tim Tapsell. Hearing Obaa Sima live is astounding and thousands of people all over the world have been there too. —Brian Shimkovitz, Berlin 2025
レーベルAwesome Tapes From Africaはこの作品をリイシューするために作られたのではないかと思われる、レーベル創設者Brian Shimkovitz入魂の絶品。こんな、一生の内に出会う可能性の1％くらいの未知の珍品がこんなように執念のアプローチでリイシューされ全世界の好き者達に伝わっていくという、そして、それが当たり前の時代に突入しているという、なんとも凄い時代がやってきていることを再確認してしまう象徴の出来事。メモリアル珍品万歳。全７曲。トラックリストからもどうぞ。