Art Worlds in Ghana

Just got back from Nima: Muhinmanchi Art. I could hardly be happier, I was smiling the whole day. It may have been a bit crazy and crowded (Nima kids are a handful), but the art was amazing, the murals were so so beautiful, and man, the place was packed.

I’m touched by the kindness and support we received — from David, the manager at Paloma Restaurant who drove over half the food packages when our car was too full; to Jane, a waitress who’d helped me with directions last week, and actually came to the event; to Alex Akuffo, our photographer who got married YESTerday but came anyway; to my Ghanaian family the Otoos (they all came to “dangerous” Nima, even the kids); to my professor Jesse Shipley, the only one to be at my Ghana arts events both here and at Haverford (Intersecting Zones in December); to Panji, a hip life music producer I thought might be too busy to come, but ended up staying the whole day and said he’d be behind making this program an annual event. That’s not even the half of it, I can’t begin to thank the artists, students, sponsors, community leaders, and friends who came together today. I’m so lucky to have had Larry and Musah as partners, and Kelvin as my boss. K I’ll stop, sorry for getting sentimental guys.

Now they’re talking about V.I.P. and their new single on the radio. I feel pretty proud to have had them at our event. It was Prodigal’s birthday Thursday btw, happy birthday Prodigal (one of the three members).

Will post pictures later. Mom and Dad, hope you’re ready for all the paintings I bought.

P.S. Our IndieGogo fundraising site shuts down today, but if anyone wants to donate directly…we went a lettle bit over budget. Contact me.

Oy, potential sponsors are giving us a hard time. So…your support on IndieGogo would be great. Medasi paa (thanks very much) for what we’ve already received, you guys are great. Video’s up, btw.

On the bright side, Nima’s own hip life music group V.I.P. has agreed to perform. The event itself is going to rock, now we just have to get the funds.

VIP performing at Ghana Meets Nigeria at the Conference Center last Friday...just wait til they hit their home streets of Nima

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You should come.

Haverford College calendar entry

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With Kochoko, my friend Zip, and Saskia outside the Office.

Saskia and I were leaning against the wooden fence outside the Office one Friday night. She looked over to the benches and said, “Hey, I think that’s the guy from the Mobile Boys. In Jesse’s video, you know?”

“Oh my God, we have to say hi to him!” I had read about him in African Masculinities, I had discussed him in class. And he was right here in front of me in Ghana.

“No, no,” Saskia said.

“Come on.” I slid off the fence and pulled her arm. She followed. We went up to him and said, “Hey, are you from the Mobile Boys?” He said he was, and invited us to sit down with him. His name was Kochoko. We talked with him about hip life, Jesse’s video, and life in Accra. Turns out it’s a lot harder to be a hip life artist than you’d realize. It’s hard to get a record label, hard to trust other people, and very hard to make money. Most people don’t have computers and even fewer have Internet, so it’s not like they download songs off iTunes. The albums they buy are bootlegged, and no one buys concert tickets.

Kochoko was telling us about a concert on TV the had to do the next night for free, just to promote himself and get the word out about his upcoming album. Before we knew it, he had asked us to dance with him on TV. The next night we were onstage at TV Africa. We had no idea what we were doing – I mean no idea – but the audience didn’t notice. They were excited just to see us dancing.

“Obruni, dance!” called a lady in the front row of the audience. They smiled and clapped along with us.

At the end of the show, one of the announcers said, “I don’t know what was up with those white girls or what they were doing here. Do you think they even understood the words? But that was great, can we give them a hand?”

We got together at the one TV in the hostel to watch a rerun Monday morning of our debut. That's Saskia filming...and me on the screen...