Alté, Out Loud
Ghana's R&B and soul voices, from Osu to Takoradi
Ghana's alté, R&B and soul singers are reaching award lists and global playlists: who is being named, how their sound is described, and what the scene still needs.
Start with the rooms. When Superbold Magazine wrote the history of alternative culture in Accra, it named the places before the hits: Lokko House and Serallio in Osu, and BBNZ in Nima. Those spaces held the early alté scene. The names that came through them read like a roll call: La Meme Gang, Amaarae, Tribe of God, Riaboss, Worlasi, Free The Youth. With them out front, Superbold writes, Accra embraced alté culture.
One of those names went furthest. Superbold says Amaarae has become a giant in the music space, with continental hit songs, collaborations and sold-out shows in the diaspora. She is the proof that the sound travels. The harder question is who comes after her, and what the people around them need to keep going. That question is live in 2026, and Superbold reminds readers that alté "has always been a niche market."
The awards are where the voice itself gets judged. Graphic Online reports that the nominees for the 27th Telecel Ghana Music Awards were unveiled on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at the Palms Convention Centre. In Best Female Vocal Performance, its list includes Enam for "Amin", Niiella for "Show me how to Love", Cina Soul for "Breath" and Grace Charles of Team Eternity Ghana for "See Me Through". According to the awards' Wikipedia page, the ceremony followed on May 9, 2026, at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre, recognizing work from 2025.
Pulse Ghana's look ahead to 2026 carries the alternative thread forward. It calls Annabel Rose "an alt-pop trailblazer in her second year of music" and reports that she has been co-signed by Amaarae, which links the name that went furthest to one of the scene's newest. Pulse also reports that her song "How I Want It" was featured on Apple Music's 2025 global and Africa Rising playlists.
The same Pulse list also reaches far from the capital. S3kyerewaa, also styled Sekyerewaa, comes from Takoradi in the Western Region, and Pulse describes her as an emerging neo-soul and afro-soul singer-songwriter with "soulful vocals, introspective lyrics". She is a reminder that this sound is not only an Accra story.
Other voices were named earlier. OkayAfrica's list of female artists to watch described Titi Owusu as an emerging singer, songwriter and performer from Ghana. It reported that she came up on Accra's live circuit, "doing live sets of R&B and jazz favorites at hot spots and events across the city before finally releasing her own music". The same list included Essilfie, who OkayAfrica says got her start in 2018 doing song covers and posting them online. Her debut EP, Tori's Lounge, is a five-track project the outlet describes as "filled with impassioned R&B, soul, and afrobeats songs".
The bench is deeper than any one list. Superbold's own roll call of acts and collectives championing alternative culture also names SuperJazzClub, 99Phaces, Juma Mufasa, Marince Omario, Baaba J and Moliy. Solo singers and crews, side by side, keeping the sound in circulation.
Behind the names are the people who built rooms for them. Tommy Taylor of Vibrate Space explained to Superbold why the studio exists: "Knowing how expensive studio bookings are in Accra, we made the space so people would be more open to making music." Maxwell Adjavon, founder of iMullar Sound System, gave Superbold his platform's job in one line: "iMullar Sound System is the bridge between the alternative space and the mainstream."
A bridge only helps the artists who can reach it. Pulse Ghana's reporting on Ghana's wider underground, beyond R&B, gives Bwayne's view: according to him, everything is centered in Accra when it comes to outreach, promotion and awards. The Ga-language rapper Phyl4lyph, quoted in the same piece, said it plainly: "The underground artiste in Ghana is ready to create, build, and connect with the world, we just need the resources and tools to make things happen."
“Knowing how expensive studio bookings are in Accra, we made the space so people would be more open to making music.”
- Superbold Magazine: The introduction of alté/alternative culture in Accra
- Pulse Ghana: 10 Ghanaian Artists Set to Dominate the Music Scene in 2026
- Pulse Ghana: Underground Artistes breaking into the Ghana music scene
- OkayAfrica: 12 Female Artists to Watch in 2022
- Graphic Online: Full list of nominees for the 27th Ghana Music Awards
- Wikipedia: 2026 Ghana Music Awards