MARIE-Ange BORDAS: “I was too young” | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

AIDA MULUNEH is definitely a force to be reckoned with. The photographer and filmmaker heads up ADDIS FOTO FEST – a biannual, international photography festival in Addis Ababa that brings a diverse cadre of African photographers together to showcase their work [the third installation is Dec 2014]. In direct response to how Ethiopia has been popularly imagined by western development + media agencies since the 1980s, Aida is building an appreciation for photography among the Ethiopian public by re-working how photography takes shape in the country. The festival develops the capacity of emerging Ethiopian photographers to tell their own compelling stories.

I caught up with my fellow Howard U Film Dept. comrade on a recent trip to Accra. Here we rap about Addis Foto Fest and how emerging Ethiopian photographers are in a unique position to transform the country’s visual future.

Drive AIDA Drive | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

How did Addis Foto Fest begin?
I exhibited at the Bamako Biennale in 2007 and when I went back to Addis it became critical to have a festival with all of these components in a week-long event. All over Africa there really aren’t a lot of photography festivals. As a photographer it was really important to not just give opportunities to photographers on the continent but also to introduce photographers abroad to come to Ethiopia and really see the activities in our country.

SIMANGELE Kalisa: “Clothed” | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

Over the past thirty years or so, Ethiopia has consistently been misrepresented based on the images of the 80s. I figured if I have this festival, we can start having this discussion about rebranding Ethiopia not only from our own photographers but also photographers who visit the country, shoot and go back to their countries and exhibit this work.

The philosophy I believe in is cultural exchange through images.

KARIM DRIDI: “Addis Transformations” | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

With the rebranding initiative, what is some of the content now coming out?
It’s been really interesting – the first festival I only knew a few photographers in Ethiopia. The second one, I included the photographers I met in the first one. Each time, I’m discovering new talent and new approaches to how our own photographers are looking at the changing city and the changing country. I’ve seen the shift of the quality of images and what people are documenting. In the longer run for me it’s to demystify this negative perspective that Ethiopians have in regard to photography. So when you are shooting in the street – the biggest challenge is – someone will come up to you and say you’re making money off of it.

Are you going to make an NGO billboard?

Behind the Veil | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2010

We’re also preserving the history. We did this six month project called Addis Transformations where we documented different areas of the city and it was our way of contributing. Five or twenty years from now, the reality we see today will no longer exist. It wasn’t only about structures but people. How we dress ten years from now – and I’m talking traditional dress – it’s all disappearing because of globalization. The country is really changing and we have to preserve those dynamics through images. My conversation’s not only with photographers or artists, it’s also with government and business – it’s with every component of society. Everyone has a photo album in their house and this is how I try to make a connection with people. We’re archivists ourselves because we are documenting our own memory.

You know, you look at your picture from five years old and it resonates some kind of memory. It’s really preserving memory as a future.

AIDA + son | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

What kind of images are you drawn to as a photographer?

BELIEVE Nyakudjara: for the Market Photo Workshop | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

I always tell people, I don’t do animals. I don’t do landscape. I’m a people person. I’m really interested in how people live. I shoot with a 20mm and I’m always close to people because I grew up outside.

In a way I’m recreating a memory I don’t have of a country I didn’t grow up in.

Lawn Exhibition | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2010

There are a lot of stories that we need to tell and I haven’t even scratched the surface. Over time what I really want to do is continue documenting these stories. There’s a lot of fascinating things on the continent. For instance, when I go to Europe or the States, I don’t shoot because there’s really nothing interesting for me there. It’s very sterile, you know? But I find in my country, everything’s organic and has a beauty to it.

Some people will tell me, why are you shooting this wall? I remember this one old woman came out of her house and she was like, “Are you a part of the government? Are you taking photos of this wall because you want to tear down the neighborhood?” I told her, no I’m just documenting because I find beauty in this. So the things that people don’t find beauty in, I find interesting. The everyday thing has it’s own beauty. When I shoot. I shoot from the heart.

NYANI Quarmyne: “Climate C” | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

If we are supposed to promote our country, we need the freedom to do this. I’m not talking about the Ministry of Defense or anything, I’m just talking about neighborhoods. In our constitution it says that we have the right to document but this doesn’t get passed down to the police force, the military and what have you. At that time, the Prime Minister responded by saying that anyone who has told you that you can’t photograph – because we’ve been arrested and gone through many challenges – is perpetuating a crime against you, this is your right.

FATOUMATA Diabate work | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

With the festival being a big event, this is a way we are trying to bridge a gap within society to show that photography is a really useful tool. I’ve had situations where I’m shooting in a neighborhood and I look around and I see twenty people following me. Then someone will call an authority to ask what I’m doing there. So the mentality has to change. At the same time I can’t blame the paranoia that exists around photography because foreigners have come and completely abused and used images against us. So now we’ve become extremely protected over what’s to be documented.

The power has to be in our own hands to tell our own stories and document our own images. We have to be able to balance out the realities.

There are a lot of foreign photographers that come and go back with these cliches that I’m really sick and tired of seeing. So even when the selection is made for the festival, I’m not looking for the usual stuff.

DELPHINE Diaw DIALLO: “Vive Africa” | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

It sounds like there is a dual mission to your work – educating folks worldwide about a diverse Ethiopia at the same time that you are rebranding the country from within.
There should be a more positive interaction between those born and raised in Ethiopia and those who have decided to come back and invest. There’s a misconception on both sides. No one’s perfect here but in order for Africa to grow, its own population coming back and reinvesting and doing the work is great. I would rather see an Ethiopian coming and investing in Ethiopia than seeing someone from another part of the world coming and investing in our country because at least you have that connection.

ALA KHEIR: “Khartoum” | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

How did Addis Foto Fest 2012 go?
The audience I am really interested in are the same people who watch Ethiopian and Nollywood films at the local theater. Most of the people I saw [at Addis Foto Fest] I didn’t know. It was random young people who came to these openings. We stopped counting after 500.

Some participating photographers | photo courtesy of Addis Foto Fest 2012

No matter what, if you truly believe in it and persist in it, things will happen. You will get to where you want to get if you truly believe in it. I’m working on building local talents – Ethiopians who can do this work with me, who I can train. I don’t want to bring people from the outside to do this work. I’m building an infrastructure developed by young local participants.

Stay in the loop with Aida Muluneh | @AddisFotoFest

The Medicine Market

You can find pretty much everything at the street market. A standard feature not just in Accra but all over West Africa, the street market is where the home cho preparations begin.

Affordable and negotiable, the market is where folks go to get those natural ingredients. For instance, many different varieties of tree bark are sold in the market for medicinal purposes. Sometimes they are mixed with bitters or boiled in water and served to prevent or treat common illnesses ranging from colds to malaria to infertility.

The Nima Market is smaller and less crowded than other popular Accra markets. Our team recently visited the market and snapped these cool fotos. Scroll down to see some foodstuff commonly seen in markets in Accra.

THE SPICE MARKET

West African meals are all about spice – kowε, nutmeg, melegueta pepper, kola nut, dawadawa, curry, ginger, garlic, momone, thyme, prekεsε, and African bird pepper, among many others – and most are sold pre-made in the markets. Most soups and stews require the careful addition of unique spice blends for a kick in flavor. Spices is also important for seasoning couscous, jollof rice, beef, chicken, fish and seafood.

Dry Pepper with an Olonka bowl…

SOBOLO + Powdered Pepper

SAMIA | Used to brew local beer

COCO YAM

Coco yam is a tuber food. It’s a basic food found in every market in Accra. Just like yam it can be boiled or fried and served with any type of sauce or stew.

COCO Yam

DATES + SUGARCANE | Cho on the Run [from the Sun]

KULIKULI

This distinct snack is made of nkatia [groundnuts], pepper and spices fried into a crisp and crunchy circle.

Kulikuli for You

Want more street food chronicles? Stay tuned to the blog for more Accra cho spots.

What: YARI YARI NTOASO: International Black Women Writers Conference

When: Thursday, May 16 – Sunday, May 19

Damage: FREE

[*excerpt from the press release] More than 50 participants from 15+ countries will speak, including Angela Davis (USA), Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Natalia Molebatsi (South Africa), Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro (Puerto Rico), Sapphire (USA), Veronique Tadjo (Côte d’Ivoire), Évelyne Trouillot (Haiti), Tess Onwueme (Nigeria), and many others.

Yari Yari Ntoaso will consist of panels, readings, performances, and workshops, and will be devoted to the study, evaluation, and celebration of the creativity and diversity of women writers of African descent. Topics to be addressed include the craft of writing, identity, and literary activism. This Yari Yari includes many exciting sessions. In addition to the panels, for the first time, the conference program includes a Saturday morning “storytime” for children and a youth open mic, as well as workshops for adults and youth, and the opportunity to meet writers and purchase their books. All events are FREE and open to the public, and everyone interested in literature – whether as readers or as writers, both youth and adults – are encouraged to attend.

Register at http://owwainc.org/gettingthere.html. Most events will be held at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (No. 54 Independence Avenue, near the Ridge Roundabout). A draft program is available in the “Gallery” section of www.indiegogo.com/owwa.

*Please note that also on Sat, May 18th, from 4-6pm this program will take place: “I Speak of Liberation: An Evening with ANGELA DAVIS” at the DuBois Centre in Cantonments [behind the U.S. Embassy]. The event is also free. Organized by: Third World Network-Africa, Organization of Women Writers of Africa [OWWA] and Mbaasem.

What: RWUL Presents “I Luv Africa” Film Festival

When: Friday, May 17 – Sunday, May 19

Damage: FREE

The “I Luv Africa” Film Festival in Ghana (ILAFF 2013) will be a three day event FREE to the public that will feature film screenings, workshops, a community art project, filmmaker appearances, and a special opening night Afterparty hosted by YAV Magazine. The event is co-produced by Attukwei Art Foundation and will take place at the Goethe-Institut in Cantonments [Accra].

The ILAFF 2013 will feature films from Mohamed Dione, Aimiende Negbenebor Sela, Nikyatu Jusu, Akousua Adoma Owusu, Terence Nance/Blitz the Ambassador, Edward Osei-Gyimah , Esosa Edosomwan, Kwesi Hutchful, Nana Yaw Yeboah, Ali Biko Sulaiman Kamanda, Nina Nordstromm, and Nana Oforiatta Ayim.  This year’s ILAFF 2013 in Ghana will also present a special feature film premiere of the critically acclaimed “Soul Food Junkies” from filmmaker Byron Hurt for our Pan-African selection. See http://luvafricafilmfest.weebly.com/ for the full program schedule.

What: JOJO ABOT: Live in Concert

When: Saturday, May 18

Damage: 10 GHC

JOJO ABOT presents her second annual live concert at Alliance Francaise, Saturday May 18th at 8pm. She’s got some magic fairydust up her sleeve and we can’t wait to see what’s planned this time around. Also on deck to perform are supa-stars Gyedu-Blay Ambolley, Ofie Kodjoe and Lady Jay as well as Abot’s signature band, the Phunky Phew.

Hope to see you at one or all of these dope events this weekend.

The Street Food Culture

Street food is a way of life in Accra. In fact, it’s the only fast food you’ll find in town. Easy and convenient, affordable and ready to eat, street food for many Accra city people is the way to do it.

Street food is for the occasional cook or those on the move in the city – battling traffic on the way to work or back home – and you can’t resist the lingering smells of kelewele, red red or fried fish all around. Or maybe your light dey off [chale, Ghana dey be!]. Street food is everyone’s friend – it won’t break the poor man or rich man’s pocket.

Nima is a great place to sample a smorgasbord of Accra’s finest street food. Warm your taste buds and check out this enticing photo stroll of our favorite eats on the go.

Gari and Beans in the Making

GARI AND BEANS—-

Gari is the West African name for roasted cassava shavings. It is mixed with cooked beans, pepper and palm oil and served with kokorr – an Akan name for fried ripe plantain.

WAAKYE—–

This popular meal is made of rice and beans mixed together. The fresh waakye leaves cooked with the rice and beans gives the meal it’s distinctive brown color. Waakye is mostly eaten with shito (black pepper), meat or fish. For those who like to get down, you can add pasta, a boiled egg or gari. For extra zest, add some fried plantain.

Serve Us Waakye!

Add some meat and shito

KOOSE—–

Koose refers to beans, vegetables and pepper fried together in vegetable oil. It is used to eat Hausa Koko – a sweet brown porridge made from millet cereal. This is a breakfast meal for folks on the go.

The Koose preparations have begun!

HAUSA KOKO—-

This addictive porridge is made from millet cereal and mixed with local spices, pepper and sugar. This is a standard breakfast meal for many communities across Ghana.

Ante up for some Hausa Koko

FANTE KENKEY—-

This delectable dish is made of fermented corn dough cooked in dry plantain leaves and shaped into a textured cornball. Kenkey is eaten with chilli sauce, fish, vegetables or soup.

Hot Fante Kenkey coming up

WAA GASHI—-

Waa Gashi is the Hausa word for delicious, fried milk. The snack tastes quite similar to thick slices of cheese pizza. Waa Gashi is mostly eaten with rice & peas and an assortment of meat and fish. It is best served piping hot and with barbecue pepper.

Fresh Cow Milk

Leaves placed on top gives the Waa Gashi this bright red color

Yummy Waa Gashi served with Waakye

TÒÒGBεε—-

This scrumptious doughnut ball is made of flour, nutmeg and sugar and fried in vegetable oil. Lightly sweet fried goodness! For breakfast on the run, pair with koko, marmalade or honey. TÒÒGBεε is Ga for “goat’s balls” which looks quite similar to the delicacy eaten throughout Ghana. Also popularly referred to as Boflot.

Chale….

Stay tuned for more street food chronicles right here.

[Double-click on images to enlarge]

the FOKN BOIS at home in Accra | April 2013

If you’re ever lucky enough to meet Ghana’s very own FOKN BOIS aka Foes of Kwame Nkrumah, you’d immediately know one thing: they are both a bit bizarre. Not the deranged, repulsive kind of bizarre. More like a magnetic and high-energy hypnotic that comes from the MCs’ fearless humor.

It’s not every day you run into a half-naked, self-proclaimed gypsy who also happens to be a dynamite lyricist [Wanlov the Kubolor] and a master music producer/vocalist who’s legendary family produces artists like May rain showers [M3NSA Ansah].  In a conservative city like Accra, Wanlov and M3NSA stick out like a sore thumb. As their popularity continues to skyrocket [they are performing at Glastonbury next month and have been invited to SXSW twice], it’s no surprise that FOKN BOIS is lining their schedule up with back-to-back interviews.

When I arrived at Wanlov’s house, the two had just wrapped up with Afropop Worldwide. Stretched out, face down on the carpet M3NSA rested while Wanlov happily played with his pet monkey. Throwing around jokes that bounce off one another like a burning ping pong ball, it’s clear the FOKN BOIS are taking this music thing all in stride.

Coz Ov Moni described as the “World’s 1^st Pidgin Musical,” struck gold with fans back in 2010. It tells the story of a day in the life of two wandering friends, played by Wanlov and M3NSA, in Accra. The film gives the audience a look at the challenges young working-class men face in contemporary Ghana by not only revealing their talent as musicians but also as storytellers and scriptwriters. The sequel, Coz Ov Moni 2, is set be released within the coming year. The duo hopes to finish filming by the end of this month. The follow-up will be more extensive with higher production quality value and even more controversy and all-out hilarity.

The FOKN BOIS call their genre of music “Gospel Porn Christian Rap” – another way of describing their back-and-forth, politically charged humor that reveals the contradictions of life in Ghana. “Thank God We’re Not A Nigerians” on the 2012 album, FOKN Wit Ewe, attracted an abundance of attention and catalyzed tense conversations between Nigerians and Ghanaians on sites all over the Internet. The rappers are adept at binding humor and wit together with seductive sonics that tease and twist the listener’s ears. You shake your head, smiling and playing it back – did they really just say that? Sexing aliens in outerspace? Jesus is Coming one day? But of course. Wanlov was even spotted at Jahwi’s album launch a few weeks ago – reversing the debt aid gaze – wearing a large yellow jerry can atop his head, collecting coin donations to “Help America”.

Artifacts in Wanlov’s crib; Wanlov’s pet monkey; writer Aigerim Saparova

In this interview, I spoke with the FOKN BOIS about the group’s dynamics, religion in Ghana, American visa denials, and maintaining artistic individuality. Check the full story out – in their words – below.

How did you two meet?

Wanlov: The first time was in high school – ’97 in Cape Coast. That’s a vivid recollection but we have this blurry one several years back in Boy Scouts. We were playing flag wars and we both ended up in this clearing – it was like Lost the TV show. I was like “who is this guy?” and [M3nsa] was like, “who is this albino guy?”

M3NSA is all smiles

So were you friends throughout secondary school?

Wanlov: Rap partners.

M3NSA: Purely for rap purposes. We wouldn’t help each other in other situations like “this is not rap, sorry!”

Wanlov: Yeah, I used to go to his class and lie to his teacher that another teacher was looking for him to do a chore and then we would go to the village or an empty classroom and start drumming on tables and rapping. Bad students…

M3NSA: …Good rappers.

What is the FOKN BOIS lifestyle?

M3NSA: FOKN BOIS together: we’re just exploring our minds, the crevices of our thoughts, exposing it to the rest of the world. Gleefully exploring the world – we go wherever we are wanted, sometimes unwanted. We are enjoying life and sharing. It comes with a price, but it’s definitely worth it.

WANLOV the KUBOLOR

What’s a day in the life of FOKN BOIS in Accra?

Wanlov: We meet up to do interviews. Otherwise, we won’t hear from each other until we’re like “oh, we have to go to the studio!” Or we go around Accra looking for pre-amps, equipment, that one of us has broken and it’s usually me breaking his because he has more equipment…

M3NSA: Yes, I have more equipment…girls.

How is it working together?

Wanlov: When we’re working together, we just have to be intelligent assholes.

M3NSA: Yes.

Wanlov: Which is not very difficult for us.

M3NSA: Yes.

Wanlov: When we’re working separately, I have to be a spiritual harem. I’m a bit more serious. I’m also more naked.

M3NSA: Not in the music, in the lifestyle.

Wanlov: My solo thing is more experimental, more hippie-ish.

M3NSA: My solo thing is more about myself! You know, it’s like having sexual intercourse with somebody and then having a masturbatory experience. It’s just getting to know your self better and understanding what excites me. I have to get in touch with myself.

So, which do you prefer?

Wanlov and M3NSA: Alone.

Wanlov: It’s just that FOKN BOIS is more fun and more imaginative. Alone, you’re just by yourself in the studio, in the room naked.

M3NSA:  I don’t know…Wanlov must have been, in his previous lifetime…

Wanlov: A naked person.

M3NSA: No! Just really overdressed. Repressed – like he was made to wear clothes all the time. He was like an Eskimo or something. Or he had to take a monthly bath so he never got to really see his body naked. He’s making up for all those years. Whenever we have something, the first thing he suggests is – “let’s go naked.” I swear! You know we were going to come to the [ACCRA dot ALT] Masquerade Jam naked? We were – with just the mask on our equipment.

So why didn’t you?

M3NSA: Well, the masks that we had were transparent and small.

Wanlov: And we would’ve had to sit down in chairs.

M3NSA: We weren’t thinking about ourselves just the people who would have to sit after us.

What preparations are you making for Glastonbury?

M3NSA: The band is already rehearsing. They’ve been rehearsing like crazy. Those guys are quite meticulous.

You’re traveling a lot – how’s that been?

Wanlov: Sometimes, I meet like these anal airline staff that really don’t want me to be on the plane barefooted. Like what is going to happen if I get on the plane barefooted? Isn’t it less weight? We like trains a lot.

M3NSA: It’s more relaxing.

Wanlov: And the country. We love Budapest, I like going to Romania and just being on stage wherever we are.

M3NSA: Yes, we do like travelling a lot.

Wanlov: Human beings are happy when they travel.

M3NSA: We travelled through France, Belgium, Amsterdam, Germany in a day on the train. I really felt at ease. Even though we always have passport issues.

Wanlov: Yeah, they kept holding my passport.

M3NSA: And looking at his hand for scars.

Wanlov: They checked my hand and said that some guy had my name and he’s being searched for in Germany. A wanted person. And he had a scar on the back of his hand. What if I go and cut my hand right now? Are you saying I’m a criminal?

When you travel, do you find yourself missing Ghana?

M3NSA: Yeah, every time. Ghana is unique to all these other places. Besides being a great place to be, it’s home. That’s where the family is, your childhood friends and a certain kind of freedom. Even though there are certain struggles, it’s still home so it’s good.

So why do you choose to make music that’s so controversial?

Wanlov: We just do stuff in the studio that makes us laugh and then we put it out there and see if somebody else will laugh.

When you’re putting out music are there any limits or do you rap about whatever?

M3NSA: You see the thing is that we don’t set out just to shock people. We don’t limit ourselves either. If we feel like it’s going to keep us entertained, then we do it.

WANLOV plays ball

So it’s more like a personal thing?

M3NSA: Very much so. The music we make us is very personal.

Wanlov: Now we have a song we’re planning for African Americans but it’s not going to make them happy but it’s going to make us happy. Because when I applied for an American visa in March – we’ve been hoping for the second time to headline the South by Southwest festival – the guy just looked at me and said “No” – and he’s an African American guy. And I just saw him standing there and saying, “No, I will not let you come to my slave master’s house”. So now, we’re doing a song in the studio as therapy for me, you know? And it’s going to make us laugh. And the other side – the ying to the yang – is that it’s not going to make that guy laugh.

What do you expect the reactions to be?

Wanlov: Hate. The first person is going to be Bill Cosby.

What’s the gist of the song?

Wanlov: The gist is – African Americans, go back home to your motherland – the United States of America. Do you think African Americans will like it? Tyler the Creator will like it. It’s really just self-therapy. When we do something about the church, like Jesus masturbating, it’s really because, we don’t know any other way to lash back, because in Ghana, your neighbor could just build a church in their house – LOUD! You can call the police and say it’s noise pollution, and they won’t do anything about it because that’s “Jesus stuff.” So we are just helpless. So for us, instead of getting angry and using violence, this is the best we can ease our tensions, by just making fun.

When you travel outside of Ghana, how do people react to your music? Is there a difference from the reactions you get here?

Wanlov: In Ghana, we don’t have to translate certain lyrics. People get all the stuff we’re saying right away. But then, the religious kind of stuff – that one goes over heads in Ghana. In Europe, that stuff flies, but there’s a language barrier. You know, in Denmark, it’s legal to marry an animal. You can marry a snail and have sex with it and the police will not arrest you. You can walk in holding a shell and that’s your husband or wife. We have a song called, Sextraterrestrial Sex, and we perform this alien sex song. So when we were there, we told them that we were very happy but we were disappointed that they hadn’t extended this marriage thing to aliens.

M3NSA sips pure wata

Homosexuality in the west has less and less opposition now because the youth are more open about it. So people realize that homosexuals are not demons. That is still what we are fighting in Ghana because people are still hiding in their houses. They are afraid of the public stigma of homosexuality. It’s a slower process here. We have this song called Strong Homosexual Guys which is just an exaggeration of  “is there really a homosexual person out there trying to rape you? What is your fear about?” I mean, we’ve allowed Americans to build army bases here and that doesn’t worry us. That was one of the main things Nkrumah spoke against – the whole of Africa should not allow any western power to build an army base here. America has an army base here so we are a colony of America right now whether we like it or not.

So you think by making fun of the system, you’re above the system?

Wanlov: No, we’re just using it as therapy to endure.

M3NSA: To release.

Wanlov: The names, Achimota school, the curriculum – it’s the same British everything. The judges are still wearing the white sheep or pubic hair… sheep pubes.

So what do you think Ghana needs to do to cut itself off from western control?

Wanlov: Wow.

M3NSA: It’s all about getting wiser, finding ways to regain our power. I suppose it’s not our fault really. The influences are crazy – the western influences. Once the mentality is that the western world is more virtuous than us in every sense, that’s already losing the battle, isn’t it?

Do you think that the FOKN BOIS lifestyle is a permanent thing?

M3NSA: Our lifestyle is in its most natural form. It’s nothing contrived or fabricated for us to be crazy. This is what we are. I don’t think it’s going to change. I like being this way.

Follow up with the FOKN BOIS | @FOKNBOIS

Motivated by an ambition to tell his own story – a Kumasi story to the world – KO-JO CUE is one of the few Ghanaian rappers who treats lyricism like a fine art. Three months after the release of his seventh mixtape – Before We Shine II [The Cremation of Care] – and we still have the MC on weekly replay. Kumasi isn’t known for being a rap haven but despite this Ko-jo Cue’s been able to win over both obsessive and occasional hip hop lovers. He just spits those fresh rhymes you can’t get enough of.

According to Ko-jo Cue, his songs are meant to impact listeners by enveloping them with hope and positivity. He reasons,

“I am the type of artist who always wants his listeners to walk away from every project with something that improves the quality of their lives, their level of reasoning and takes them a step closer to their goals.”

Before We Shine II is the follow up to Before We Shine [Jan 2011], an engrossing audio-scape that details the daily struggles of a young dude on the grind in Kumasi. The sequel combines profound flows and appealing hooks with an addictive wordplay that reveals the personality of Ko-jo Cue. The mixtape is actually a series of short stories that together tell a complete story about overcoming the growing pains of manhood.

When you listen to Ko-jo Cue you feel like he’s talking directly to you in parables. He tells stories in a way that anybody can relate to. Ko-jo Cue’s a great narrator and this resonates in how he fuses each song on the mixtape to tell a universal story about his reality. The tone of his voice is even and calm with every hook keeping you thinking about what he’s going to say next.

“Winning” is a fire track where Ko-jo Cue boasts a die-hard love for Ghana and for his identity as a Black man. He unleashes,

“I’m all about my red, gold, green/ Color blind to the rest/Original Black man, my color fine till the death/Eye red since birth, rep for my Brotherman/On the other hand, tryna win for the Motherland.”

Ko-Jo Cue poses with Flow King Stone

Of course, every hip hop artist has a “you can hate me now” joint and “Aden Koraa” [“Why?” in Twi] is Ko-jo Cue’s. The track features Flow King Stone in a trippy back and forth over why people are always hating on them. In fact, Ko-jo Cue’s constructive, witty flows has earned him the title of “King of Punchlines” among fans. Even fellow rapper, Looney the TKR, acknowledges the MC as the “Punchline King” on his recent My Tunes EP.

“Success Story” tells the story of the artist’s difficulties at home and school. He compares how he grew up as a poor kid versus the rich classmates that attended school with him:

“Hello, they call Kojo/ I’m a Kumasi boy/Opoku Ware M/A is the school I attended/ The time you dey build with Lego/My mum did not have a penny/I was playing with empty tins as toy.”

The rapper shares how he endured growing up in poverty and how he made it out the trap. Ko-jo Cue continues,

“I’m a testimony/You go fit hate but in my hood I’m a success story.”

Before We Shine II is a magical combination of metaphors and profound wordplay. Listening to the entire mixtape, you hear how each of the story-tracks come together as one large harmony. Ko-jo Cue’s Kumasi story  – all about life on the edge – is also somehow right on time.

Keep connected with the Kumasi King | @KOJO_Cue

by Sionne Neely | photos by Jane Odartey

JANE ODARTEY in the Red Cowl

About a month ago, our CHALE WOTE 2013 planning team was meeting at Brazil House like we do every other Saturday. This was the last in a series of meetings to hone down the theme for this year’s third annual street art festival in James Town [Save the Date: September 7 + 8th!]. We’d finally locked in our main idea – to reimagine African folktales in new and exciting ways that push toward futuristic visions of possibility, cooperation and inclusion among Ghanaians. Since the festival is held in James Town it became important to understand what folktales mean in this particular place.

Mantse Aryeequaye shared his excitement over a chart of Ga symbols he had recently come across – some of which he had never seen before – and how this document signals how many indigenous stories are lost, misplaced or hard to find. Ato Annan, artist and Projects Officer for the Foundation of Contemporary Art Ghana (FCA) then piped in to say that symbols are not static but always moving. This shit blew my mind. Even though the symbol appears to communicate only one stable and visible meaning, it in fact is comprised of a multitude of stories that are continuously on the go – simultaneous narratives in constant motion.

Similarly, JANE ODARTEY – the brilliant design mind behind MAWUSI - happily works from this premise of creating fresh, evolving stories with Ghanaian prints. Mz. Jane is a Krobo homegirl by way of Tema who now calls Queens, NY home. Grad student @ Brooklyn College by day, eclectic designer by night, Jane’s work is fun, inventive and full of Ghana’s gold sun.

MAWUSI is a vivid interplay of symbols, a colorful combination of braided yarn and old school prints for the versatile human. The art is wearable and flexible – a headband can transform into a belt, necklace, bracelet or pendant. MAWUSI matches Jane’s multi-dimensional personality – she is instantly affable, super funny and fairy-dust fierce. We’re even more blown away to find out that she is totally DIY – the self-taught designer and poet also photographs and models her creations.

 Check out MAWUSI’s abstract stories in motion and our interview with Jane below:

How did you start designing?

I used to wear a minimum of seven colors, a lot of layers and all of them would be different colors. You’d just see me and you would know that this girl is crazy. All these different colors just make me really happy. The jewelry thing kind of surprised me too. I didn’t know I had all this in my head. I just started doing things with yarn like “I want to do this.”

You’re sleeping and ideas keep popping in your head and you can’t sleep so you have to get out of bed. When you make them, they don’t even come out the way you intend because you’re getting new ideas and it becomes something different. It’s really exciting. I’m so shy talking about it because I’m supposed to be going to university to become a professor.

Are you self-taught?

I taught myself everything I know. I’m thinking of taking sewing classes maybe in the summer, but seriously I could just YouTube it because I have the sewing machine and it’s going to save me a lot of money.

Most of my fabric is from Ghana. I went around and bought a couple of one-yard pieces. I didn’t even know what I was going to do with them. But I didn’t want them to make me pay taxes. So I have like twelve of these plastic bags and I packed them in my suitcase. I put all my underwear on top of it. Some people are smuggling drugs, I’m smuggling fabric!

How were you introduced to yarn? Does it have a different texture and feel to it than other materials?

It was in elementary school. Back then, I used to be a little bit antisocial. Girls in school, they used to do it – that’s how they played. They’d just take the crochet hook and the yarn and during break, they start sitting around and crocheting something. That’s where I started it. Just being able to make something out of nothing – that’s how I see yarn. You can do anything with it. To me, yarn is like clay – the ideas just keep coming. It’s underrated.

The Yarn Tribal Series

How does using African prints help you to better tell the story of who you are?

In a sense, African prints have always been there. In my childhood photos, you see these prints. Your grandma has this print or your aunt has this print. There’s a story to it… It’s more than just “African” – it’s your life.

You want to start something fresh, something new. That’s what I do in my work. When I make something with African print – I’m careful because I want it to be new. I want it to something different and exciting, something made by a Ghanaian not something that’s already there.

I know where I’m coming from and I have all this Ghanaian music. When you start listening to Ghanaian music, there’s just something about it. You feel at home, it doesn’t matter where you are. You can be on a train and you start listening to Ghanaian music. It doesn’t matter – you’re home.

Moon Hat in Orange Print

Do you work via ritual or feeling?

It’s actually a feeling because I do so much. When I started, I wanted to give it a routine, like “ok today, I will write poetry” but for some reason the day you say you want to write poetry is the day you want to make a scarf. Just sitting there trying to write poetry, your whole body wants to make the scarf. So I just let it go wherever it wishes to go. If it comes, I do it. I don’t pressure myself. I let it go where it goes.

I do want my work to be seen but for me right now, it’s not important. The creating is good enough just for now.

Do you think of your designs as futuristic?

A lot of the headpieces I’m doing right now, I think they are very futuristic. You can wear it in so many ways – also as a necklace or belt [three in one deal]. Everyday I discover a new way to wear it.

Read Part Two of the interview with Jane Odartey here.

Get Abstract with JANE ODARTEY | @Mawusiii

by Sionne Neely | photos by Jane Odartey

JANE ODARTEY in the Yarn Tribal Series Necklace

This is Part Two of the interview with JANE ODARTEY, creator of MAWUSI, an eclectic collection of abstract wearable Ghanaian art. Jane is also a photographer, writer and model. Jane talks to ACCRA [dot] ALT about finding bliss thru crafting, building community far from home in Queens NY and how using Ghanaian prints proves to be solid as a rock.

For more, check out the ridiculously lovely blog – Jane Through the Seasons.

What do you miss most about Ghana?

The kenke! I almost died because of that. I’m serious. I almost died because of kenke. The people… You know how it is – it’s different. Like right now I’m looking outside…there’s nobody walking around and if you see somebody, they are probably wearing a lot of grays and blacks. It’s New York. If you say hi to people, they look at you like you have two heads. I don’t talk to my neighbor. When I see my neighbor, I pretend I don’t see my neighbor. You don’t do that in Ghana.

What’s the Ghanaian community in Queens like?

A lot of the community is based in church and if you don’t go to church, you really can’t hang out with them. Like my accent, they’re like, “why do you talk like that? You’re Ghanaian, you have to have a proper Ghanaian accent.” The fact that I’m Ghanaian doesn’t define me that way. I know I’m Ghanaian, believe me. I try to ignore a lot of them because I feel like they don’t understand me.

Do you feel estranged from other Ghanaians in your community?

No, I don’t. The reason is that I understand them. I think a lot of us have been brainwashed and it’s going to take time for us to start thinking individually. We have been taught to think a certain way. For instance, you come to Ghana and you’re watching these Ghanaian movies and everybody is trying to be westernized. Like, we have something that these people don’t have and that these people want and unfortunately we don’t know this. We’re trying to be like them.

Somehow I have been lucky to think outside the box and I have been able to see things the way I think they are, which is that we are a beautiful people and we are creative – we have our own culture and intelligence. We really don’t need people telling us that we are Black. And you don’t need to be in Europe or America to be significant. You can be significant where you are and you don’t need to copy these people. You just need to be yourself. That’s what I think we don’t know yet.

Moon Hat in Green Print

So where do you find a community of like-minded people?

I choose to not hang out with people that are doing the things that I do because they tend to talk about the same thing. It seems like it closes you in. We don’t talk about what we do, we just talk about everything. Somehow, indirectly, that makes my work stronger…it’s like by not talking about it, somehow I sit down and I’m not thinking about what other people are doing or what other people are saying about this…I shoot things that are interesting to me. I don’t like to shoot people but  textures – maybe the pavement, some window, a plant, and then I come back and I kind of blend them all together and then sometimes I add my own thing.  You’re not going to see it because it’s all blended, but I see it – I know what’s in there – and to me that’s exciting. There’s more than what you’re seeing.

Yoyo Japanese Geometric Print Puffy Hat

Do you experience any friction with your Ghanaian identity?

You have that. It’s in your heart, your head, it’s part of you. You know you have to respect your elders no matter what trash they say. You know that your community is important. You need them to grow so you give them that respect. And you move to a new place and they have a different culture – they look at things differently – but the thing is, you have an identity – you know where you’re coming from. You know your parents, you know your grandparents, you know your great grandparents – you’ve had an African print in your life all this time.

Yarn Yellow Flat Hat

Where do African designers fit in the global fashion matrix?

I’m on Etsy right now and there is something you notice. I’m small because I just started – I’m just trying to get out there. You notice that there are the big Etsy shops that everybody knows about, who get the front pages all the time and who get their shop featured. When you, the small people, you start making something and it’s spotted, they start making it too because they are bigger. People start thinking that you are copying them but it’s the other way around. So somehow, you really have to work harder to say that “I do this better. This is my design.” Actually, that makes me work harder. One thing I do now when I create is to try and make it really difficult. If you’re going to copy me, you’re just going have to sweat for it.

I think what they’re doing is cool, but I think that they are making it into something like a trend. A lot of people, unfortunately, don’t dig in to see the original styles. Everyone is doing African prints this year and maybe next year, they’ll go to China.

I think we can do it, but we will have to work hard. I hope people don’t think African print is the trend of the year and that’s it, but that they dig into it and see where it’s coming from and the people and the culture behind it. I suppose that’s a bit of what I’m trying to do. I don’t just use African print but I tell a story – it has a life of it’s own.

Read Part One of the interview with Jane Odartey here.

Get Print Fresh with Jane | @Mawusiii

TAWIAH on James Town Pier, Accra | photo by REDD Kat Pictures [Dec. 2012]

Mere days after blowing away the audience at IND!E FUSE 2012 and winning her share of new and true fans, it’s clear the Londoner will have to make Ghana an annual trip because Accra city people love her. Tawiah’s hanging out with Mantse Aryeequaye + the REDD Kat Pictures crew shooting a video for “FACes.” This is the second single off FREEdom Drop – the digital album free and downloadable for the masses on Tuesday, April 30th.

We’re jumping all around town from Makola Market to Arts Centre to Agbogbloshie to Brekuso for the shoot. In between locations, Tawiah and I gab it out in the cab, vibing over Accra’s intense December summer sun and slow-moving holiday traffic.

Compromise? What is compromising? Compromise for what? Compromise for what reason? To compromise – what is compromise? Hahahah! Stupid! You must think about that one again! [Eartha Kitt excerpt on the mixtape]

We speak a lot about love – on being a hopeless romantic steady traveling the road toward abundance. And we share a mutual love for Issa Rae’s web-addictive tomfoolery – “her raps are hilarious!” says Tawiah and Frank Ocean’s insanely classic Channel Orange.

Tawiah is, clearly, head over heels about making music. Even more so after carefully crafting FREEdom Drop [with producer Jodi Millner], her first full music offering since 2008′s EP, In Jodi’s Bedroom.

love me/love me/love me/love me…i can see a sea lion. he swims to survive. you are like my ocean. i need solid ground. so fast like i’m drowning and i won’t make a sound. if no one can hear me then i was never around/never around/never around…                             [SEAlion]

Tawiah’s voice is exquisite, seamless even. She sounds like no one – she’s all her own. Her attention to detail – to fully texturing the sound – is revealed with a simple utterance. Tawiah could sing “scooby dooby doo” and it would still sound smooth.

Where is this place I have landed? I recognize who the face is but they don’t seem to know my name. Where is this place? Am I stranded? I recognize who the face is but they don’t seem to know mine. [FACes]

The almost-30 minute sonic adventure of FREEdom Drop [also featuring a track with Muhsinah] is a mesmerizing maze of lights and shadows. A compelling soundtrack of a girl lost and a woman found.

This is Tawiah’s show and you are most welcome. You stand on the shore but get sucked in by the ebb and flow of the tide. It pulls you in feet first and before you know it you’re gulping for air. You breath in Tawiah through the speakers – this ghost in a soundsystem that divides and recombines herself together with bits of her past, present and future selves. You’re riding shotgun on a rhythmic rollercoaster on loop, up and down, back and forth, upside down now.

Far cry from the girl I used to be, growing up quite awkwardly….Starts to feel like rainclouds closing in. On my own with a million voices. Try to keep control never giving in but as my teardrop hits the ground. Let it all come pouring down. [TEARdrop]

She holds a mirror up and you see your reflection in this deep sea of revolving doors, trap closets and secret treasure rooms waiting to be discovered. It’s all full of lace and wonder, a rabbit-hole of possibility.

You bounce up after plunging the depth, peeking around beats and corners. You’re surrounded by hollowed out chants, sunny orchestras, dust cloud whispers, dark hallelujah guitars, got grown vocals, light calypso horns, colorful reverb, haunting rock riffs and upbeat offbeat claps.

This is the call and the response. It’s like fellow musician/producer Georgia Ann Muldrow so brilliantly muses, “you just have to sit on the edge of the universe and accept that you will be loved.”

*Read the full interview with TAWIAH here on making freedom music that pours down like pellets of love.

Under the sun…that’s where I’ll find you…Open your eyes… 

TAWIAH releases FREEdom Drop on April 30th | photo by REDD Kat Pictures [Dec 2012]

T: You have encounters with love everyday – with friends, family, lovers. Love is one of the most important things. . I think I’m a bit of a hopeless romantic. I love love. It’s an extremely complex thing but do we make it complex with our mortal thoughts and ways? Is love an act or is it a feeling? Surely love is ever present – it’s there before we manifested into our physical bodies. It’s always there, innit? It definitely should feel good and not judge or discriminate. But we put our own thing on what love is and what it should be.

ADA: Love like music is this peculiar communication that creates a live vibrational frequency.

T: Yeah because sound is a manipulation of air, it’s a vibration. I’ll tell you, day before yesterday I was chilling in the garden listening to Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis and the birds started going crazy. I’m not even joking – biyirbiyirbiyirbiyirbiyir! – chirping real loud and they came to the porch and they freaked me out. I stopped the music and they stopped. I was like, wow! Wow! That album was on the same frequency as nature.  It’s deep.

ADA: Does anything else capture you the way that music does?

 T: No. I absolutely love music. I can’t see being into anything else. It’s the way I live, it’s how I express myself. I don’t take music lightly, you know? It’s everything. It just grabs me – like how you can listen to something over and over again and not get tired of it. It’s a proper beautiful thing. I love going to shows and watching people’s reactions and how much they’re loving the music. Everyone’s all on the same frequency…it’s beautiful, it’s powerful.

ADA: What has your musical journey been like? It seems like you are discovering your own capacity.

T: There’s so many layers to music and it’s exciting. There’s so much to do and discover. Writing is probably the best thing I could have ever done. I wrote my first song when I was 6 or 7. I remember singing it to the music teacher and she was like “This is great!” and they made the school choir sing it. This was my first experience having loads of people sing one of my songs.

For me, writing was a way of expressing myself freely. I’ve always found confrontational conversations sort of difficult so if someone’s pissing me off, I’ll write a song about it. It’s quite funny cuz a lot of people – my friends are kind of paranoid – are like, “Shit! Was that about me?!” [laughs] I definitely write my experiences through song.

ADA: Do you have to be in a certain mood to make music? Explain to me how it comes to you.

T: Sometimes I set a mood or environment where I just play. It’s almost like a form of meditation – you switch your phone off and get the lighting right. I can sit at the piano and play for hours and get little ideas – the process is really important to me.

When you’re signed to a label it’s interesting because they just put you with a ton of different writers that you’ve never met ever in life and you’re supposed to write a completely honest song in a couple of days. You have to be a particular kind of artist for that to work for you. Where for me writing is so personal, I find that process difficult if I don’t know you. Sometimes you meet someone and you just click but that’s kind of few and far between.

Some of my favorite songs came in ten minutes. “Every Step” was 10 minutes. “Don’t Know You Yet” was about ten minutes. It’s one of the best feelings when you’re like “Oh yeah! This is meant to be.” In the studio, I don’t like doing loads of takes. I kinda meant it the first time. And I don’t mind a bit of grit. If it’s emotion and I kinda trail off a note, I’m not mad at that. It’s human. I don’t like it too glossy.

ADA: So what’s your process when writing a song? 

T: It changes from song to song. I’ll get a general concept first and then the melodies and then I flesh out the lyrics. I usually write on guitar or piano. You write different songs on different instruments. I’ve always worked with Jodi [Millner] and he really knows me. I don’t tell him what to do with production, he usually just gets it on.

I’m surrounded by amazing producers and musicians and sometimes it’s almost intimidating – because obviously my first instrument is voice and I write songs – I’ll let the guitarist play and I’ll let Jodi produce and I’ll write and I’ll sing. But more and more I’m just like on my own and I’ll play the guitar how I’ll play the guitar and I’ll produce how I produce. Embracing that’s been a really good process actually and I’ll still on the journey. Eventually, I want to do a whole self-produced project.  That’s what I’m aiming towards. Definitely the third album, I reckon just fully produced by me.

ADA: What do you think of the Ghanaian music scene – here and out there?

T:  Doing IND!E FUSE was really good for me because I got to meet some really cool artists – Lady Jay, Jojo [Abot], Paapa, FaintMedal – my dad was like, oh! He was totally shocked and loved it. There’s Sway doing his thing and he’s always supportive. We’re out here!

ADA: Does being Ghanaian affect your music or sense of identity? How does it matter to you?

T: Every time I come to Ghana for a holiday, I feel I should come out more often. I was born and raised in London but my parents are African, innit? Ghanaians have a certain ways of dealing with things and saying things and it’s just the same, it don’t change wherever they live. “Oh ho, m33ba!” Of course me coming from London, some people are like “oh but you’re not Ghanaian!” But I love Ghana and I definitely want to come out more often. It’s important to me to know where I’m from. I am a Ghanaian woman but I’m also a Londoner – I’m both.

ADA: Is there a predominant mood or texture that ties your sound together?

T: I’m influenced by a lot of different things. I’m kind of extreme in personality as well. You can meet me and I’m completely mellow and I’m chilling and you can meet me the next day and I’m hyper and I won’t stop talking and jumping up and down and you’re like, “Is this the same character I met yesterday?” It’s like when people see me super mellow and then I get onstage and they’re like “whoa!”

This is a future soul record. I’m influenced by 70’s psychedelic soul, I like music that will make you move a bit – so some kind of upbeat stuff. I’m an emotional person as well so there’s some deep shit. Some emotive shit. It’s a nice mixture, though. Hopefully it makes sense in one body of work. I want to create an album, it’s a journey you know?

Tawiah hangs out with workers in Old Fadama | photo by REDD Kat Pictures [Dec. 2012]

ADA: Tell me about the new project out tomorrow.

T: I’m super excited about the mixtape – it’s called FREEdom Drop. It’s pretty literal…when I drop it, I’m gonna feel free. Some of the songs are a couple years old – some were sitting on my laptop that I really love. So, I thought why not share them? It’s got Wanlov [FOKN BOIS], Kweku Ananse [producer], Muhsinah, a rapper from London called Desert, a couple of covers, a song and footage from a live session. I can’t wait!

Grab your free copy of FREEdom Drop right here.