Aho Ssan is the artist name of Paris-based Niamké Désiré. After studying graphic design and cinema, he began composing electronic music and creating his own digital instruments. Shortly after, he won the Foundation France Television Prize for his soundtrack to Ingha Mago’s film in 2015 and has worked on several projects related to IRCAM and GRM in France. His debut LP Simulacrum was released on February 7, 2020, via Subtext Recordings. Based on the concept of Jean Baudrillard, it navigates society’s presentation of inclusivity and equality against his own experience of growing up Black in France. Aho Ssan debuted Simulacrum at Berlin Atonal 2019.

Subsequently, his work has been presented in various institutions across Europe and the United States, including Lincoln Center (New York, US), La Maison de la Radio (Paris, FR), CTM (Berlin, DE), MACBA (Barcelona, ES), Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam, NL) and Krakow Philharmonic (Krakow, PL). In 2022 he released a collaborative album Limen with the artist KMRU and is also part of the SHAPE+ artist platform, organized annually by a network of 16 festivals and arts centers — among them the CTM festival in Berlin and the Unsound festival in Krakow.

His music has been praised by various media outlets such as NPR, Pitchfork, Resident Advisor, Liberation and Les Inrockuptibles. Aho Ssan has just released his new solo album Rhizomes on Nicolas Jaar’s Other People label.