Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
This week, Poncho is the New Music Monday highlight!
Poncho now lives in Greater Victoria, but is originally from Ghana, where he started his music career.
Rifflandia 2024 attendees may recognize him from his stunning and electric performance on the Phillips stage.
He recently released his latest EP, SONOFTHESUN, and has been making a name for himself in the Victoria area with his unique blend of Afrobeats, hip-hop, reggae and dance music.
Poncho moved to Victoria in 2022 after travelling and performing around Africa and Europe, which is when he realized that music transcends barriers he thought were holding him back.
“They can feel it,” Poncho told Victoria Buzz. “Music is not about language, it goes beyond that.”
When he arrived in Victoria, he connected with a local producer, Jayden Brown, who he instantly felt connected with.
Together they recorded, produced and released Poncho’s first EP, BACKBOYINFRONT, in 2023 as well as several singles. This year, Poncho released SONOFTHESUN, also produced by Brown.
During the recording process, Poncho says he doesn’t usually like to pre-write his lyrics. Instead he prefers to record freestyle, with some idea or concept guiding him in his content.
“I just show up in the studio and put the headphones on,” he explained.
“Sometimes it’s just the feeling of what I’m feeling at that point, I don’t sit down to write, like ‘today I’m going to talk about…,’ you know? I don’t write, I just flow. It could be fun, but sometimes not fun.”
For example, Poncho says that for one of the singles off SONOFTHESUN, “Coffee”, he had been getting used to coffee, because it isn’t as much a part of everyday life for most Ghanaians.
This song had an accompanying dance made for it which blew up on social media.
The song that Poncho chose to highlight off of SONOFTHESUN for this edition of New Music Monday is the first track, titled “Wait For Me”.
“‘Wait For Me’ is about me being in a new place, trying to adapt to everything out here. You have to lose yourself before you can find yourself,” Poncho said.
He pointed to things like trying to get a Canadian driver’s licence and getting used to the food in a country that has become his home, saying it has taken him a bit to feel like Victoria is somewhere he belongs.
“It takes a minute for you to catch up,” he added.
Poncho also pointed to how the track “Coffee” is similar thematically, because it’s something that he is still getting used to drinking, but he is still trying to learn and adapt to how people in Victoria live their day-to-day lives.
“I like the smell of it, but it’s taking me a minute to be like a ‘coffee, coffee, coffee’ guy,” Poncho laughed.
Preview “Wait For Me”, “Coffee” and the rest of SONOFTHESUN below:
To listen to Poncho’s EP, SONOFTHESUN in its entirety, check out his Spotify and Apple Music pages.
Currently, Poncho doesn’t have any upcoming shows booked, as he says he is looking to the next year and how to grow as an artist in Victoria and beyond in 2025.
He says some goals are to continue making videos for social media and he wants to try to put together his own backing band to expand his sound for live shows.
To follow him on social media and keep in the loop for upcoming shows, follow Poncho on Instagram.
Related:
- New Music Monday: Carmine release first single and music video for upcoming EP
- New Music Monday: Bong Witch blends stoner metal with poetry on debut EP ‘Origin’
- New Music Monday: Bufflehead leans into anxiety and despair in new single “Felt Better”
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
In addition to his work as an artist, Poncho runs a show on CFUV called Suntown Shutdown Radio, in which he plays some of his favourite Afrobeats artists.
He says he was inspired to do this because he wanted to broaden the horizons of listeners’ understanding of Afrobeats and other genres that typically get labelled as “International.”
“You cannot build a town with one person,” Poncho explained. “It has to be everybody. It’s to connect each other and help each other out.”
Suntown Shutdown plays every Thursday at 8 p.m.
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online!
Let us know what you think of Poncho in the comments below.
