Wednesday 24 June 2026, 7.30pm
Very excited to welcome back King Ayisoba for his first shows at OTO in nearly eight years! Often called “King of Kologo” and “a living legend”, King Ayisoba has a unique sound and significant range of voices, creating a music like no other.
Coming from a rural area in the far north of Ghana, descending from a Frafra hunting tribe, his performances are full of tribal power, his grandfather’s voices which materializes through his incredible range of deep and loud nasal cries as well as soft high singing accompanied by his kologo. Supported by his band of Frafra musicians, with their mesmerizing infectious beats, high energy dances and singing, King Ayisoba provides captivating stage performances with rhythms going straight to the heart and inner pulse with a touch of repetitive trance.
Already as a very small child King Ayisoba started to play the kologo, since then it’s been like an extended part of his body, not a single day goes by where he is not playing. King Ayisoba brings the traditional and modern together while addressing personal, social and political issues that he thinks needs attention and change. He wishes to inspire people to be more conscious and to act upon injustice, corruption, greed or how a father treats his family.
King Ayisoba’s music keeps evolving into new areas of hiplife, punk rock, dancehall, reggae, folkmusic and even techno. He has worked for more than a decade with Zea, front figure Arnold de Boer from the Ex (NL) and has additionally made collaborations with international artists like Lee “Scratch” Perry (JM), Orlando Julius (NG), African Head Charge (UK), Adrian Sherwood (UK), Djuma Soundsystem (NO), MoBlack (IT), Pharfar (DK), New Age Doom (CA), and many others.
Ayuune Sule brings the Soul into Kologo Power. In Kumasi, the second city of Ghana and capital of the Ashanti region, Ayuune Sule is the main kologo star. The most famous kologo player these days in the whole of Ghana and abroad is King Ayisoba. In Europe we know Ayuune Sule as a member of King Ayisoba's band and as a solo artist who often opens up for his shows. In 2015 he released his 7″ single with the songs "What A Man Can Do A Woman Can Do More Better" and "Who Knows Tomorrow" on Makkum Records (MR12), which put his name out into the western scenes.
And now there is the full length album of Ayuune Sule! When listening to Sule’s guest vocals on King Ayisoba's albums you hear the warm velvet voice of Ayuune Sule as a striking contrast to King Ayisoba's forceful rasping vocals. We Have One Destiny is full of that velvet tone and true West African soul power. Living in Kumasi makes it easy for Ayuune Sule to be influenced by southern Ghanaian music styles such as Azonto and Hiplife and fuse those with the rhythms and scales from the north. This album is a true mix between modern and traditional as Ayuune Sule included the song “Senyaane”, an acoustic song with just the sinyaka (the kalebas filled with hard berries that sounds like a giant maracas and is hit and thrown up between two hands played by Sule in King Ayisoba's band) and his voice.
