Mayfest Opening Party

To celebrate our return,Mayfest have invited Ghanaian DJ and producer Katapila to kick off the festival with one of his marathon, euphoria-drenched DJ sets. Splicing the neo-traditional dance music styles of his youth in Accra with the up-tempo, bass-heavy, Roland 808 sounds of Detroit techno, Chicago acid and house, Katapila’s relentlessly joyful sets have become a thing of legend. Call in sick on Friday, or better still, bring your boss along to the party…

Expect killer selections adorned with splashes of digital synths, electronic percussion and vocal interjections that galvanise waves of full-blown euphoria wherever he plays. DJ Katapila’s new Aroo EP (Awesome Tapes From Africa) is the latest addition to the iconoclastic producer’s catalog of fast-paced, pan-West African-influenced dance music and follows his debut Trotro (2016) which ignited the international acclaim for his work, with the likes of The New York Times, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor and FACT heaping praise on his work.

Cutting his teeth in the early 90s as a mobile DJ at funerals across Ghana, Katapila began spontaneously inserting Ga- and Twi-language chants and raps into instrumental breaks of the well-trodden international house and techno radio hits he’d been playing. Performing on his Yamaha DD11 electronic drum pads during instrumental breaks, he also added his own percussion. He combined the microphone toasting and his rhythms with a sampler and invented new creations on the fly, establishing his trademark rough-edged dance sound which has now become ubiquitous in Ghana and other parts of West Africa.