Awesome Tapes From Africa announce Ata Kak reissue

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  • The rare 1994 tape is getting a full release following a long search by ATFA founder Brian Shimkovitz.
  • Awesome Tapes From Africa announce Ata Kak reissue image
  • A 1994 tape by Ghanaian musician Ata Kat called Obaa Sima is being reissued by Awesome Tapes From Africa. The release is the culmination of a 13-year story for Awesome Tapes From Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz, who bought a cassette copy of Obaa Sima from a roadside stall in Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2002. The tape was the subject of the first post on his Awesome Tapes From Africa blog in 2006—the blog spawned a full record label in 2011. Shimkovitz began searching for Ata Kat and says "Google and endless phone calls provided no leads." It was eventually discovered the musician, real name Yaw Atta-Owusu, had recorded Obaa Sima in Toronto before moving back to Ghana in 2006. The restoration of the tape proved challenging. Only about 50 copies of the original tape were produced, and Atta-Owusu's master DAT had disintegrated, so the second-hand copy purchased by Shimkovitz was used as the source for the reissue. The seven tracks on Obaa Sima touch on rap, techno, pop and highlife. It'll be available in vinyl and digital formats. Listen to album cut "Bome Nnwom" below.
    Tracklist A1 Obaa Sima A2 Moma Yendodo A3 Adagya A4 Medofo B1 Daa Nyinaa B2 Yemmpa Aba B3 Bome Nnwom Awesome Tapes From Africa will release Obaa Sima on March 3rd, 2015.
RA