Looks like world-renowned African music expert and journalist Banning Eyre has put his stamp of approval on our new album, P.D.P. (President Dey Pass). You can see Akoya featured on NPR’s website in a piece called “Africa In America,” and this Saturday April 5th, New Yorkers can hear us on Radio New York, 91.5 FM at 11pm in Afropop Worldwide’s radio program, “Africa In America.” For those outside of the NY area, you can visit the Afropop site to see how to check out their feature on new African music on your local radio station, or as a podcast. Many thanks to the Afropop family for digging our music– onwards and upwards, y’all…

It is with great pride that we present to you our latest release: our sophomore album, P.D.P. (President Dey Pass), released on Afrobomb records.

You can pick up CD copies at:

• CD Baby
• Amazon
• Other Music

Or, to purchase digital downloads, you can visit:

• iTunes
• eMusic
• Rhapsody
• Amazon

…as well as many other fine online and face-to-face retailers. To read what people are saying about the record, you can check All Music Guide and Blogcritics. We hope you enjoy this album; we are all very proud of what we have accomplished and are excited to share it with you all.

(photo courtesy of Matt aka Mr. Spreetaper. For more of his pics from our recent show at Southpaw, click here)

Akoya’s next jam is at one of our favorite venues in New York City, Southpaw, and we’re sharing the night with an incredible band, Meta & The Cornerstones. Like Akoya, M&TC is a band featuring members from all over the world (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Trinidad, Israel and the United States), and they’ve got an upbeat, soulful roots reggae flavor that we love. We also have our compadre DJ Concerned on the wheels of steel to keep the dancefloor hot. Come one, come all!

Southpaw is located at 125 5th Avenue between Sterling & St. John’s Place (map) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The closest trains are the M/R at Union St., the 2/3 at Bergen St or the B/Q at 7th Avenue. Doors at 8pm, showtime is 9pm. Tickets are $10, and can be purchased in advance at the Southpaw website.

Lord, what a great show last night! For their wonderful contributions to our celebration, we must thank all the good people at S.O.B.’s, Rich Medina on the zigga-zigga, Jared Tankel (Budos Band/baritone sax), Cedric “Im” Brooks (Skatalites/tenor sax), Amayo (Antibalas/vocals), Marcos Garcia (Antibalas/vocals), Eric Biondo (Antibalas/trumpet), Dave Smith (Who Put The Bad Mouth On Me?/trombone), Paula Henderson (Moisturizer/baritone sax), our magnificent stage manager Tomoko Inoue, our merch czar Ryoma Hashimoto and, of course, everybody in the crowd that kept it hot with us. Photos coming soon.

Hope to see you at our next show which is going to be Friday, March 14th at Southpaw in Brooklyn. And remember: Tomorrow is the album drop. We will have links for you to purchase P.D.P. from any and all our favorite online retailers. Thanks for the love!