Community over everything.
three words we built a whole thing around.
What Sauna is
Sauna is a Ghana-rooted community exploring African pop culture through music. We began in 2022 as a music blog and an online space for people to talk freely about music in Ghana. Since then, album reviews, playlists, and online conversations have grown into shared listening, creative work, events, and cultural documentation.
Today, Sauna Connects brings people together through events and community, Sauna Studio develops creative projects, and Sauna Archives documents the music and culture shaping our lives. Sauna Sundays pairs music, board games, and an all-women DJ lineup in a relaxed salon setting. Sauna Sessions gathers people to listen to an album, catalog, or playlist and talk about it together. From these gatherings to larger events such as Horns in the Sun and collaborations with other brands, Sauna makes room to experience and discuss music together.
- Since
- 2022, as a music blog
- Where
- Ghana, all over
- Sides
- Connects · Archives · Studio
- Find us
- @sauna.gh
Our missionwhat we do, every week
To build and nurture community through music, create space for open exchange, and document African pop culture as it unfolds.
Our visionwhere it's all going
We envision a future where African pop culture is heard, shared, and documented with care, and where people have welcoming spaces to experience it together.
One community, three sides.
Connects brings people into Sauna, Archives gives the work memory and context, and Studio creates new work.
our fun side
Connects
Link-ups, games nights and the reasons we actually meet each other.
Go to Connects›
our nerdy side
Archives
Deep dives, liner notes and the history behind the records we play.
Go to Archives›
our creative side
Studio
Visuals, design and collaborations with the artists around us.
Go to Studio›
The founders
Where it started.
Don Nortey
Shawn Owusu-Nortey
Shawn Owusu-Nortey is a co-founder of Sauna, where he leads Sauna Connects and contributes to the creative work of Sauna Studio. He helps shape events and community experiences that bring people together through music, while supporting Sauna's wider work documenting and developing African pop culture.
As a DJ and music curator performing as Don Nortey, Shawn takes an open-format approach, moving across R&B, Afrohouse, Gqom, 3-Step, private-school Amapiano, and more. Across Sauna and his DJ practice, he sees music as a way to connect people, spark conversation, and make space for the culture being created around us.
Mae
Martha Agyeman
Martha “Mae” Agyeman is a co-founder of Sauna and its Administrative and Archives Lead. Since Sauna began in 2022, she has helped shape its growth, leading its strategy, operations, and storytelling.
A writer and music critic, Mae writes about the African underground, and African stories. Her short story “Kande” won first place for creative writing at the Ashesi Creative Festival. Beyond music and culture, she is the founder of Circular Trace, a fashion-tech startup building sustainable solutions for Ghana's second-hand clothing market.
Zoya
Wunzooya Yakubu Alidu
Wunzooya Yakubu Alidu is a co-founder of Sauna, where he leads visual direction and contributes to shaping the collective's creative identity. His work spans visual communication, design and creative concepts, helping translate Sauna's ideas and cultural interests into visual experiences. He also curates music for Sauna's playlists, contributing to the collective's musical identity and wider exploration of contemporary African culture.
As a multidisciplinary creative, Alidu is interested in the intersections of design, music, culture and storytelling. His creative practice extends across brand identity, graphic design and visual experimentation, with a broader interest in how creative expression shapes the way people communicate and connect. Alongside his creative pursuits, he has an academic background in pharmacy, an interest that informs his appreciation for the intersection of healthcare, innovation and creativity. Across his work, he sees creativity as a means of exploring ideas, building communities and documenting the culture unfolding around us.
Meet the team
The people behind the nights.
Sauna, in one sentence
We asked everyone the same thing
“Community over everything.”
Don Nortey “Sauna's the future of African culture and community.”
Mae “Your favorite friend's room.”
Zoya “It's an experience centered community where music, culture and community come together to create unforgettable moments.”
Addobea “Family and friends function.”
Danny (zagba) “For the people, for the culture.”
KIKI ETC “Sauna is your friend's house that feels like home.”
Hokey “Sauna is like the Friday night hangout in uni with your fun friends.”
Jobaby “Turning heads.”
Keli Dey “Sauna is a space where culture, creativity and connection meet to create experiences that stay with you long after the moment has passed.”
Sandra “It's an expanding bubble of euphoria, kinship and personal growth.”
Brian