The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Côte d'Ivoire, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The name was introduced 1885 by Gottlob Krause and derives from the word for 'people' (Kwa) in many of these languages, as illustrated by Akan names.

See the box at right for a current classification.

The various clusters of languages included in Kwa are at best distantly related, and it has not been demonstrated that they are closer to each other than to neighboring Niger–Congo languages.

Stewart distinguished the following major branches, which historical-comparative analysis supports as valid groups:

The Lagoon languages of southern Ivory Coast are not particularly close to any of these, nor to each other, so they are left ungrouped:

Since Stewart, Ega has been tentatively removed, and the Gbe languages reassigned to Volta–Niger. Some of the Na-Togo and Ka-Togo languages have been placed into separate branches of Kwa. See the infobox at right for the resulting branches.

Ramadhani "Remmy" Mtoro Ongala (1947 – 13 December 2010) was a Tanzanian guitarist and singer. Ongala was born in Kindu near the Tanzanian border, in what was Belgian Congo at the time, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A rising musician since the late 1980s, Remmy Ongala was part of the soukous scene (a Congolese kind of Rumba), which in conjunction with his Orchestre Super Matimila he helped to transmute to the Tanzanian music often called Ubongo, the Swahili word for brain, in Tanzania, which in turn led to Tanzanian hip-hop particularly in the city of Dar es Salaam during the 1990s. Ubongo is usually perceived by artists and listeners alike as "conscious" music, one that actively contributes to Tanzanian soundscape with socio-political commentary. Believing in the abolishment of racism and social injustice, Ongala infuses his lyrics with these messages. His inspiring message has led him to be nicknamed "Dr Remmy". Following the end of British colonial rule in 1961, Julius Nyerere introduced the value of Ujamaa, or familyhood, which emphasized equality and justice. Such became a recurring theme in many Tanzanian artists' music, including Remmy Ongala.