Bleep

Aho Ssan debuts on Other People with second solo album and book ‘Rhizomes’ featuring Nicolás Jaar, Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid, clipping., Blackhaine and more.

Paris based composer Aho Ssan, the artist moniker of Niamké Désiré, presents his new full-length ‘Rhizomes’ on the Other People label following his debut LP ‘Simulacrum’ (2020) and collaborative record ‘Limen’ (2022) with fellow musician KMRU.

‘Rhizomes’ draws inspiration from a concept coined and developed between Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guatarri. The idea of an ever evolving structural model, constantly in motion and spreading out in all directions at once. It has no beginning and no end but always remains in a middle, through which it grows and overflows.

“The root thought is the one that kills everything around itself while the rhizome is the root that stretches out to meet other roots,” Désiré explains considering the works of French writer Édouard Glissant who addresses questions of identity, crossbreeding of cultures and its evolution.

Much like the name it borrows, Aho Ssan’s ‘Rhizomes’ is a multimedia project that embarks on a myriad of disparate, unique musical and artistic partnerships. This piece adapts this concept to explore the influence of sound materials on creation, the appropriation of a sound object, and the collaborative nature of a composition that responds to modernity.

“Rhizome represents an underground stem system that fosters connections between various organisms and allows them to flourish collectively. It’s an album that celebrates collaboration and brings together a diverse group of talented artists,” Désiré continues.

Aho Ssan collaborated with a comprehensive cast of artists to create a musical rhizome including Nyokabi Kariuki, Josefa Ntjam, Blackhaine, Nicolás Jaar, Resina, Rắn Cạp Đuôi, Richie Culver, clipping., Lafawndah, 9T Antelope, James Ginzburg, Exzald S, Valentina Magalen, Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid and Mondkopf. Cooperation and community are at the root of this project and the lens through which all the compositions can be understood through.

Aho Ssan will present ‘Rhizomes’ AV show together with visual artist Sevi Iko Dømochevsky at Berlin Atonal 2023. ’Rhizomes’ received a Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2023 Digital Music