Anabel Rose & Joy Frempong (Co-Creation-Residenz Accra / Berlin)

Two musicians, one collaboration: the »Accra / Berlin co-creation residency« fosters artistic collaboration and transcultural exchange across almost 8,000 km and two continents. A collaboration between Musicboard Berlin, Black Girls Glow, and ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics. As part of the residency, a Berlin-based musician and an international musician jointly develop a new work. The collaboration unfolds both during the Berlin-based artist’s stay in Accra and the international artist’s residency in Berlin. The results will be presented live for the first time at the Pop-Kultur Festival, a festival by Musicboard Berlin.

Anabel Rose is a Ghanaian-Filipino alt-pop artist whose musical journey has been shaped by sonic curiosity and creative freedom. Singing since the age of eight, Anabel Rose has developed into a distinctive voice within contemporary pop music. With singles such as »DND« and »Lungs«, as well as her debut EP »Something About A Rose« (2024), she has reached a growing international audience. In 2023, the music magazine Native named her one of the year’s most promising emerging artists.

Alongside her releases, Anabel Rose performs regularly at festivals and live events, including the Palmwine Music Festival, Manifestivities, and AfroFuture. In 2025, she made her international festival debut at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg. She is also a member of the Ghanaian music collective 99PHACES. An important early influence on her artistic development came in 2018 through her participation in the Black Girls Glow development programme.

Through her music, Anabel Rose invites listeners to experience life and self-expression beyond external expectations and validation. This idea runs throughout her artistic practice and remains a defining thread in her work.

For many years, Joy Frempong has moved fluidly between different musical worlds. As a singer and composer, she combines electronica, jazz, experimental music, and pop with a distinctive affinity for storytelling. Together with Melodydreamer, she forms the duo OY, which has toured internationally since 2010 and released four albums to date. Their performances have taken them to renowned festivals including Sónar, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and SXSW, as well as more than 200 stages across over 20 countries. OY’s work explores themes of Afrofuturism, diaspora, and global solidarity.

Alongside her work as a musician, Frempong composes music for radio plays, experimental short films, and animated films, and has collaborated with artists working across avant-pop, improvisation, and hip-hop. Born in Ghana in 1978, she moved to Switzerland as a child and has lived in Berlin since 2008. Her biography spans multiple cultural and geographical contexts, all of which continue to shape her artistic practice and her distinctive approach to sound, language, and rhythm.