| Kweku Aacht | |
| Alias: | Awotwi |
| Years Active: | 1998–present |
Kweku Aacht, known by his stage name Awotwi, is a British Ghanaian singer-songwriter, composer, musician and dancer. He is known as a vocalist in his collaborations with experimental electronic artistes and for creating cutting edge dance theatre soundtracks and performances.[1] [2]
Aacht was influenced in the early 1990s by his time spent on the UK's underground club scene, at outdoor raves and music festivals. During this era, Aacht soaked up the eclectic sounds of the UK underground.[3] He encountered artistes such as the Prodigy,[4] Darren Emerson, Björk[5] and Tricky. Aacht began his dance career by the mid 90s as a commercial dancer. He danced in TV advertisements as well as performing in nightclubs such as Deep Funk at Madame JoJo's and The Ministry of Sound.
In 1999, Aacht began his work as recording artist, when he co-wrote and performed on two songs on Zan Lyons debut album Desolate[6] and was also featured on Damian Lazarus' Mind Horizon Records compilation Different Noise.
While studying at London College of Fashion, Aacht moved to Hackney, the center of London's vibrant art scene. Here he socialised and collaborated with a range of fine artists from the movement dubbed the Y.B.As (Young British Artists) by the press, creating sound installations and performing music in art spaces and galleries. In 2004 he collaborated with electronica artist Leila Arab in her performance at the V&A museum which was later featured on her album Blood Looms and Blooms.[7]
In 2002, Aacht's dance career came to a crashing halt when he experienced a serious muscular skeletal injury. He was unable to dance for over three years. During this period, he focused on one of his other passions social development, leading on art-based programs, designed and to support the growth, empowerment and transformation of young people and of disadvantaged communities. His work with leading some of the UKs leading community development specialists includes co-designing a national program tackling conflict in community tension areas for The Tutu Foundation UK.[8]
2006 marked Aacht's return to making music. Aacht attended a dance performance at East London's Stratford Circus featuring a performance from now leading contemporary dance company C-12 Dance Theatre. A meeting with C-12 following the performance led to a long-term collaborative relationship and sparked the beginning of his career as composer and musical director for innovative dance theatre productions.[9] [10] Two years later, Aacht himself returned to the stage performing in a series of self-choreographed pieces re-igniting his dance career. Over the next five years Aacht developed his hybrid of music production and dance performance, gaining popularity within the UKs hip-hop and contemporary dance communities. In 2013 Aacht moved to Ghana.[11]
In 2012, Aacht embarked on is first music performance project since mid 2000s. He joined forces with leading African Contemporary dance artist and Vocab Dance Company director Alesandra Seutin and dancer/actress and singer Nandi Bhebhe. Together they formed the dance collective produced by Aacht drawing upon the trio's eclectic influences to create a dynamic and unique dance act.[3] Kindred Tribe wrote a number of songs and traveled to Ghana to perform at the Asa Baako festival.[12] [13]
| Project | Client | Description | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Condition:Humanoid | Two Son's and a Ton of Man Theatre Company | Score composition | 1999 |
| Desolate | Zan Lyons/ Foundry Records | Lyricist and vocalist on 2 album tracks | 2000 |
| A different Noise | Mind Horizon Recordings | Featured compilation track | 2000 |
| Visions and Aspirations Shoreditch Electricity Showrooms | Gloria Muikira | Sound installation for photographic exhibition | 2000 |
| Spring Heeled Jack Sessions at the Strong Rooms | Spring Heeled jack | Song writing and composition, vocal sessions | 2001 |
| Playgroup | Output Records | Song writing and composition, vocal sessions | 2002 |
| One Night Only Islington College | C-12 Dance Theatre | Remixes, narrator voice-over recordings and special effects for contemporary dance performance | 2007 |
| Resolution! The Place | C-12 Dance Theatre | Remix for contemporary dance performance | 2008 |
| Two's a Company Stratford Circus | C-12 Dance Theatre | Remix for contemporary dance performance | 2008 |
| Fast 4wrd Hackney Museum | Deep:Black | Electronic sound installation for public exhibition | 2008 |
| Big Dance Holland Park and Potters Field Park | C-12 Dance Theatre | 2 musical compositions for outdoor, site specific contemporary dance performance | 2008 |
| Dance Umbrella Purcell Room | C-12 Dance Theatre | Remix for contemporary dance performance | 2008 |
| R3 City & Islington College | C-12 Dance Theatre | Musical composition for contemporary dance performance | 2008 |
| The Chair Edinburg Festival | C-12 Dance Theatre | Mix for contemporary dance theatre score | 2009 |
| Skin Deep Space @ Clarence Mews | Lerato Lipere | Soundtrack (writing and composition) for contemporary dance performance | 2009 |
| Synthes:s, London Week of Peace, Hackney Wick Festival | Deep:Black/Arcola Theatre | Recording of operatic vocal performance | 2009 |
| The Last Supper Royal Opera House | Juwon Ogungbe/Larry Coke | Recording of operatic vocal performance (2 solos and chorus) | 2010 |
| Synthes:s 2 Arcola Theatre | Deep:Black/Arcola Theatre | Electronic sound installation | 2010 |
| Live @ Audio Underground | Juwon Ogungbe Trio | Live session recording/Engineer/mix and master | 2010 |
| Temps Mort Cultural Explosion Rich Mix 2011 | Vocab Dance Company | Remix for contemporary dance performance | 2010 |
| Word! Stratford Circus | Vocab Dance Company | Composition and sound editing for dance theatre triple bill, plus ensemble dancer for national tour | 2011 |
| Loving You | New World Dance Company | Soundtrack for short film | 2011 |
| Voices in the Alleyway Cochrane Theatre London | Spread Expression Dance Company and Faith Drama Productions | Score for full length hip/hop theatre production | 2011 |
| Unrecognisable Venus Hates Mars: Stratford Circus London | Vocab Dance Company | Soundtrack for experimental short film | 2011 |
| Unrecognisable Venus Hates Mars: Stratford Circus London | Natalie James: Broken Doll Dance Company | Score Composor | 2011 |
| Loneliness Venus Hates Mars: Stratford Circus London | Odilia Egyiawan | Sound piece for contemporary dance performance | 2011 |
| Physionix Rich Mix London | Paradigmz | Score for contemporary dance theatre performance | 2012 |
| The Van Man Albany Theatre London | C-12 Dance Theatre | Musical composition for outdoor, site specific contemporary dance performance | 2012 |
| Let's Dance: Big Dance Canary Wharf London | C-12 Dance Theatre | Sound track for large scale, outdoor, participatory dance performance | 2012 |
| Scorned | C-12 Dance Theatre | Sound track compilation and editing of published recorded music and for contemporary dance performance | 2012 |
| Kindred Tribe Asabaako Festival Busua Beach | Asabaako Festival | 3-piece dance music group. Music production, song writing, choreography, vocals, live programming, community workshops | 2012 |
| Our Mighty Groove Version 1 Sadler's Wells London | Uchenna Dance Company | Sound track composer. 35min interactive dance theatre production set in a New York House club | 2013 |
| Our Mighty Groove Version 2 Stratford Theatre Royal London | Uchenna Dance Company | Sound track composer. 50min interactive dance theatre production set in a New York House club | 2015 |
| Afro Dance Promo Video | Noir Dance Company | Sound track composer 3min promotional dance video | 2016 |
| Movement is Life | Awotwi Movement | Sound track composer, choreographer. Promotional dance video directed by Oskhari | 2016 |
| Head Wrap Diaries 2016 | Uchenna Dance Company | Sound track composer. Full-length interactive dance theatre production "An insight into the world of the African woman" | 2016 |
| Obatala | Kemi Durosinmi | Soundtrack composer Dance short film inspired by Yoruba Orisha Obatala | 2017 |
| Giant | Alesandra Seutin | Composer of one track plus one ambient sound piece for a solo dance theatre production staged in Belgium | 2017 |
| Your Love is Enough | John Thomas | Producer, songwriter: Creating 2 gospel tracks in collaboration with John Thomas (the artist). | 2017 |
| Free & Unashamed October | Ebein Studios | Theme song for a talk show to be featured on GH1 Ghana: Soundtrack composer, engineer and mastering | 2017 |
| Across the Souvenir | Alesandra Seutin | Soundtrack composer for 30 min solo dance performance piece | 2017 |