Azonto

History#

Azonto is a communicative dance believed to originate from “Apaa” which literally means to work. Apaa was used to show the profession of an individual. The azonto dance has since grown further to relay coded messages. The dance later got into the minds of most Ghanaians. In 2013, most Ghanaian music videos were full of Azonto dance and later spread to most African countries and other parts of the world. Popular music researcher Jesse Weaver Shipley claims that like hiplife, the popularity of Azonto is a direct result of its interactions in diaspora. Azonto

International popularity#

Azonto can be traced as far back as one of R2Bees upcoming songs “Azonto” but was rejuvenated by Guru’s Lapaz Toyota and later the producer NshonnaMusick with the song “U Go Kill Me” which had Sarkodie (rapper) and EL (rapper) on it. It was later popularized on social media by the music videos that portrayed the dance form with fast-pace tempos, home-made dance instructional videos uploaded on YouTube with no commercial intent, and group choreographers done by mostly Ghanaians and other African nationals living in UK, Germany and U.S. Amateur videos of Azonto dancing by young Ghanians posted on YouTube in 2011 were central to its spread in Ghana and overseas, especially one montage of Azonto dance competitions set to “U Go Kill Me" in Accra high schools and a video of a boy onstage at the Ghanaian National Theatre dancing Azonto. Within a few months, “both received several hundred thousand hits” and were shared widely on Twitter and Facebook. Other Ghanians shared homemade Azonto dancing videos and shared them to YouTube, prompting other users to comment on, praise, and critique their dancing. The success of “U Go Kill Me”, increasing popularity of Azonto dancing, and the community created for Azonto dancing encouraged other artists to create their own music in the genre.

See also#

• Alkayida
• Kakalika