Stories and facts

Alkayida, also spelled Akayida and referred to in Ashanti Twi as Alkaida, is a popular Ghanaian dance characterized by side-to-side movements, expressive upper-body gestures, and a combination of group routines and individual performances.

The dance is highly relaxed and free-form, featuring intricate footwork and a variety of hip-life dance moves.

It involves coordinated swaying of the body along with hand and shoulder movements in a distinctive pattern. According to hip-life artist Guru, who played a pivotal role in popularizing the dance, the correct spelling is "Akayida."

Originally, Alkayida began as a slower dance with movements that loosely mimicked the extremist group Al-Qaeda.

Over time, the tempo increased, giving rise to vibrant choreography. The dance not only challenged the dominance of Azonto, another Ghanaian dance style, but also infused hip-life culture into its identity, creating a playful connection to the name of the terrorist group.

The dance gained widespread attention through Guru’s hit song "Akayida (Boys Abrɛ)," which helped embed the term into the vocabulary of Akan youth. In the Ashanti language, "brɛ" means "tired," and the song’s catchphrase "boys abrɛ" became synonymous with the dance craze.

Alkayida gained a moment in the global spotlight when Ghanaian football star Asamoah Gyan and the Black Stars squad were expected to perform the dance during the 2014 World Cup after scoring a goal in the Germany versus Ghana group stage match, though the team actually performed an Azonto dance instead.

The dance briefly reached international audiences when Panamanian dancehall deejay Japanese and Honduran artist AlBeezy released the song "La Caída," which used a similar instrumental to Guru's track and featured the same dance moves.

While the lyrics were unrelated, this adaptation brought a short-lived rise in popularity for Alkayida in Panama and offered minor exposure for Guru’s music and the Azonto dance internationally.

Take a look at the traditional dances of Ghana below.