Dr. Pushkin served SXSW 2023 audience with music from Ghana

The 2023 South by South West (SXSW) music festival climaxed last week after 10 days of full entertainment and excitement. For many, it was an opportunity to release stress. For some others, it was a moment to get away and live their dreams, but for others, it was a moment to be seen.

With over 1500 musical artists representing and performing across 77 stages, this is no mean a festival but a global gathering of culture and talents.

Fortunately, Ghana was not left out as Dr. Pushkin made a name for himself and the country by representing his super-powered team.

There were no dull moments when the Ghanaian scientist cum musician mounted the Hip Hop stage to show the world what he, Ghana and Africa got to show in this year’s mammoth event. Supported by Ghanaian rap tongue-twisting rap superstar, Quata Budukusu, Dr. Pushkin was primed to succeed on stage. The team was complimented by Trinidadian musician AZA Allsop known professionally as AZA and Austin-based rapper Aggie and backed by Sudanese disc jockey DJ Selectarah from the Texas-based Club Bantu staples.

In what was his first public performance of the tracks on the Outlandish album, Dr. Pushkin gave a back-to-back ecstatic performance that kept the peaked audience moving and dancing along. Tracks such as 'Winning', 'Forgive Them', 'Need You', 'Lies and Ambition' were doled out in front of the audience back to back.

With the size and uniqueness of the stage provided by SXSW, Dr. Pushkin surely has added another big win to his already impressive 2023 collections.

Also appearing at the festival this year were Tema-based Yung D3mz and Los Angeles-based Yaw Appiah. Outside of Ghana, Majozi and Manny Walters were also present to lift the name of Africa high.

Background

Dr. Pushkin, born Paul Azunre is a Ghanaian mathematician and Computer Scientist. He is a former National Science and Maths Quiz champion with Opoku Ware School in Kumasi. Outside of his life as a scientist and tech founder, the Ghanaian who has Russian heritage as well is a passionate musician. His type of music seeks to provoke conscious thought, inspire positivity and marshal society for better.

The Algorine founder uniquely terms his kind of rap as conscious rap. He has done several songs with so many artists and his recently released semi-autobiography album titled Outlandish has featured Ghanaian musicians including Quata Budukusu, TeriWiizi, Koranteng, Jerry Kanjega and Ghanaian Hiplife and High Life legend Ofori Amponsah, often called 'Mr. All 4 Real'.

He has released two music videos for two of the songs in the album; “Winning” featuring Quata Budukusu and “Forgive Them” which featured Aggie from Austin, Texas. This is in addition to the video of “Lies” released late last year as a precursor to the album release.

South by South West

South by South West, SXSW is an annual global music, film and art festival that host persons from the music, film, technology, media and other industries. The 2023 edition lasted for 10 days and featured speakers including Founder and Chief Creative Officer of CALLEN, Craig Allen; Chair and CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, CEO, CTO, President, and co-founder of Cruise and co-founder of Twitch Kyle Vogt, Actress, philanthropist, entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and co-founder of Hello Bello, Kristen Bell and CEO of Royal, world-renowned musician and producer known as 3LAU Justin Blau among a host of other top personalities.

Also featuring at this year’s event are top musicians and musical bands including the British famous New Order, Killer Mike and Peter One.