There’s Something About Aben Wo Ha

There’s something about Aben Wo Ha.

Performed by Saint Valentine and directed by Joseph Annobil Jr., the video is a beautiful watch. The black-and-white visuals, the way everyone moves together, the feeling that the entire performance is moving as one. And then, towards the end, Kros comes in with those strings. That guitar deserves a moment of its own.

This was our introduction to Saint Valentine, and it sent us straight into his catalogue. Funny how you can stumble across an artist you know absolutely nothing about and, before you know it, find yourself wanting to hear everything they've put out.

Saint Valentine

Formerly known as Mestar Oscar, Saint Valentine is a Ghanaian singer, songwriter and performer whose sound moves between highlife, electronic music, house and Afrobeats. Projects like Trapped in the Highlife, alongside releases such as Street, Sakoaba, SEE and Hollamo, offer different glimpses into an artist who doesn't seem particularly interested in staying in one place musically.

That same curiosity extends to the visuals. His cover art doesn't follow one fixed template. Portraits, silhouettes and more stylised illustrations each give his releases a different character, making the artwork worth exploring alongside the music itself.

But Aben Wo Ha isn't just a case of one artist getting the details right. There's a wider creative team behind what makes the video work.

Kros handles production and electric guitar, with Samsney on mastering. Joseph Annobil Jr., meanwhile, brings the song to life visually. His work stretches across cinematography, photography, art direction and colour, including projects through Frame by Frame 6 and Orange & Rye. His creative circle also connects with Ghanaian-Nigerian artist HAEVEN, a thread we'll have to pick up another time.

It's easy to focus on the artist at the centre of a release, but performances like this are also a reminder of the people whose contributions shape how the music reaches us. The arrangement, the movement, the camera work and those final guitar passages all have a part to play.

For us, that's part of what made Aben Wo Ha worth stopping for. It introduced us to an artist, sent us digging through his catalogue and gave us a few more names to pay attention to along the way.

Saint Valentine is on our radar now. We're looking forward to hearing where the music takes us next.