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Kylie Knott

Trisyo and Supa Massie, the musicians behind rising Afrobeat group The Afroseas, look right at home among the recording equipment and sofas of their 12th-floor studio in Diamond Hill, in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district.
“The studio’s like our second home in Hong Kong,” says Rwanda-born Trisyo. “We spend loads of time here and have people over to dance, eat and drink. Yeah, we’ve been known to sleep here,” he laughs.
The multitalented duo, who sing, produce and write songs, have been busy working on an eight-track EP that drops on October 27.
They’re keen to follow up on their recent hit “To The Boat”, a chilled tune that perfectly captures Hong Kong’s boat-party vibe.


Shot in the sparkling waters off Clear Water Bay, the music video has already racked up more than 200,000 views since it premiered on YouTube in August.
The video features the pair surrounded by bikini-clad girls dancing and sipping champagne. And it wouldn’t be a boat party without some wakeboarding and water toys.
“We feel so blessed by the success of ‘To The Boat’,” says Sierra Leone-born Supa Massie.
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“We put so much energy into that song and its production and had such a great team working on it, including Master Abe Pro,” he says, pointing to the group’s Ghanaian producer chilling on a couch.
The duo were also blessed to have on board rapper Jiggie Boy, also known as JB, an ethnic Filipino born and raised in Hong Kong, in what is one of the first collaborations between an Afrobeat group and an Asian artist.
“To have JB featured is huge,” Trisyo says. “He’s incredible and has a big following here, so we’d love to create more projects with him.”

On August 6, the three performed “To The Boat” at the What’s Good Music Awards, Hong Kong’s first hip-hop awards night. JB collected five awards, including artist of the year, while The Afroseas were nominated in six categories. It’s the sort of exposure they need.
The Afroseas have been on an upwards trajectory since the 2020 release of their debut song “Ayee”. In 2021, their song “Rotate” was featured on a New York Times Square billboard.
“We were excited about sharing our love of Afrobeat with Hong Kong,” says Trisyo of the genre that fuses West African musical styles with American funk, jazz and soul. It was pioneered in the 1960s by the Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.

While it’s a tough task to break into the Hong Kong music scene, which is ruled by Canto-pop, the pair have been humbled by how local audiences have embraced their music.
“A lot of energy comes with our music and with Afrobeat, well you just gotta dance to it,” Trisyo says.
“We also want to keep adding diversity to the music scene. Diversity is not about how we differ but about embracing each other’s uniqueness.”




















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A post shared by THE AFROSEAS (@theafroseas)



While the ongoing pandemic has wrecked plans for local live acts to gig and tour in the region, where Afrobeat is growing in popularity – particularly in China, Japan and South Korea – the duo remain positive. They have overcome hurdles in the past.
When he arrived in Hong Kong in 2016, Trisyo – who was studying anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) – sang with Talents Displaced, an Afro-fusion group formed in 2016 that integrates hip-hop and African drums. He was encouraged to join by his CUHK professor Sealing Cheng.
“She encouraged me to keep rapping, which I was doing in my mother tongue Kinyarwanda but switched to English, which was difficult but would help me get across my messages,” he says.

Trisyo also wants to harness music to help reshape the image that some in Hong Kong have about people from the African continent.
“The more people learn about African culture, the less fear there is around it.”
Music has helped Supa Massie process past traumas. Sierra Leone is still scarred by an 11-year civil war that ended in 2002 and left more than 50,000 people dead.
“I still get emotional – it’s hard to talk about what happened.”

But it wasn’t easy to convince his family that a career making it was his chosen path.
“Back in 2003 my father was like ‘no more music, you need to go to school’, but I knew he had accepted my choices when I saw a video of him dancing with some soldiers to my songs,” he says.
“Then my mum, my sister and my aunties started sending me videos of them dancing to my songs. That’s when I knew I would not stop making music.”

Fashion is another of Supa Massie’s passions and today he’s wearing one of his bold designs, a bright red T-shirt bearing the colourful face of a warrior.
“I love expressing myself through design and exploring that strong cultural connection between fashion and music,” he says.
As we leave the studio, Supa Massie points to a large unused rooftop surrounded by towering residential blocks.
“It would be great to use this space as our stage,” he says. “We could have African food, fashion and art – a real celebration of African culture.”


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Music

Afrobeat group The Afroseas make waves in Hong Kong after hit capturing boat party vibe

Supa Massie (left) and Trisyo of Afrobeat group The Afroseas, in Hong Kong. Photo: The Afroseas

Supa Massie and Trisyo with rapper Jiggie Boy (centre) at the What’s Good Music Awards in August, in Hong Kong. Photo: Courtesy of The Afroseas

The music video to The Afroseas’ “To The Boat” has racked up more than 200,000 views on YouTube. Photo: YouTube / The Afroseas

Trisyo and Supa Massie in Diamond Hill, Hong Kong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Trisyo and Supa Massie at the What’s Good Music Awards in August, in Hong Kong. Photo: Courtesy of The Afroseas

Young Afghan musicians who fled the Taliban’s ban on music struggle to keep their traditions alive

May 7, 2022 - Lisbon (Portugal). Conductor Mohammed Qambar Nawshad directs a rehearsal of the Afghan national orchestra in the meeting room of the former military hospital where they are hosted. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Mohammad Qambar Nawshad, of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, conducts an orchestra in a former military hospital in Lisbon, Portugal, in May. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Violin player Sevinch Majidi chats with music theory professor Elsa Matos Gomes after the end of a lesson, in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

ANIM students at the Marquês de Pombal school in the Portuguese capital. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Majidi (centre) learning Portuguese in Lisbon in May. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Percussionist and conductor Shogufa Safi (left) attends a class at the National Conservatory of Lisbon. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

ANIM students take a selfie in Lisbon in May. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Sitar player Fawad Murad (right) chats with Huma Rahimi during a rehearsal. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Safi (left) walks through Lisbon’s Ayuda neighborhood with two other students. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

Oboist Shaiq Noori (centre) helps a classmate during a rehearsal. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

A tram passes in front of the former military hospital that hosts the ANIM students and teachers. Photo: Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom

South African singer, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty model and Afrobeat fan talks about her mission to popularise the musical genre in Hong Kong

South African singer, model and actoress Mslolo is turning up the Afrobeat volume in Hong Kong. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Mslolo (pictured in 2015) playing the role of Rafiki in Hong Kong Disneyland’s The Lion King stage show. Photo: MsLolo

Fela Kuti, originator of Afrobeat and one of the superstars of African music in the 1970s and ’80s. Photo: AP/Laurent Rebours

MsLolo (front right) joined a gospel group aged 15, and sang at weddings and funerals in her home city, Durban in South Africa. Photo: MsLolo

MsLolo (pink dress, far right) with her family in South Africa. Photo: MsLolo

MsLolo has written a play, modelled for Rihanna’s Fenty and released her debut album A Different Breed last December. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

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Trisyo and Supa Massie, the musicians behind The Afroseas, talk about their recent hit song ‘To The Boat’ and breaking into the Hong Kong music scene
The duo have been busy working on an eight-track EP, which drops on October 27



Trisyo and Supa Massie, the musicians behind Afrobeat group The Afroseas, talk about their recent hit song ‘To The Boat’, breaking into the Hong Kong music scene, and sharing African culture.


Hong Kong's music scene

Hong Kong