Kabla, Savannah Region, Ghana. Sept 2017

Isaac Birituro walked into a court yard with a xylophone to be introduced to Sonny Johns. Isaac sat and played the gyil and on hearing the familiar deep buzz, Sonny ran to find his guitar. From this moment on a musical connection was born.

Isaac Birituro is a master gyil (xylophone) player from Saru, Northern Ghana. Son of Edmund Dorwana, nephew of Kakraba Lobi, his heritage is impressive. Sonny Johns is a Grammy, MOBO and Mercury nominated producer/engineer, and guitarist/vocalist in The Rail Abandon. After this instant musical connection, they spent three days in the church in Kalba recording the basis of the album of the same name. Having worked with African legends such as Ali Farke Touré, Fatoumata Diawara, Oumou Sangaré, and Tony Allen, Sonny was well placed to capture Isaac’s musical mastery and produced the album’s unique “Afrolktronica” sound.

The album Kalba was release in the summer of 2019 to critical acclaim and initial success, continuing with a tour in the UK and Germany along with fellow The Rail Abandon members, Raph Clarkson and Yuval Wetzler, The Kalba Birifor Choir singers Helen Domkier and Dery Kuusani and Equatorial Guinean singer Yolanda Eyama.

Over the period of the tour in 2019 the band developed their live performance and tighter, more dramatic rhythmic sound culminating in the recording of a second album, Small Small. In the process of finishing this album IBTRA worked with musicians from the first album, Simon Arthur (percussion), Mark Lockheart (sax), Laura Jurd (trumpet) as well as new collaborations with South African singer Nosihe, Nigerian Afrobeat legend Dele Sosimi and the “Lioness of Africa” Ghana’s very own popstar, Wiyaala.

Since it’s release in July 2022, Small Small has received a warm welcome, being A listed on BBC 6 music, playlisted on XFM’s Xposure playlist as well as millions of streams, plays and radio reviews. Working with Wiyaala as lead vocalist, the band toured Germany in September 2022 and hope to tour the UK in 2023.