[Exclusive Interview] Setou & Senyo Talk New Music, Plans for the Future & More

Here, at The Flag Gang, we're constantly blown away by the undeniable talent amongst the local dance music scenes. In the heart of Canada's capital, Jordan and John Wurah have made a name for themselves thanks to their irrefutable dedication to their craft. The duo go by the stage names Setou & Senyo and have landed noteworthy gigs such as headlining Escapade Music Festival and opening for some of the biggest acts in the game like Loud Luxury. Furthermore, they've also seemed to effortlessly rack up nearly 110K monthly listeners on Spotify. 

Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with the Canadian musicians following their jaw-dropping performance at a private event held at City At Night in Ottawa. This marked the first time we interviewed brothers; and even cooler, they're twins! It was such a delight witnessing their loving and supportive relationship first-hand. Not only were they open books, but they were also finishing each other's sentences; it was a true pleasure to be in their presence.

We discussed everything from their musical upbringing, to their hopes for the future. Flag fam, trust us when we say, this is but the mere beginning for these two passionate artists. We look forward to following their journey and encourage you to give their official social media platforms a follow. The future is bright, but that goes without saying for these two shinning stars... 

1. For those who are unfamiliar with your musical career, can you tell us how Setou & Senyo came to be? 

Growing up, we were exposed to genres like R&B and reggae. Our dad was huge into music. Fresh out of university, we started attending large-scale events like Escapade and Veld Music Festival. We completely fell in love with dance music! From there, we started exploring all things house. John started to learn how to DJ and I [Jordan] dove into production. This was nearly a decade ago now! Over the years, we took our craft more and more seriously, specifically during the last 3 years. Our ultimate goal was always to play Escapade. We were beyond excited when it became a reality! 

Seeing our name alongside the other artists was a dream come true! In the beginning of our career, we were actually only called Setou - it means peace in ghanaian. We've now added Senyo which means strength. It's a nod to our culture - we're from Ghana, a country in West Africa. We feel that the name is now complete and better represents us as a whole. 

As we continue our career, we believe we stand out because we're trying to bring a new flavour to the table. A lot of EDM is saturated. We want to go ahead with projects that aren't fully tested, mixing a variety of genres that wouldn't normally be known to go together. In particular, we want to represent our roots, the genres we grew up listening to, before we fell in love with dance music.

 2. Your new releases like ‘The Difference’ featuring B Martin are next level! Can you walk us through the production process when creating a new track, specifically outlining the challenges you’ve faced in the studio during the current pandemic?

First of all, thank you! B Martin is a really good friends of ours. He's a phenomenal rapper and R&B singer, having worked with artists like T-Pain and Kendrick Lamar. I [Jordan] met him through BassBears, producers we've worked with in the past. [Listen here.]

We ended up linking up to make 'The Difference', one of six releases we will be dropping soon. We started with the topline of the vocal and built the instrumental around that. COVID has been challenging because of the distance it's creating.

As you can imagine, we're not able to get into the studio, so we're forced into Zoom calls instead. For that reason, we've actually never met in person yet. That's why it was especially important for us to stay on the same page. We did this by constantly calling each other daily, making sure we sonically agreed on the production.

We're really proud of not only 'The Difference', but also of the other tracks that are about to come out. B Martin has always been someone we look up to; for that reason, it's even more special to continue to collaborate with him. We can't wait to share our new music with you all!

3. What other details can you share about your upcoming projects & why do you believe they’ll skyrocket you into the next chapter of your career? 

We definitely have a lot of new music on the way! We've had the pleasure of working with Lil' Eddie (Edwin Serrano), a twelve time Grammy-nominated artist. He's an absolutely amazing singer-songwriter and the list of his other accomplishments is lengthy. 

We crossed paths because B Martin grew up with him in New York and they've been long-time friends. I [Jordan] worked on an instrumental for well-over a year. I ended up giving it to B Martin. He wanted a really good song-writer to help work on it. So, he ran to the best one he knew - Lil' Eddie. Then, the rest was history. We absolutely love the team we've built. 

We're so happy to say this collaboration will be coming out on January 21, 2022. Get ready for 'Did It For Love' - it's going to be our biggest track to date! This song is our COVID champion anthem. We put all of our emotions (loneliness and uncertainty) because of what was happening and created this piece. In essence, we poured everything into this piece and it reminded us why we love music so much. It allows us to express our deepest emotions and connects us with people who may be going through something similar.

4. With so many thrilling undertakings already in action and this pesky pandemic still underway, we’re curious, what are some of your ultimate aspirations and goals for the distant, COVID-free, future?

One of our biggest goals is to play Ultra Music Festival in Miami. It's always been the main festival we go out of our way to watch and keep up with. The organizers do a really good job at promoting talent and do so much for the dance music scene. We really respect that!

As far as production, we're going to keep up what we're currently doing - working hard! We're hoping to get signed to some of our favourite labels, like Spinnin' Records. When it comes to dream collaborations, Loud Luxury is at the top of our list! Other artists like Ryan Sheppard and DLMT would also be really cool too.

5. Is there anything else you’d like to share with The Flag Gang?

Always remember to love in peace and strength. This is something that we're always about! We believe this is key to a happy life. We also wanted to thank the Flag fam for their ongoing support. We're working on booking gigs within Canada - Ottawa and Toronto mostly. But, right now, we're still waiting for things to fully open up because of the pandemic. [Keep it locked to their official socials to stay up-to-date on all things Setou & Senyo.]