Take some time to listen to Mutombo Da Poet, from the city of Accra in Ghana West Africa. Spoken word artist/poet/lyricist Percy Mutombo has been performing since 2006, steadily gaining recognition in his home country. His debut album “PhotoSentences” arrived last year and is now available on bandcamp, as of April ’12. Featuring Kweku Ananse, M3NSA, Wanlov Da Kubolor, Panji Anoff, DJ Juls, Yaa Pono and Kwam1, it’s a varied album with some outstanding mixes of voice drum and hip hop rhythms, and the clean, unaccompanied, driving rhyming voice.

Mutombo states his goal with this album is to “illustrate the visceral power of his words; laced over head nodding beats, to show young Ghanaians that Spoken Word/Poetry is alive, and to pave the way for local up and coming poets in search of inspiration.“

Inspiration Mutombo provides, drawing on the rich griot, hiplife oral history – and present – of his country, as well as his own found inspiration from the Def Jam poets. Mutombo speaks of social and political issues facing young Africans without flinching from any subject as the soul of a poet will not, telling his stories with a rich sense of humour and an arresting, questioning energy. In an interview on the Feint & Margin blog recently, Mutombo says “I always aim at correcting issues with simple words, I believe my voice is a powerful tool and I will choose my voice over any weapon on any day.“ His is a powerful voice. Listen up.

Collaborating with the lovely singer Lady, here is a video for ‘XRay’ ...

..If you want to know about Ghana, Mutombo takes you there – a live performance from 2010, Accra[DOT]Alt show at Alliance Francaise.