Duo Ruth Mathiang and Kobèna Aquaa-Harrison light up the stage with their electric sound. 

Ruth Mathiang was born in South Sudan. She uses her voice and talent to advocate for important social issues through original songs expressing longing for the importance of social justice, the timeless fight for equality, and the dream of world peace. Ruth has performed for non-profit agencies that work in Africa in sectors such as human rights, women and children issue, primary health care and community development, and also major concert stages such as Harbourfront Centre and AfroFest. Her musical heroes include the late Miriam Makeba and Tracey Chapman. While singing in Arabic and Kiswahili as well as English, her elegant, melodic voice is the power of a mother’s tenderness and her music – a “mixture of traditional African pop music with hip hop, afro beat, jazz and reggae”.

Kobèna Aquaa-Harrison is an accomplished Ghanaian-Bermudian performer, producer, composer and storyteller. He has won several Dora, June, Chalmers Foundation and other awards for his prolific work in music, media, film, television, dance, theatre, and opera. Kobèna recently made history as an orchestra member in the first all-black Canadian opera production of Treemonisha which received seven Dora Award nominations. He exudes energy with his hilarious stage interactions as he plays electric and acoustic instruments designed and built by himself. His trademark genre is the eclectic rhythms of afrosonic jollof: “the sound when jazz, rock, reggae, hip hop come face to face with their ancestors.” Kobè leads Djungle Bouti Orchestra, whose Djazz  2.1.4 album was acclaimed “an audio decoding of African DNA”. The former AfroFest President & Artistic Director,  #1 prime-time radio host and Michèzo! festival founder is currently Cultural Development Director at Abandze Embassy. @paapakobe