A night of 90s and early-2000s Ghanaian music at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel ran until 4am, with surprise sets from two acts that defined the era.
Fans who grew up on Ghanaian radio in the late 1990s and early 2000s got an unannounced treat at Adom FM's Y2K Jam, where Antwi HiMight of the duo Antwi ne Antwi walked onto the stage without prior billing and ran through some of the pair's best-known songs.
The event was held at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra on Friday, October 2.
A crowd that knew every word
MyJoyOnline reports that Antwi HiMight's set was one of the standout moments of the night, with patrons singing along line for line.
Two songs in particular drew the biggest reaction: Sekina and Odo Nkomo Ma Mani Gye. Much of the audience had grown up on the duo's catalogue, and the choruses came back from the crowd as loudly as they came from the stage.
Antwi HiMight was not the only unscheduled appearance. Praye Tiatia, a member of the group Praye, also stepped up to perform a selection of the trio's biggest records.
The DJs kept it going till 4am
Behind the turntables were DJs from the Multimedia Group, led by Andy Dosty, working through a deep catalogue of 1990s and early-2000s classics. Broadcaster Mercury Quaye took on hypeman duties, and the music ran until 4:00 AM.
Adom FM is a Twi-language radio station owned by the Multimedia Group, the same media company that operates Joy FM and the MyJoyOnline website. The Y2K Jam is part of the station's push to bring music lovers together around the songs that shaped a particular generation of Ghanaians.
Why the Y2K sound still pulls a crowd
The turn of the millennium was a boom period for Ghanaian popular music. Hiplife acts dominated radio playlists, house parties and funerals alike, and groups such as Antwi ne Antwi and Praye were part of the soundtrack of that era.
For many in the room on Friday night, hearing those records performed live again was less about novelty and more about memory. These were songs that were once unavoidable on the airwaves and at parties across the country.
That nostalgia also travels. For Ghanaians living in the United States and elsewhere in the diaspora, the Y2K catalogue is often the music that still gets played at weddings, naming ceremonies and association events abroad. Themed nights built entirely around that era are one way the music keeps finding new audiences, and older ones.
Adom FM has not announced a date for the next edition of the Y2K Jam.
