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The vocalist’s candour, vulnerability and uplifting guidance is helping to turn him into one of the biggest stars in African music. Fresh off stage in Ghana, he explains his pure-hearted approachOnce, it was simply called Christmas. But then the Ghanaian government declared 2019 the “year of return”, inviting African Americans to come home, and Detty December took hold. Africans, British-Ghanaians and those from the wider diaspora soon joined in and the idea exploded into a spectacular annual ingathering, which necessarily means music, parties and cultural conversations everywhere, all the time, vibe on a rolling boil.The largest event is AfroFuture, a two-night stadium festival that attracts more than 40,000 attenders, and it is here I meet the vocalist Black Sherif following a luminous, incendiary headline set. Though a key part of the Afrobeats phenomenon – the continent’s biggest star, Burna Boy, was so wowed by his track Second Sermon that he demanded to feature on the remix – Blacko, as he is affectionately known, is not an Afrobeats artist. “His music is a bridge between the younger and older generation,” says Nana Kwasi Wiafe, creator of the Very Ghanaian brand and stylist on Beyoncé’s Black Is King. “He carries the authentic sound of Ghana, highlife, merging it with the modern sounds – drill, reggae, rap – that inspire him.” Though categorisation melts anyway as soon as Blacko sings, his voice clear, urgent and transporting whether in Twi or English. Continue reading...