An African Walks Into A Container

A scene from one of last year's plays.

About a year ago, I fell in love with the Accra Theatre Workshop. This was after I attended their first major event; An African Visits a Psychiatrist's Office - a collection of thought provoking and funny plays acted out on the most basic of stages on a lawn of a house in Tesano. I wrote about my experience here. I missed several of their events in the past year because of other engagements but there's no way I'm missing the second season of their short play festival; An African Walks into a Container. According to ATW, this year's collection of 10 minute plays features work from 8 different playwrights, 3 emerging directors and a brilliant ensemble of talented actors.

An African Walks into a Container is scheduled for November 6, 7 & 9 at 7:30pm each night for GH¢15 only at the Nubuke Foundation in East Legon.

You can check out the event page on Facebook; http://on.fb.me/1E5TQQ1

This year's poster.

Nkrumah Of Nazareth

It's my birthday today. If you know me, you know I love documentaries. So for my birthday, I've decided to do nothing but spend all day online watching as many films as possible to please myself. It's been a good day so far - with the phone calls and online wishes from family and friends.

I chanced on a short film about Osagyfo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president. A film titled; NKRUMAH OF NAZARETH by Nate Berkopec, an American who made the film as part of a school project. I think it's a well made film even though it might seem one-sided and negative. He told Osagyefo's story from an angle not often taken in Ghana. As much as I agree with the idea of telling our own stories, this film provided me with some insight that has gotten me thinking and wanting to find out more about our most loved president ever - to enable me create a more balanced view of the man and what he truly stood for.

Do watch it too and let's get talking. I'd really like to know what others(especially fellow Ghanaians) think about this film.

#BlogCamp14 - My Take-Home

It's been over a week since BlogCamp14. I'm now writing this because I've had a super busy week. Pardon me.

There are two things that stuck with me from this year's BlogCamp and both were in the Citizen Journalism class moderated by @OsabuANNY. 

One. If we want to achieve anything effective with social media, we need to take a lot of the action offline. Nii Ayertey also made a lot of noise about how we do not own social media platforms and how they easily be manipulated by the state and other people who do not agree with us on issues.

"Social media alone is not the answer; activism goes beyond that" - @nii_ayertey #BlogCamp14
— Théophile Mènsah (@ofoli_kwei) April 12, 2014

Two was by @kinnareads. She said something like; All activism shouldn't be about calling-out, naming and shaming or just generally ranting and blasting the government and other agencies for not doing their work well. She continued, sometimes all that is needed in our part of the world in activism is to effectively provide the right information for the people who need it.

After all, an informed people is what one needs to carry out an effective activist campaign offline.

And oh, Accra has a new podcast known as ACCRA NKOMO by @OsabuANNY and host, @billie_mack. The first episode which featured @nii_ayertey and @AntiRhythm focussed on Social Media & Activism. I think it's great. 

My First PhotoWalk

Some of the photos on my facebook 

Last year, I missed several photowalks organized by PhotoWalkGh; mostly because of dates clashing with other events I couldn't miss. I finally got my chance to walk and take photos with this awesome group of people but I nearly missed this one too because I didn't wake up in time(No to partying the Friday night before a photowalk.. no no no..) It was even better because this photowalk was a collaboration between @bloggingghana and @PhotoWalkGH; two organizations I admire a lot.

The location for this BlogWalk was the Airport Residential Area of Accra. The task was to take photos and add short blog posts to tell the stories better. I had so much fun; waiting patiently for the next one.

Checkout the photos from the day from me(@ofoli_kwei) and other BlogWalkers using these hashtags; #PhotoWalkGh #AirportResidential #BlogWalk #LamudiGhana

The Blitz-zard Hit Accra Again!

I was at the 2011 concert and couldn't wait for Blitz The Ambassador to come back to Accra. No one who was at the 25th January concert at Alliance Francaise can say they didn't enjoy the show; unless they do not love good music and creativity. I'm a bigger fan of the Embassy MVMT now chale.

I love that Blitz takes what he does seriously and is breaking boundaries to take his work global. I love that he recognizes other artists and encourages them to be great at what they do too. I love that he's open minded and concerned about his motherland. I love that he pays attention to the tiniest of details. I love that he makes good music and collabos with musicians from across the world. I love that when he's on stage, he performs with passion and leaves audience with an experience that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Accra Theatre Workshop Revives Indie Theatre

The Accra Theatre Workshop is the next big thing on the Ghanaian theatre scene. According to their blog, the indie theatre is a community of artists who can support each other, forming a forum where artists can receive critical and useful feedback in a supportive environment.

After spending my Saturday night in the lawn at their Tesano place, my heart was won by the brilliance exhibited on stage by the actors, the creativity of the writers/directors and the effort put in by everybody involved with the organization. This past weekend's show was supposed to be the first of many for a new season of monthly shows they've planned.

The night saw eight short plays performed back to back after a harmonious acoustic performance by Yogendra Ahimi, an unknown indie artiste himself. It is difficult to choose which play was my favorite but if I'm forced to choose, the title act(an African visits a psychiatrist's office) written by Gbontwi Anyetei did it for me. The dialogue and acting was just on point.

Another reason why I think we should all pay attention to and support the ATW is that they're a bunch of obviously hardworking young people who are not doing the usual Ghanaian thing of ''we call on government to come to our aid''. They're of the new crop of Ghanaian youth who believe the change we want to see must be caused by us. They're proper vim squad as one of my twitter pals put it in one of her blog posts.

Help Revive Accra's Rex Cinema

This post was originally going to be titled "Two Ghanaian Projects You Should Support on Kickstarter" or something more interesting around those lines. It was going to be a call to support DUST Africa's and then Akosua Adomaa Owusu's projects they have put up on kickstarter. The title had to change because I found out while writing this that the former's funding had been cancelled due to an inability to reach their goal at the end of the set target of 15 days. Rather sad if you ask me. I love what they do at DUST and even had a subscription to the free magazine. I do hope they find a way to achieve their goals soon though.

What you have to do right now is to support the move to Save The Rex. The 'why you should support Akosua Adoma's project' has been very well laid out by her on her kickstater page here. She's looking to raise $8000 revive The Rex Cinema.

But why do I think you should support her if you can? Because I was at the premiere of her film Kwaku Ananse at the Alliance Francais in Accra. Not only was the film beautiful but the event she put together was awesome. What more could one ask for when Agya Koo Nimo and his band performs at a film premiere as such? I could go on and on about how awesome the day was. I actually sat through the drizzle with my date ;) 

Simple and short, Akosua is going to do a damn good job if she meets the target.(and it's not like I even know her personally)

The other reason? Because the arts industry in Accra and Ghana needs places like Rex Cinema to function for it to go a step further. Have you ever thought of how boring Accra can get sometimes?(especially when you have to make a choice for a hangout or just an outing?) There are very few interesting things to do. With places like Rex Cinema functioning, there will be a wider variety of events to choose from and opportunities for young artists to show their work.

Lest I forget. If this revival of the Rex doesn't happen it stands the chance been sold soon and been converted into a warehouse or some other business. You wouldn't want that? Would you?

Let's cut the chase chale. Damn The Man, Save The Rex, if you can.


UPDATE!!!
OKAY! This morning, @DUSTAfrica replied my tweet.

@ofoli_kwei Nope! Not cancelled, new campaign => http://t.co/fJaG6gsmwf Please share:-)
— DUSTmagazine (@DUSTAfrica) October 18, 2013

So it looks like we could go back to the old heading now. As to why you should support DUST, it is also very well laid on their kickstarter page. Another reason is the cool behind people behind it and because like they put like to put it;
"There is no one place online where you can find reliable and current information written by the region's opinion leaders about current affairs, nor is there any place where pop culture gurus can go to find out what is bubbling in Africa's cultural pot."

Photos: Jamestown Lighthouse

During Chale Wote 2013, I took several shots of the Jamestown lighthouse.Here are a few. The Jamestown Lighthouse was built by the British at James Fort in 1871 and stands at 93 ft (28 m) tall with a visibility of 16 nautical miles (30 km). You just can't miss it if you drive through Jamestown on the Accra High Street.

Agya Koo Nimo is a Legend

The National Theatre of Ghana is 20 years old. As part of activities to celebrate, the theatre in collaboration with Roverman Productions and Openemma Productions have planned events to celebrate various legends in the arts in Ghana. Agya Koo Nimo was the first to be celebrated and his event took place this past weekend(Saturday and Sunday). I was at the Sunday event with a friend.

I don't know much about music but it was quite clear to me that what happened on Sunday night was some sort of musical magic. Agya Koo Nimo with his Adadam Agofomma played along the National Symphony Orchestra, the Ghana Police Band and the Tema Youth Choir. That's a fuse of palm-wine high-life, orchestral, regimental and choral music; which according to the host has never been done before. I was quite pleased to be there.

Since the very first time I watched Agya Koo Nimo and his Adadam Agofomma perform at the premiering of Akosua Adoma's Kweku Ananse short film, I've been in love. I've heard his music for years, but fell in love because of  his story telling skills and wisdom. He introduces every song he performs with an often serious life lesson filled and yet humorous story. I'm still struggling with my self to figure out which of his stories is my favorite; whether it is the one about the 1962 bad winter in London or about the 90 year old granddad planting a coconut farm or the one about Socrates and his quarrelsome wife. The ensemble performed ten songs as scheduled but did a few encores for the intrigued audience. Here's the list of songs performed on the night.
Akokɔ bɔn
Owusu Semamma
Naa Densua
Osammarima (Fiera mmone kɔ)
Aburokyire Abrabɔ 
Yare yɛ ya
Otuo Akyeampong
Akora Dua Kobe
Okomfo Anokye

I left the National Theatre with a greater appreciation and respect for Agya Koo Nimo, his band and the National Symphony Orchestra. Ghana needs to pay more attention to the arts chale.

Sept 21 is National Volunteer Day

The GhanaThink Foundation is instituting 21st September as National Volunteer Day. For those who do not know, 21st September is Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah's birthday and was instituted as a holiday a few years ago known as ''Founder's Day'' in Ghana. Is there a better way to celebrate the birthday of such a great African statesman than giving back to our communities?

Ato Ulzen-Appiah, chair of GhanaThink writes;

"The initiative is to get as many people as possible in Ghana to volunteer their time or do community service on the Founder’s Day Holiday. While volunteerism is not very popular and part of our society’s fabric, many individuals and organizations volunteer occasionally. National Volunteer Day is to increase these numbers and unify efforts in volunteerism in Ghana.

Different individuals and organizations have planned volunteer activities for September 21st. Utopia Wishlist is organizing a kids career fair in Omanjor near Accra. Some others are greening a school in Madina while others paint schools in East Legon, also in Accra. Some friends are gathering other friends to donate blood on NVDay while others gather to clean up a taxi rank in Ashaiman. Young people are coming together to mentor SHS students in Kumasi while others organize a reading clinic for orphanage kids in Kasoa.''

For more information on how to get involved with any activity, contact GhanaThink via email info@ghanathink.org.

#ChaleWote2013: I Was There Some

Accra [dot] Alt's Chale Wote  street art festival keeps getting better. In a few years, I see people actually camping in Jamestown waiting for day two of the festival. I learned so much from this year's festival about Jamestown. Brazil House was my biggest discovery. I know I'll learn more about Jamestown as the years go by. And oh, I met a few of the cool people I follow on twitter. :)