Dust v - June 2011 Edit

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dust

June 2011

FREE MAGAZINE

blitzthe ambassador



MUSCLE OTHER CARS

INTO SUBMISSION. WITH THE MIGHTY, MUSCULAR SCORPIO.

Let the competition beware

LET THE COMPETITION BEWARE

SVANI LIMITED

Ground oor, Crystal Plaza building,Community 16, Sakumono, Tema

Tel: 233-22-404063Fax: 233-21-7012128



june ‘11 S t i l l t a k e n f r o m

t h e d o c u m e n t a r y ‘ A f r i c a n R i s i n g ’ b y P

a u l a H e r e d i a

7. Editorial

8. Contributors

FREESTYLE

10. ‘You Know You’re in

Accra When...’

11. Out There

13. Playlist

14. Over Here

16. Passing Through

20. Tech: Nandi Mobile

22. Pesewa: Living in Accra

on a Shoestring23. Health: Don’t Break

Your Heart

SPORT

24. Cults & Colts

WRITE

26. Writers Project of Ghana

POLITK

31. We the People

32. Lessons from Tokyo

34. Big Men, Small Girls

36. Progressive Planning

37. Ghana’s Creative

Industries. What?Where?

FEATURES

40. Blitz the Ambassador

45. Drum ‘69

SEX & RELATIONSHIPS

52. Adventures from the

Bedrooms of African

Women

FLASH

54. Tobias Freytag

MY ICON

57. James Barnor

CALENDAR

58. Go!

COMPETITION

60. Win Tickets to

Silverbird Cinema

contentsdust



DUST MAGAZINEEditorial +233 26 888 1111

Advertising +233 26 266 6222

CoverPhotography: Jahse

Subject: Blitz the Ambassador

Editor: Kobby Graham

Thanks to...

smael Abass, Jemima Agyare, Ama Amugu, Aba Ayensu,

James Barnor, Michael Darkwa, Tobias Freytag, Ghanyobi,

Stuart Gold, Bill Bedzrah, Joojo Graham, Toke Olagbaju, Ko-

ranteng Ofosu-Amaah, Nana Kofi Acquah, Nana Oforiatta

Ayim, Jason Nicco-Annan, Nyani Quarmyne, Nana Darkoa

ekyiamah, Edward Tagoe, Eli Tetteh, Peter Van Der Wurff

Dust Magazine is a publication of Chrysalis Publications,

P.O. Box CT2838, Cantonments, Accra

Corporate enquiries: [email protected]

Editorial enquiries: [email protected]

Subscriptions: [email protected]

Printed by Pigment Company Limited.

The views expressed in this magazine are the views of the individual

contributors and not necessarily those of the publisher.

Reproduction in whole or part without written permission from the

publisher is strictly prohibited.

All rights reserved. Copyright © Dust Magazine 2011

‘DO NOT DISTURB’ Weekend Rate-$200/$230*2 Complimentary Silverbird Cinema Tickets,

Bed & Breakfast. This rate is only applicable to Ghanaian residents

(+233) 302 765 180-2 / 289 115 922 [email protected] www.african-regent-hotel.com



Hello my fellow Dusties.

Whether you’re holding a copy of DUST in your hands or looking at it on your phone or

your PC, thank-you for your support.

Here at DUST, we’re in the business of inspiring Ghana’s next generation of

changemakers. No future is successfully faced without fir st absorbing the past, a

fact demonstrated superbly by the man we have put on our fif th front cover: Blitz the

Ambassador.

On his new album, Native Sun, Blitz draws f rom musicians and sounds - past and

present - all over the continent, creating an epic soundtrack to the struggle of Africa and

her children, as well as a manifesto for her fut ure.

In a similar vein, DUST would like to doff its hat to editors & writers including Peter

Akinti (of Untold Magazi ne), Sofia Foster (Concrete), Claude Gruzinitsky (Trace),

Dominique Paravicini (Enjoy), Nkwaye Ansah (Canoe), Helen Jennings (Arise) and

Phiona Okumu of Afripopmag.com, each of whom inspire DUST in dif ferent ways as we

try to stri ke that balance between conscious and cool in every issue.

We reserve a special salute this issue though to Drum: a magazine that was the first to

do what DUST and many others try to do today. Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah shares wit h

us his reflections on DRUM in 1969, while Nana Ofori-Atta Ayim pays tribute to iconic

Ghanaian photographer, James Barnor, whose pictures helped make DRUM come alive.

We also salute Deborah Ahenkorah, the founder of the Golden Baobab Award for

African wr iting aimed at young children. Since we feat ured her in our last issue, Debbie

has gone on to win an Echoing Gr een award as one of today’s boldest visionaries in

social change. DUST is very proud to have recognized her befor e her success and we

are also very proud - as fellow young Gha naians - of her achievement.

Tributes aside, we still showcase the best culture, commentary, ar t, and analysis

that Accra has to o ffer. This includes insight into colt soccer, commentary on sexual

economics in Accra, the importance of nat ional planning, lessons from the Japanese

earthquake and an interview with innovative and award-winning software collective,

Nandimobile, who are showing what Ghana’s young can do when we put our minds to it .

We also feature some lovely visuals courtesy of international cont ributor, Tobias

Freytag, who shares his striking portraits of African artists in the Diaspora.

So what are you wai ting for? Kick back, dig in and enjoy.

Kobby Graham Editor

e d i t o r i a l

P h o t o C r e d i t : S t e v e n A d u s e i

d u s t 7







Silverbird Cinema, Accra Mall, Spintex Road

0302 823270-5

[email protected]

Twitter: www.twitter.com/SilverbirdGhana

www.silverbirdghana.com

a snapshot of fresh local

music, books & films

being consumed at Dust HQ

books

The Chicken Thief

by Fiona Leonard

film / tvmusic

Native Sun (Short Film)

(Terrence Nance/Blitz the

Ambassador)

Africa Rising (Documentary)

The Grassroots Movement to

End Female Genital Mutilation

(Paula Heredia; narrated by

Efua Dorkenoo)

Rhian Benson feat. Jonas

(Music Video)

Be (Baff Akoto)

Ties That Band (Trailer)

Leila Djansi

Circuit City (Documentary)

Life & Work in an E-waste

Landfill (Mantse Aryeequaye)

African Gypsy (album)

Wanlov the Kubolor

Dunaquest in Budapest EP

FOKN Bois

Azingele (Chuck Wild Remix)

Ruff N Smooth

You Go Kill Me

Sarkodie

Native Sun (album)

Blitz the Ambassador

Serwa Akoto

Jahwi

June - September

d u s t 1 3

AT THE MOVIES



In my years in Accra one thing I’ve noticed is

that there are no trash cans anywhere in public

spaces. As a result we haven’t developed the habit

of disposing of things properly and we end up just

dropping them on the ground. There is a lot of plastic

being used and hardly any of it is being recycled.

I wondered about this for a long time and worried

about what the country would look like in a few

years if this practice continues. I love to explore

and discover new things, places and people and this

month I’ve been keeping myself very busy getting a

little green in my wardrobe. In the process I made

an awesome discovery of how some residents of

Ghana are taking a hands on approach to curbing

the waste menace. I was on a hunt to find a new

handbag when I discovered ‘Trashy Bags’.

Trashy Bags is located on a quiet residential street

in Accra and apart from the few signs directing you

to it you would never guess at the magic going

on behind their gates. Early every morning people

arrive there with bags of of plastic waste, which

they weigh and exchange for money. The staff then

begin the cleaning process. The bags are taken to

the back where they are cleaned and disinfected

thoroughly before being sorted and sun dried. After

this, each bag is carefully and lovingly crafted by a

dedicated team. A warm and friendly atmosphere

permeates throughout the place. The staff are not

just staff but see each other as a family and are

very close and protective of one and other.

I spoke to Stuart Gold, Trashy Bags’ Managing

Director, after which I was given a full tour of theplace ending in their showroom where the completed

bags were on display. I was amused by some of

the slogans and graphics that found their way onto

the bags by virtue of having been printed on the

pure water sachets by the manufacturers of the

water companies.

So now I’ve found a cute pink purse to hook under

my arm this weekend. I recommend that if you’re

anything like me and like to show your individuality

via your wardrobe you should get yours too.

GOLDENThis Trash Is

o v e r h e r e

By Toke Olagbaju

d u s t 1 4



passinghrough

In an impressive display of genuine, cross-continental acting talent, Hollywood actress, Kimberly Elise

(Set It Off, Diary of a Mad Black Woman) and Nigerian superstar, Omotola Ekeinde were both in Ghana

to shoot alongside our very own award-winning Ama K. Abebrese in (former Dust cover star) Leila

Djansi’s latest drama, ‘Ties That Bind’. Having had a sneak preview of the script, DUST is quite excited

about this one and looks forward to seeing the finished product. Go ladies...

On Africa Day, Michael Essien brought down a star-studded list of football stars past and present

to play a match billed ‘Africa XI vs. World XI’. Sadly, the African team lost but it was a good day

for charity and a fun time was had by all.

Fabolous was the latest in a growing list of

American artists who have visited Ghana to

perform. Unlike many before him though, Loso put

on a good show and did that very rare thing: gave

Ghanaian fans good value for money. All stars

planning on coming down, please take note.

Kimberly Elise & Omotola

hley

ole

Kalusha

Bwalya

Florent

Malouda

Emmanuel

Adebayor

Salomon

KalouDidier

Drogba

Nigel

De JongYakubu

Aiyegbeni

Freddie

Ljunberg

Nwankwo

Kanu

Daniel

Amochach

Fabolous

California-based fashion designer and

Hollywood fashion favourite, Rachel Roy

touched down as part her work with OrphanAid

Ghana, sponsoring the education of 21 orphans

and vulnerable children.

Rachel Roy





him towards a career in construction: “I was so far away from

computers by the time I got to university. My roommate was

studying Computer Engineering though. He opened my eyes to

web programming. I read manuals upon manuals and within two

years, I had such a rich understanding it. I found myself doing a

lot of web design work on the side. I realized it was something

I always wanted to do. When you have something inherently

pushing you, you just move in that direction.”

Anne was not as sure as Michael. Her mother was a nurse

and her parents wanted her to study medicine. She eventually

found herself drawn first to Mathematics and then to Computer

Engineering: “I realized I didn’t like reading and memorizing

things I’d read. I rather liked thinking logically about things, so I

wanted to do something that would allow me to think logically.”

Edward wanted to study medicine too but could not qualify.

After studying psychology, he discovered a serious interest

in entrepeneurship: “I set up a small business selling phone

credit. It got bigger and I eventually sold it to a friend. I had to

do National Service so I worked with a financial institution and

after a year, I said goodbye. I heard of the Meltwater course

around then and applied. The course was entepreneurship and

IT. I didn’t care about software side. I would have joined even if

it was ‘Entrepeneurship and Fashion’.”

The three met while studying at the Meltwater Entrepeneurial

School of Technology (MEST) in East Legon. Established in

2007, the Meltwater idea is a simple one: train students in

entepreneurship and IT. After two years, students are given the

chance to form teams and develop a complete business proposal.

If successful, they join the Meltwater Incubator where they

regularly answer to a Board of Directors (including Meltwater

CEO Jorn Lysegge and other alumni) and are given seed money

to help launch their idea and help th em reach a point where they

make revenue or attract investment. The trio says the Meltwater

model has helped them to evade many of the challenges faced

by startups, their biggest problem being the tardiness of third

parties partners at times affecting their timelines.

The Best Business Award they received from Launchpad was

in honour of the trio’s very first product. GripeLine connects

companies to customers, enabling them to interact more

effectively with the people they provide products and services to.

It can be used to track and respond to complaints and enquiries,

as well as to register people or answer questions before or

during events. Nandi Mobile has already scored a major client

in the form of Tigo, who are already piloting it with their Tigo

Cash service. It has also been used for participant support at

events like Barcamp Ghana and TEDx, and the trio have plans

to push it not just in Ghana, but to West Africa and beyond. Not

resting on their laurels, they are also already working on their

next product: “If [Gripeline] is customer service oriented, our

new product will give companies control of what information

they send to the end customer. It will crea te and measure buzz.”

Michael feels that “there is positive change happening as far

as software and technology is concerned. People are starting

to get it. Maybe it’s stories of the likes of Bill Gates around, but

even older people see the potential, so ideas like ours are given a

listening ear. One thing that keeps us positive is that people are

expecting some change. There’s a certain drive. Google coming

to Africa and trying to create a new way of doing things... It’s

creating a buzz and helps us as developers. We are lucky in that

our timing is perfect. If we succeed, we will be part of a first wave.”

Edward concurs: “It’s time. With so many people starting blogs,

movements like TED... It’s a movement. Ghana is catching up

with countries like Kenya, Uganda and South Africa.” However,

he points out that there is still some way to go: “Kenyans are

taught software development at Senior High School. The same

cannot be said for Ghana.”

Michael adds, “We have potential . I am basing this on people I’ve

met and the things they are doing. We need to have a lot more

collaboration though. People keep good ideas to themselves and

end up with shoddy execution. Ghana would have been on the

map by now if people collaborated. We have a lot of creativity

in this country. We need to move away from this “I want to be

the one in the limelight” idea.”

“If there’s something you see yourself doing well over and over

again… don’t throw it away and go for anything else because

chances are that a full circle will happen and you will wish you

invested more time in it. Find what you can do with it. Give

yourself the best education in it.”

Anne expresses concern about how the education system in

Ghana rarely nurtures talent and advises anyone following in

their footsteps to follow their heart: “It’s not all about what you

learn in school. Get to know what you love doing and develop it.”

Inspired by women who are able to achieve that rare balance

between finance and family, she also stresses the need for

people to realize that life should be about more tha n just money:

“Balance your life: you are more than just a financial person.”

t e c h

There are many things people think of when they think about Accra. Alas, “hub of

technological creativity and innovation” is rarely one of them. That may soon change

though with several young sparks laying the foundations for a digital revolution. Earlier

this year, three such individuals stepped out of the shadows to beat 100 Silicon Valley

start-ups and win the “Best Business” Award at the LAUNCH Conference (a platform

for new start-ups to showcase their products and services to potential early adopters)

in San Francisco. Not one of three was above the age of 27.

Edward Tagoe (Business Development), Anne Amuzu (Technical) and Michael Darkwa

(Product Development) are Nandi Mobile. They derived their company name from the

Bemba (Zambian) word “umunandi”, which means “my friend”: “Whatever we create

is designed to extend the friendship between one party and another. That is why our

motto is “empowering connections”. We don’t just teach it. It is something we practice,”

Edward tells DUST.

He adds that while tech giants like Steve Jobs and Marc Zuckerberg “have his attention”,

he is not inspired by any particular personality. It is a sentiment shared by his colleagues.

Rather, they draw inspiration from each other. As Michael puts it, “I like how they

approach and confront their challenges and push me out of my comfort zone. It can be

scary at first but in hindsight, I see where I would have been if I had stayed in the zone.”

Michael believes in things coming full circle. He enjoyed drawing in primary school and

wanted to study visual arts at secondary level. Like many creatives however, he was

advised by his parents to study science. He ended up studying technical subjects. It lead

nandimobile

d u s t 2 0



h e a l t h

Don’t Break Your Heart

living in Accra on a shoestring

p e s e w a

d u s t 2 3

d u s t 2 2



Words by Mantse Aryeequaye.

Photography by Mantse Aryeequaye & Ismael Abass

cults&colts

Colt soccer matches are

where to go when you

are looking for talent and

individuals with real dreams

and tenacity.

“

“

s p o r t

I’m not what you would call a football fan. I don’t enjoy big club football,

with its over-hyped workforces. There’s always a‘Jason and the Argonauts’

feel to the enterprise. So I won’t be making any sweeping statementsabout the game here, unless in reference to one game that I have left

my house to see.

Colt soccer matches are where to go when you are looking for talent andindividuals with real dreams and tenacity.

Most of these guys may never play professionally because of how football

is structured in Ghana... how everything is structured in Ghana. Everythingis wired through patronage on so many levels: sexual and romantic

relations, access to material resources, education and even the games

we play. You almost always have to ‘know’ someone to be able to accessthings that don’t even matter. Like paying money at a police check point

just because... or paying to be assured of a place on the national team,

even if it means warming the benches.

Mainstream soccer (what I call ‘cult’ soccer) reveals an unshakeable belief

in lining the pockets of those in power at the expense of the lot who make

the enterprise thrive: the players and fans.

Colt teams on the other hand have a good many players whose careers are in transition or whose

quality is debatable. I find these matters fun to think about. Here on this not-so-grassy mini-pitch, youmay hear a cuss words that will remind you where you are in case you forgot. The conversations

amongst onlookers are certainly not about a team’s bankruptcy woes or some useless managerial

uncertainty. Money troubles are constant in these places too, but colt soccer in Latebiokorshi is differentin interesting ways.

One doesn’t have to be a football fan to understand the difference between the colt soccer fan base

and that of the major leagues. Colt teams like Monday Stars have somewhat middle-class support,which must be confusing for them. These guys idolize European players to a fault. The word ‘local’

has some demeaning slant to it. It means forever orbiting nowhere land: a circuit that doesn’t lead

anywhere profitable.

These guys aspire to be anything but local. This says a lot about their confidence in a domestic league

perceived to be plagued by corrupt behavior. The only way these young men will ever play in major

games will be through some sort of recommendation, which only comes after said player agrees tobe “managed” by a patron.

The energy on the pitch is always high: it’s like giving everyone in Accra rabies and amphetamines,

then dropping them into a borehole. One can only come away with a glorious respect for the athleticismof these guys. They play for the pure love and respect and entertainment too. If for nothing at all, they

get to be ghetto superstars and some ghetto Gbemi while they are at it.

d u s t 2 4



We are our literature and WPG brings together

writers and readers, engendering dialogue and interestin the nuances of our artistic landscape. This issue, we

present a poem by the young Nana Korantemaa.

Let her fill your imagination as she speaks from where

she sits.

d u s t 2 6



T ig o is leadin g the wa y in Innovation.

volunteers /2011

Tigo Ghana has been at the forefront of innovation.

_02

Continues in pa ge 05

Tigo Ghana has been at the forefront of

driving innovative solutions to subscribers

in Ghana. Products such as Talk for Free,

Tigo Number 1, Smartalk and Xtreme Value

have built a value-for-money image for the

Tigo brand and have over the years helped

demonstrate to both subscribers and

competition that the company is focused oncontinually delivering solution based

innovative products and services that meet

the expectations of subscribers.

Tigo Facebook phone.

It is in pursuit of this strategy that the

company introduced the Tigo Face book

phone which was the first of its kind in

Ghana. e Tigo facebook phone is a mobile

handset with a dedicated facebook button

for easy and immediate access to facebook,

a QWERTY keypad for easy, faster text

communication. Based on subscriber

feedback for enhanced features, Tigo has

gone a step further to introduce the new

and improved facebook phone.

e new facebook handset has a couple of

fascinating features which are an

improvement on the old facebook phones.

e phone comes with camera, QWERTY

keypad, Email access, Fm radio, Memory

Card slot, Java, Big 2inch screen, 64 MidiRingtone/ MP3, 2Ghc airtime and 1GB of

data for 30days. is innovative handset will

be retailing for only Ghc49.99

throughout the country.

Tigo Ads.

Tigo Ads, another first from Tigo, is a mobile

permission based marketing tool which

informs subscribers of promos and oerings

from their favorite brands. is innovative

form of interactive advertising will take the

form of SMS interactive messaging and is

delivered to subscribers free of charge. To

join the service, subscribers must text the

key word ADS to 9000.

For companies, we say whatever your targetaudience, whatever your product, Tigo Ads

can help! Consumers are 100% profiled and

100% opted in. Only people, who want to

receive your messages, get your messages.

To celebrate the launch of this great new

service, Tigo is oering companies the

chance to “Buy one, Get one free” in the

months of July and August to try this

fantastic medium of advertising your

products and services. To find out more

about this service, call our sales

representative on 0274808080.

Tigo Ads is powered by Optism. From

Industry leader Alcatel-Lucent.In keeping

with this trend, Tigo has introduced a series

of other innovative and solution based

services such as the Tigo Voice SMS,

facebook chat and the Tigo Sports fylla

service.

Tigo Voice SMS service.

e Tigo voice SMS service will allowsubscribers to send voice messages to

friends and family on any network in Ghana.

To record a message, simply dial * and the

recipients number and follow the prompts.

To retrieve a message Tigo users can dial *0*

to retrieve new messages and *1* to retrieve

old messages. Subscribers can retrieve

messages by dialing 0277500213 and

0277500214 .

is leadin g the wa y in Innovation.Continued from page 02.

Tigo Facebook Chat Service.

e rapid growth of the social media

landscape has created a craving for

innovative tools to satisfy the urgent need

to constantly stay connected to the social

webscape. It’s on this premise that the

facebook chat service has been launched.

e facebook chat service will allow Tigo

subscribers the opportunity to chat with

friends and loved ones without having to

log onto the internet.

To subscribe to the service, send your

facebook USERNAME followed by space to

the shortcode 6500. You will then receive a

list of you contacts who are online. To chat

with one person in the list, prefix the

message with the person’s first, middle or

last name so for example To chat with Ama

send ‘Ama’ followed by the message to 6500.

To reply a message, prefix your message

with or without the name of the person.

To chat with two or more persons in the list,

prefix all messages with the person’s first,

middle or last name. e.g. to chat Kwame and

Ama, send ‘Ama’ followed by your message

to 6500 and send ‘Kwame’ followed by

message to 6500.

Tigo Sports Fylla

SPORTS FYLLA is an SMS social network

intended for all sports enthusiasts in Ghana.

e service has been put together to make it

possible for sports fans to share among

themselves matters arising in SPORTS and

the particular clubs that they support. A

sports fan can share with the entire

community share their opinions on issues

about their club, happenings in the

football world or even make mockery (as

fans sometimes do) of other clubs or

football p ersonalities.

e idea is to bring all who share the same

sentiments, or sympathizers or followers of

the various sports clubs (especially football

clubs) together as one community on an

Instant Messaging Network (via SMS).

With SPORTS FYLLA, dissemination of

sports info is made very easy and cheap.

To register for this service send FA (football

association) and UID (userID) to 6070. To

join a particular club community on the

service, users will have to send the

keyword assigned to the club/community

to 6070. (E.g. to join the Arsenal

community, subscribers shall send ASL

(and then nickname/userID) to 6070).

After becoming a member of the SPORTS

FYLLA network or member of a particular

sports community, the subscriber can

send FYLLAs or receive FYLLAs from other

subscribers.

To send a message to the entire SPORTS

FYLLA community, a subscriber shall

prefix his/her message with the FA and

send to 6070.

To send a message to a particular club

community, a subscriber shall prefix

his/her message with the keyword

assigned to the club (E.g. CFC, MUFC, BFC,

LFC, AC, etc) and send to 6070

advertisement



we the people

dust magazine | june 2011

Supporting Communitiesand Im proving Lives.

_Tigo volunteers at hospital.

n keeping with the promise to support

ommunities and improve lives of

ommunities in which it operates, Tigo

hana celebrated this year’s mother’s day

with patients, mothers and workers of the

ediatrics and Burns Unit of the Komfo

Anokye Teaching Hospital.

apping Into mother’s day celebrations,

igo treated workers of the unit to a

uet lunch and rewarded employees

who have excelled in the performance of

uties.

igo’s mother’s day treat also took thepportunity to foot the bills of some

atients at both the Burns and Pediatrics

wards

e Tigo Ghana CSR train together with

the Peace and love hospital, Kumasi on

the 13th of May stopped over at the Head

oce of the mobile operators to conduct

a breast cancer awareness campaign to

help demystify some myths about the

disease.

Ladies were encouraged to conduct

regular screening to enhance early

detection of the disease. e Health and

wellbeing train on the 25th of May, 2011

joined the Peace and love hospital team,

the Asantehene, the ‘Susan G. Komen

Race for Cure’ campaign and otherstakeholders to embark on a health walk

to raise awareness about the disease and

raise funds for further research into the

disease.

In the not too distant past, the Tigo

health and wellbeing team took

advantage of the recent Independence

Day holiday to provide free health

screening for over 2,000 head porters

usually known as ‘Kayayei’. With the help

of MedEx Insurance and some medical

practitioners the beneficiaries were

screened for general health related issues.

advertisement



On March 11 earlier this year, the world woke up to shocking images of a Japan

devastated by the 9.0 magnitude Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Over the

following days and weeks, Accra’s heart went out to Tokyo as we watched and

admired the resilience of the Japanese people as they tried to reassemble the

literally broken pieces of their lives.

The word ‘Tsunami’ is actually a Japanese one. The Asian country is hit by

hundreds of earthquakes and thousands of tremors every year, recorded from

as far back as the 15th century. Most are too small to be detected while others -

like Tohoku this year, Kobe in 1995 and Kanto in 1923 - will never be forgotten.

Knowing this, Japan has an advanced system in place to lessen its potential

destruction at the hands of natural disasters. It goes beyond computers and

satellites monitoring seismic tremors. As Ghanaians know, earthquakes do

not send text messages ahead of their arrival. Buildings are made of particular

materials, in particular places and in particular ways, and the people are

taught – like cub scouts - to be prepared. Even then, Japan could not predict and

prepare for Tohoku. That said, fewer lives were probably lost than might have

been without preparation.

Unlike Japan, Ghana actually knows when its seasonal natural disasters are

coming. We don’t need an advanced prediction system: the rainy season is an

old friend. Yet, year in and year out, we needlessly lose our lives and property to

rainfall, everywhere from right here in Accra all the way up to the North.

In one of his last shows on radio, you could hear the anger in veteran journalist

Kwaku Sakyi-Addo’s voice as he explained how his first-ever Frontpage show

was on flooding and ten years later, it was still an issue. The Accra authorities

told him that they know what needs to be done, but they are hampered by a lack

of political will to do it: move people (rich enough to pay bribes or poor enough

to not have alternatives) from the waterways that they have built upon and

blocked.

The best kind of politician is not the one who gives the people what they want.

It is the one who is savvy enough to know, do and say whatever it takes to give

them what they need.

Dust prays that Ghana’s politicians fall into the latter category.

KG

BEING PREPARED

Lessons from Tokyo p o l i t i k

d u s t 3 2



When the news broke that IMF president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had been acccused

of raping a hotel maid, it sounded like something out of a sleazy made-for-TV movie.

Things took a more sordid turn once it emerged that the maid in question was West

African. Rumour even had it she was Ghanaian... before some smart journalist realized

the difference between Ghana and Guinea.

Anyway.

There is something deeply distasteful about the notion of the head of an organisation

that many feel helps keep the developing world in a developing state taking advantage

of a citizen of a developing country. In fact, the image conjures up other images. Of

power taking advantage of powerlessness. Of the rape of Africa.

big mensmall girls

That said, the ‘Big Man, Small Girl’ thing is not so shocking here. In the past

few months, there has been more than one story of pastors, for example, being

accused of abusing female members of their flock. One suspects that this sort of

thing happens here more regularly than one might think. Barely below the surface

of regular life. In the same way that most of Ghana’s sexual shenanigans occur

just below the surface. There is so much that Ghanaians publicly disapprove of

but privately revel in.

I know too many girls with stories of unwanted attention, from anyone from the

man on street to the family friend who developed less than family-like thoughts

for them. If I had a Cedi for every female friend I have with such a story, I would

be one of Ghana’s wealthiest men.

Men often say it is women who have changed. “Poor man in wife o, be r ich man in

girl o / As you no get money, them go carry baby go” is the way one song puts it.

Some men believe Ghana is already an equal society and feel that girls have just

grown lazier over time, and more demanding of their money. Of course, it’s not as

simple as that. Usually money is given exchanged for sex or the promise of sex.

Men have financial power while women wield another form of power within this

sexual economy.

Everyone struggles to send their little girls to school but where men have problems

taking orders from women at work or won’t vote for a female presidential candidate

on principle, how many of these girls do we really expect to grow to be completely

financially independent? Educated or not, our girls are groomed to rely on men.

In fact, they are insulted – not admired - by both men and women if they become

too independent.

This is in itself bad enough. The fact that these relations can turn violent is worse.

Rape is more common than we think. Not every case of rape is reported, especially

by those who do not think of the rape of a wife by her husband as rape. While they

may not go as far as describing it as an act of love, they may still say it is about rights.

Everyone has the right to say no though.

Especially a hotel maid.

KG d u s t 3 4



Ghana’s

CREATIVEIndustrywhat? where?

We have in Ghana many a rtists and creatives who

wonderfully express their emotions and feelings through

a range of cultural mediums. A creative economy of ideas,

images, symbols, design and cultural expression is formed

through the production, consumption and exchange of these

expressive outputs.

Why then does Ghana not take the creative and c ultural

arts seriously? Simply put, because most of us see it as

unproductive activity: we don’t believe it generates revenue.

‘Creative industry’ refers to the management of creativity

and innovation; from the generation of original ideas, to

their realisation and consumption. In Ghana, this includes

advertising, architecture, crafts, design, designer fashion,

visual arts, music, performing arts, publishing, software,

TV and radio.

Regrettably, much of what is produced in Ghana lacks

originality. Besides that, too often, ideas don’t make it pastgeneration to full realisation (much less consumption),

especially when profit-making is the raison d’être of industry.

Now, there are real reasons for this. (Real ) creativity emerges

from a depth of diversity of experience, perception or

sensation; not easy to acquire in Ghana. There isn’t enough

public support for art and culture; there are no art and design

schools, decent museums nor well-resourced theatre or

dance companies.

Creativity is sparked by challenges to the status quo, but

too many of us are afraid to embrace difference. Moreover,

most Ghanaians - still struggling to meet their basic material

needs - don’t have the luxury of satisfying their more complex

emotional and psychological needs satisfied by culture and

creativity. Money goes towards the basics, not towards the

consumption of art.

All is not lost though.

The increasing number of Ghanaians using the internet

(including 1 million+ Fac ebook users) is a tribute to our desire

to not only interact with the world, but to express ourselves

creatively. Access to books, film, music and images are

cheaper than ever, stimulating our demand and capacity to

enjoy creative offerings.

We don’t have to reinvent the wheel to solve the problem:

there are already business models for each creative industry

that we can appropriate to commercialise our creative ideas.

We should embrace the growing demand for (and - as such -

the commercial value in) non-traditional art forms, like digitalphotography and comic strips. New distribution channels –like

YouTube, Bandcamp, & Topspin– join a diversity of outlets

through which our products can be exhibited to potential

consumers. Such digital distribution is cheaper than its

traditional equivalents and the organisations and individuals

who adapt to them quickest will reap the rewards.

Building business to make profit from creative

expression has its own challenges. I’ve only

touched on the very tip of the anthill. Yet, it

seems to me that if we think about it creatively,

we can begin the process.

This is what I think… for now.

By Aba Ayensu

Picture this: You’re about to embark upon a long

journey. You only have a vague idea of where you

want to go. In fact, you’re not too sure of what

mode of transport you should use so you try out a

number of different ones, in a trial and error fashion,

as you think it’ll take you closer to where you want

to go. Despite the fact you’re rather unsure about

your destination, you spend an inordinate amount

of money and energy trying to find this vague

place. To worsen the situation you are all the while

travelling whilst blindfolded. What’s the likelihood

you’ll reach your destination? The whole scenarioseems rather absurd, right? However, this sad state

of affairs is the situation Ghana is heading towards

if it continues to neglect the need for a long term

development plan.

Our Constitution under the Directive Principles

of State Policy requires that the government

develops a long term national development plan.

However, presently our country has no long term

development plan and this is a fatal flaw. The

National Development Planning Commission

(NDPC) is mandated by the Constitution to engineer

Ghana’s development strategy but, unfortunately

this institution with so much potential, has been

rendered a toothless dog. It has fallen victim to petty

puerile party politics and this is detrimental to the

country’s general progress. It is embarrassingly

under-resourced, which further exacerbates its

impotency. NDPC should be freed from polΩitical

suppression and sufficiently resourced so that it

can carry out its mandated duties.

The national development of the country should

transcend social and political boundaries therefore

citizens and political parties of all persuasions

should play an active role in its development.

Without the ownership of all sections of society,

any development plan is bound to fail. It is for this

reason that the development of Ghana’s long term

national development strategy necessarily needs

to be inclusive and participatory. The citizens of

Ghana must have the opportunity to participate

in decision making processes on all matters

concerning the development of the country. Citizens

should be actively involved in the determination

of development priorities to which our resources

are used.

The absence of a long term development plan gives

room to ad hoc and speculative spending which will

not help in the development of our country. There is

abundant evidence that most resource rich countries

have failed to turn their wealth into lasting benefits

for their citizens because they did not have long-

term development plans and this should not be

repeated in Ghana.

All government spending should be done in

adherence to a long term development plan,which not only states the long term vision for the

country’s development but also practical, time-

bound, measureable targets in order to achieve

this vision. This is important because any spending

we do has different implications for the economy.

For example, research shows that investment in

agriculture has faster redistributive effect than

investment in industrialization. On the other hand,

investment in industrialization has a faster growth

effect than agriculture. Therefore it is only a national

development plan which can define our priorities

and what interventions must be made to achieve

the objectives of our development plan.

Having the development plan is only one of

the pre-requisites to achieving economic and

social development. The critical ingredient is its

implementation. It’s a sad fact that our ministries

are full of beautifully crafted, elaborate and detailed

policy documents that are poorly implemented (if at

all) and are simply gathering dust. Implementation is

the key and all the rhetoric/ good intentions should be

turned into concrete action. Only then can Ghana’s

development goals be fully realised.

Now picture this: You’re about to embark upon a

long journey. You know the exact location of your

destination and you’re fully equipped for the journey

with maps, satellite navigation etc. to ensure that

you arrive there according to schedule. You are

fully aware of the best mode of transport to use,

the duration of the journey and its cost, therefore

there’s a very high probability that you’ll get there.

Isn’t this a much better way to reach your ultimate

destination?

progressiveplanning

d u s t 3 7

d u s t 3 6





blitzthe ambassador

Blitz is an artist at the crossing of several paths. America and Africa. Past and present. Hip-hop and

highlife. He is not confused about where to turn though. He stands instead as a messenger between

worlds, as fluent in one reality as he is in the other. The kid once called Bazaar on the streets of Accra has

grown to become its ambassador. In his own words: “You have to be good at home first before becoming

good elsewhere.”

Samuel Bazawule discovered Rakim and Public Enemy while he was a student at Achimota. He was

soon reciting their lines over beats banged out on school tables, and tasted early success recording with

the likes of Deeba, Hammer & Obrafuor in hiplife’s early days. Along with Cy Lover and M3nsa (who he

recalls was messing with pidgin even back then), Blitz was known for rhyming in English. In fact, ‘Native

Sun’ is the first album on which Blitz rhymes in Twi:

“If I rap in Twi, I have to make sure my Twi accent is on point. The same goes for pidgin. I would expect

someone coming to Ghana to try to speak Twi authentically. If you speak Americanized Twi, it’s a problem.”

To Blitz, those same principles of authenticity apply to the music he wished to make. Not hiplife: hip-hop:

“[It] started in the Bronx. Others have influenced it but it started there. If it’s something I’m going to learn

to do, I’m going to learn to do it to that standard. It’s the same as guys who play for Asante Kotoko andHearts of Oak, and go on to play for AC Milan and Chelsea. Playing football barefoot? That’s authentic, but

you are going to have to learn to play the game by international standards. There were limits to reaching

a global audience from Ghana. We’re nominated for BET awards now but nothing like that existed at the

time. If I was going to compete, I had t o be where it was.”

“Our culture in Ghana is no better or worse than anywhere else, but it doesn’t promote the artist. The

[hiplifers] making money back in the day were those who had resources to travel to perform. Sales from

tapes were not enough to allow you to live the life of a n artist. However you can make a living doing music

out here [in the US]. There are stages, venues, festivals... things that make culture appealing. It’s not that

we lack the know-how. We don’t have the money. My success in America makes it easier for anyone

else in Africa to get shine though, to get known. When Samini played New York for the f irst time, I was

his musical director and put his band together. Everyone has a part to play.”

When Blitz first arrived in America, things were not so easy: “It’s human to try to f it in. But after a while,

you realize a piece of you is unfulfilled. You are not what you are supposed to be: a blend between where

you’re from and where you’re at. It hits everyone at some point. It happened with Fela. It happened with

Nkrumah.”

By the time he released his first full a lbum, ‘Soul Rebel’ in 2005 , Blitz was influenced by conscious MCs

like Talib Kweli and Dead Prez. Yet consciousness was not enough to represent who he was. Everything

changed with his work on the score of a documentary about a sassy American teenager’s journey to

Ghana to reunite with her father, a chief: “It was a huge learning curve. The producers [of ‘Bronx Princess’]

were looking for both hip-hop and afrobeat. I ended up making 20 tracks. It was the first time I had to

do anything like that.” On 2009’s ‘Stereotype’, he began recording with a band he called ‘The Embassy’,

replacing slick studio production with a more raw, live sound. The evolution went down well with critics

and fans, and the album managed to top the international iTunes chart.

Blitz describes his new album – ‘Native Sun’- as the combination of the ambition he showed on ‘Stereotype’

and the African sound that he rediscovered while doing the score for Bronx Princes. On ‘Native Sun’,

Blitz rhymes about displacement, consciousness, freedom, celebration and repatriation over horns and

electric guitars straight out of 1970s Africa, complete with drums inspired by the funk that hip-hop used

to sample so heavily in t he 80s and 90s. Throw in older African instruments like the kora and djembe,

d u s t 4 0



You have to be good at home

first before becoming good

elsewhere... I moved when our

industry was just beginning.

There is no real need to move

today... Like Chuck D says on the

record “It ain’t where you’re from.

Its where you’re at“

‘‘

‘ ‘

like geography and look at

what brings us together. We have to work together

to build this new Africa movement that we are so desperate to see.”

To help promote the album, he returned to Ghana late last year to shoot a short film: “Seeing is believing.

Native Sun needed to be seen. I’m extremely proud of what we were able to do. There can never be enough

positive images coming out of Africa. Often, people with important messages forget about talent and quality.People may listen to you, but there is nothing else to draw them in. That’s why we went hard with making the

film. We needed another outlet. When it starts doing the international film festival circuit, we hope people

get the good vibe and universal message being pushed in both the music and t he film.”

Returning home to shoot the short gave Blitz the chance to reconnect with his hiplife roots: ”Yaa Pono is

brilliant. Sarkodie too: I’ve been hearing about him in t he Diaspora. Of course, Wanlov: he’s been doing his

thing uniquely (and dope) for a long time. I like the Skillions crew too. The beautiful thing is the diversity.

Everyone grows. Who knows what this may grow into.”

He also paid tribute to one of his heroes: “Some people are so insecure about threats to their legendary status

that they don’t want to give people shine. I salute and will always shoutout Reggie [Rockstone] because

and you have an epic album that effortlessly

traverses time and space: here and there, back

then and right now. It’s a sound he rightly feels

proud of:

“Listen to the record. Not all the songs apply

to everybody, but even if you don’t like the

sound or the experimentation, you can hear the

authenticity. From a musical standpoint, I hope

[it] takes us to a point where we can have a pride

in the aesthetics of who we are and where we’re

from. There is nothing wrong with borrowing but

at the end of the day you have to know where

you are coming from.”

On a continent that sometimes looks distrustfully

at its children in the Diaspora, Blitz hopes to help

connect the dots: “Our Diaspora is huge and it ’s

played an important role in Africa’s growth and

development. Look at one of our most revered

sons: Kwame Nkrumah. Without him linking

with the ideas of George Padmore, WEB DuBois,

Clarke... there would not be a free Ghana today. It

takes ideologies coming together to move. This

isn’t new. We are reliving Nkrumah’s time. We

need to stop looking at things that separate us



ever since I’ve known him, he has always given up and coming artists their shine.”

With plans to bring his band to Accra for a special concert at Alliance Française this October (alongside

fellow Embassy MVMT artists, Les Nubians) Blitz has his eyes set firmly on home: “My real impact won’t

begin until I return and settle, and people see what I have achieved. It’s not about returning home with a

superiority complex. People from the Diaspora must humble themselves and recognize the people w ho

stayed behind to struggle and build. You can’t just say you hate Ghana traffic. It’s Ghana traffic: you’re not

in Ohio or London anymore.”

“I have a three-year plan to come home. I moved when our industry was just beginning. There is no real

need to move today. There was no internet back then. Now there is. It is not about travelling anymore.

Like Chuck D [of Public Enemy] says on the record “it ain’t you’re from. It’s where you’re at.” It is about

heart and soul and what you are about, wherever you are in the world. That’s why I salute DUST.” KG

We’ve seen our fair share of rappers veering into film to complement the

release of their albums, with everyone from Kanye West to Rick Ross

releasing rap blockbusters on the Internet. Whether its shameless self-

promotion or just plain extravagance, hip-hop on film only matters if its

core - its plot and its characters - are rock solid, original and believable.

It is for this very reason that Native Sun deserves gratification: it’s just

as authentic as the album.

Blitz and Terrence Nance’s short film tells the story of Mumin (Edward

Dankwa), a young boy from a small village in Tamale who is in search of

his long lost father after his mother’s untimely death. With only a picture

of his father as his guide, he departs for Accra, where he encounters

unlikely characters and situations beyond his imagination.

As an artistic and creative output, Native Sun’s uniquely Ghanaian

tale serves its purpose almost effortlessly. The capital’s vivid sights

and sounds are an awesome backdrop, as well as cuts from the LP

serving as a soundtrack. The film cleverly weaves cultural themes into

pleasant visuals; the funeral procession of Mumin’s mother seems moretriumphant than heartbreaking, reminding us of beliefs of the afterlife.

The film’s narration in pidgin by Blitz himself also comes off as clever

and witty without overshadowing the detail of the story.

The overall impression of this short film is that of an exclusive, if not

pioneering, visual that reignites the passion of storytelling and redefines

the way Ghanaian movies are made; with a truthful and beautiful portrait

of the country’s image. Just like his album, Native Sun is an immense

achievement for such a talented artist and an undeniable inspiration

for his peers.

By Jason Nico-Annan

FILM REVIEW : NATIVE SUN Directors : TERRENCE NANCE & BLITZ THE AMBASSADOR

Starring : Edward Dankwa, Helena Yeboah, Marcus

Quarshie, Blitz the Ambassador

3 out of 5

magazineAs part of DUST magazine’s tribute to our seminal forebear, Drum, we feature here

an adaptation of Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah’s brilliant blog post on his collection of

Drum magazines from 1969. Besides being a striking snapshot of Ghana at the

time, it also offers us all a chance to reflect on what has changed in our country

and – even more significantly – what has remained almost exactly the same.

I spent some time scanning images from a year’s worth of issues of the Ghana

edition of Drum magazine.

Truth be told, losing myself in the pages was a bit of escapism. I wanted a

glimpse of my parents’ world, of their aspirations and of the culture from which

I emerged. Those pages were a good source of any manner of cultural artefacts

and goings-on in the country. Call it nostalgia, call it social anthropology, call it a

poor man’s history, or perhaps I was simply fascinated by the advertisements.

So. Drum Magazine. Ghana. 1969. Here goes.

1969 was an election year in Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah’s one-party regime had

been overthrown and civilian rule loomed. But that was by the by - the magazine

was typically focused on lighter issues. By way of background, Drum m agazine is

most known from its South African roots but it also had Ghanaian and Nigerian

editions from the late sixties until the eighties. The equivalents would be Ebony,

Jet or say Essence (alternatively think of Hello and Paris Match) ergo, none too

weighty society papers.

‘69By Koranteng Ofosu-Amaah

d u s t 4 5



SPORTS:Baba Yara, Ghana’s greatest footballer, the “King of Wingers of West Africa” would die on May

5, 1969 after sustaining a spinal injury in a lorry accident at Kpeve in 1963. Three months of treatment at

Stoke Mandeville hospital had done nothing to improve his health. Nor had the local prophet healer. Thus his

last six years of life were spent bedridden. Asante Kotoko, the Real Republikans and, of course, the national

team, the Black Stars had suffered a grievous loss. The scenes commemorating his life leap off the page.

Born in Kumasi on October 12, 1936, it was in 1955, his debut year for the national team that he wore

the number 7 jersey of the Gold Coast team which massacred Nigeria by 7-0 at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Yara scored two goals and was the architect of four of the seven. Decades later his legend as a fearsome

attacker is as glowing as say that of the magic hands of goalkeeper Robert Mensah. Those who saw him play

wax rhapsodic to this day, my uncle Emma has been known to go on for a good hour about that golden era

and those stars. The Baba Yara sports stadium in Kumasi is a testament to his memory. Like any society

magazine Drum was sometimes shallow, other times profound and even on occasion sublime. Consider this

a profile of a country in transition, between military rule and democracy, full of hope and naviga ting between

tradition and modernity. Ghana is headed to elections [soon] and, from the outside, much of the discourse

is akin to that seen here in 1969: great promise amidst reminders of just how far we have to go. I can only

hope that my fellow countrymen take heed of those who paved the way for them and remember the words

of John Mensah Sarbah: think ahead of time.

CRIME: In 1969, the Sukura neighbourhood of

Accra was gaining a reputation for crime and squaloreven more lugubrious than Nima. Forty years on it is

the aptly named Sodom andGomorrah and takes the

prize as Ghana’s school of hard knocks, the place you

terrify your little kids about the prospect of leaving

them there. Of course this is all a matter of perception.

The settlement of shantytowns always gives rise to

dark hints of nefariousness by the establishment.

Drum was firmly of the establishment and would

editorialize about the problems of slums, runaway

children and other social ills.

TECHNOLOGY: Ghana

w a s l o o k i n g t o w a r d sspace, playing off Soviet

achievements against the

USA’s Apollo prowess (the

moon landing was duly

celebrated). Well, anyone

could dream and there were

even nuclear ambitions

(since revived in 2008).

UNIVERSITY LIFE: Siren, the journal of Mensah Sarbah Hall, University of Ghana, Legon did a satiricalend of year issue featuring a cartoon strip that gave rise to the “Wankye Wankye Scandal”. The strip was

denounced as ‘pornography’, students were duly suspended, campaigns were mounted to have them

reinstated, demonstrations were started. Things got out of hand.

Reading closely you realize how benign the commentary was, young male students frustrated at the lack of

‘internalists’: female students who dated fellow students. There were complaints about “the young lecturers

who openly fish in the limited pool of Volta Hall - and in the female wing of the controversial Sarbah Hall”.

Student militancy prevailed however. The riot police had to be called in to calm things down. Dig the uniforms.

EDUCATION: The obligatory photo of African school-children in morningprayer raises the issue of church

or state. The big question was “whether the churches should continue to manage sc hools with local, urban

and city councils or should the management of all educational institutions come under a unified system

to be directed by the Ministry of Education”. It was noted that

“the churches spearheaded the drive for education in Ghana... in 1737 the Danish chaplain attached

to the Danish Castle at Christianborg in Accra sent two boys from the Castle school to be educated in

Copenhagen. Again in 1828 the Danish governor at Osu, Accra invited the Basel Missionary Society in

Switzerland to take up missionary and education work in Osu and its neighbouring districts.”

On the perennial

question of hair,

the influence of

Motown was felt with

Supremes-styling

presumably taking

over from the corn roll

of yore.

A yearlong series on sex education draws a big response from readers, dealing with everything from birth

control and family plann ing, the pill and other contraceptives, midwives, child birth, relationships (pre-marital

and otherwise), passion and even prostitution.

Ghana Airways was continuing its expansion. By the mid 70s it would begin its inexorable decline. We

could all dream in 1969.

MUSIC: There was a vigourous music scene and perhaps a golden age of music in the country. E.T.

Mensah and his Tempos competed with Jerry Hansen and The Ramblers band, who “brought back the

boogaloo” from London and the States.

The Professional Uhuru Dance Band & the GBC Band roughed it up with The Revellers, Railway Dance

Band and the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation Band. The Aliens Band, The Planets, the Black Santiagos

rounded out the cast. The Sierra Leone Heartbeats, fronted by Geraldo Pino, set up shop in Ghana and

found a receptive audience for their brand of soul music. Echoes of Motown were in the air. Paradoxically

The Soul Messengers’ tour was judged a failure: the competition was too fierce.

FUNERALS: Every issue featured the obligatory society puff pieces. The Ga chief, Nii Bonne (the so-called

“Boycotthene”) who made a stand against inflation and organized a national boycott in 1948 against

colonial rule, died and his funeral was a major marker. It was unusual for traditional rulers to feature in

the independence or nationalist movements but Nii Bonne didn’t recoil.

On funerals, the thinking was that “it costs too much to die”. As Millicent Adamafio in Sekondi put it:

“‘grandiose and extravagant preparations must be condemned in the strongest terms. Some people have

become full-time mourners, showing their faces at almost al l wake-keeping services. Their explanation is

that the more one attends such functions and registers his condolences, the more sympathisers one gets

when he is bereaved. In fact there are voluntary organizations whose sole purpose is to give moral and

financial support to members who are bereaved’. Others countered: “what is wrong with a nice colourful

and impressive funeral for a loving relative whose face we will not see again. The dead are an important

subject in our tradition and should be accorded the due ceremony and honour they deserve.”

Star beer and Club lager had large budgets and blanketed

much of the magazines. It was all about the good life. The

culture and politics of alcohol have been much studied in

Ghana. Schnapps was less in evidence but featured - it is

used in libations and many of our ceremonies.

My clear favourite is Pepsodent toothpaste with Irium. Be

progressive and dig the production values and the light skin.

Skin lightening products were popular (at least

they were heavily advertised). Fela would sing

Yellow Fever a few years hence and bemoan

the extremes of the practice. It’s not just Africa

however and not simply old history, the same

thing happens in India and China today.

Head scarves abounded, the

older, traditional duukuu that

had given way to European

headgear before independence

was now reinvented as the

lappa cover cloth.



‘ K o r a n t e n g ’ s T o l i ’ c a n b e f o u n d a t h t t p : / / k o r a n t e n g .b l o g s p o t .c o m

THE CONSTITUTION: General Ankrah resigned and handed over to General Afrifa early on in the year. The die

had been cast however, and the transition to civilian rule would account for much of the year’s manoeuvering.

The Akuffo-Addo commision enjoined that “never again should there be any tyranny in Ghana.. .” A Constituent

Assembly was sworn in to draw up a constitution taking into account its recommendations and those of

the general public.

Lt. Gen. Ankrah would state 3 principles to inform the new Constitution:

• The freedom and liberty of the people and their enjoyment of fundamental human rights

• To eliminate the possibility of the return of tyranny and dictatorship to the country

• To prevent the abuse of the Constitution through frivolous and ill-conceived amendments to it.

The last of these was a reaction to the deposed President Nkrumah and “his disrespect of the Constitution

and the frequency of amendments which rendered it a simple tool in his hands for the perpetuation of his

rule”. The worries about tyranny would prove prescient - Acheampong and his band of rogues would mount

a coup in 1972.

THE ECONOMY:There were complaints about smuggling - Ghana’s economy was still dislocated. There

were many scapegoats: “we are asking them not to have a special liking for the Syrians, Lebanese, Indians

and Nigerians who are mainly behind the illegal importation of cases of liquors, tobacco, used clothing and

cotton prints”.These days, the additions to the list of convenient scapegoats in the Ghanaian discourse

are the Liberians who arrived as refugees over the past 15 years. If you press a little harder, some might

mention the Chinese.Mark Cofie, who started an empire of car garages, becoming an agent of Japanese car

companies and dealing with repairing most of the American cars in the country, was given a glowing profile.

A consummate entrepreneur, he had grand visions of a Ghanaian auto industry. In retrospect, it wasn’t

to materialize but he at least made a go at it.The recently opened Akosombo dam was meant to enable a

new era of power and support the development of fledgling industries. “Abundant power for Ghana’s new

industries” read the headline. Manufacturing didn’t take off however, and these nascent efforts would falter

in the decades to come. It is only forty years on that these same aspirations seem to be taking off in any

sustainable fashion. Still there is much on the various factories that were sprouting up. Reports on the poor

and often non-existent infrastructure in the Volta region make for depressing reading: no drainage systems,

no street lighting, no water supply (only 8 percent with access to good drinking water), poor feeder roads,

few doctors and so forth. The proximity of the Akosombo dam seemed to be of no consequence. A few

gestures were being made to promote places like the Wii waterfalls and the mystery rock of Akosombo

as tourist venues but the capacity wasn’t there yet - indeed it has taken decades for some of those ideas

to come to fruition. Certain parts of the country were being left behind and some would exploit the resulting

grievances for political gain. The environmental degradation of Keta and the anxiety of its harried inhabitants

were a concern. Those who live between the sea and the lagoon will always find grievances. In any case,

some of our best poetry has come out of their predicament, witness Kofi Awonoor’s wonderful poem, The

Sea Eats The Land At Home.

PARTY POLITICS: There was lots of campaigning and electioneering and much of it would feature in Drum’s

pages. The elections would be won handily by Busia’s Progress Party - the heavyweight brain-trust and

shrewd electoral tactics proved overwhelming.

Ajax Bukana, the irascible trickster, rabble-rouser and all around general entertainer, launched the Mosquitoes

Protection Party during the 1969 election. His platform was thoroughly ludicrous but brought some very

welcome levity. The minstrel tradition had reached Africa and found fertile ground.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: There are looks outward to the deadly costs of the Biafra w ar in nearby Nigeria. Nelson

Ottah termed it a “descent to the abyss” and was shocked by what he saw in Ojukwu’s Biafra.

A young Cameron Duodu takes a trip to America at the height of Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panthers’confrontation with The Man. One gets the sense that he was really there to check out jazz groups like

the Sonny Cox Trio or watch Le Roi Jones catching the spirit in live performances but he found that there

was no escape from race in his travels in the United States. As he put it: “I see the beauty evaporate”. It is

interesting to read about America’s civil rights trauma through the eyes of a Ghanaian journalist. He titled

his pieces America the Beautiful with no little irony.





RELATIONSHIPS

Athe bedrooms of africandventures from

women

s e x & r e l a t i o n s h i p s

by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah

There’s more than one way to kill a cat and when itcomes to arousal, many of them are in fact non-sexual.

Here are my favourite few.

Turn Me On

MASSGES

Does anyone need to ask why?

I don’t even know if massages

qualify as non-sexual because they

are actually so darn sexy that you

can find yourself getting turned on

when you absolutely do not want

to be turned on. One day I shall blog

about this massage I had in Turkey.

I swear the masseuse was aiming

for a happy ending… The worst bit

was he was so replusive but my body

didn’t think so. Anyway, moving

right along to…

CHOCOLATE

This is almost cliche but good

chocolate is oh so hot! Chocolate

gateaux, Green & Blacks Organic

Chocolate, Golden Tree Chocolate,

Chocolate ice-cream, Cadbury’s

Fruit & Nut… chocolate does it for

me almost every time.

INTELLIGENCE What a turn on! There is something

just so sexy about smart people.

Genuinely clever people who are

knowledgeable and interesting to

talk to. The kind of person who can

introduce me to new tools like digital

applications that make my work

easier or give me critical and honest

feedback on my work. Smart people

make me think ‘oh I can so have a

baby with you’ (and if you read my

blog regularly you will know what

an achievement that is).

CREATIVES

People who can sing, rhyme, dance,

sculpt, write…I am totally jealous of

creative people. There is this energy

around them that I just love. No

wonder groupies exist.

BEACH WEEKENDS AWAY

I love the ocean! In fact, my dream

is to own a beach house. There issomething about days away with

virtually nothing but the ocean

for company that brings out the

naughtiness in me. Skinny dipping

anyone?

ishare Hospitality

iShare Hospitality Project is aimed at creating awareness to children

about hospitality so that they can grow up knowing what it means and

practicing it in the right way. The word hospitality alone means cordial

reception, welcoming someone with kindness and courtesy. Hospitality

has existed since the beginning of the human race; it has played an

essential role in our social life. Today, hospitality is present everywhere,

it’s like a spirit towards people. We however want to fuse this with

creating awareness about hospitality as well as the hospitality industry

in general. We will be organising various fun activities geared towards

educating the child to understand, know and practice hospitality

everywhere they go.

Please support this worthy cause

for a better & hospitable new generation

For more information on ways to partner and

contribute, please contact Antonia on(+233) 302 765 180-2 / 289 115 922

[email protected]

www.african-regent-hotel.comafricanregent.hotel

221A6151

http://gh.linkedin.com/pub/african-regent-hotel

facebook/afropolitan

d u s t 5 2



Many people complemented DUST for the

striking pictures of Ebo Taylor in our last issue.

We caught up with the man whose eye was

behind the lens of many of those shots. Here,

Tobias Freytag shares with us some stunning

shots of African musicians in the Diaspora.

D: You are an architect as well as a

photographer. Is photography just a hobby

or something more?

TF: Photography is as much a hobby to me as

architecture. I am dedicated to both and do it

from the heart and for the art. The difference is I

studied architecture but I am just an autodidact

in photography. I earn money from both though.

Your job should never just be a job. The difference

is that with photography you can see your

outcome straight away, whereas in architecture

it sometimes takes years from your first draft to

the final building.

D: When (and how) did you get into photography?

TF: I got into photography at the end of 2009. I get bored really

quickly. I graduated as the 2nd best in my architecture class in

2006 and immediately found work with a well-known architect

(Hans Kollhoff) in Rotterdam, with whom I won a big competiton

for a new town centre in the Netherlands. After a year and a

half, I left because I wanted to live in Cologne and I quickly found

work with Ortner + Ortner (a well-known Austrian architecture

duo). I started my own business at the same time to do joint

projects with them, but after half a year I thought “this can’t

be it”, and started thinking about doing another creative job.

There was a photography exhibition in Cologne that anyone

could enter. I submitted a picture of a staircase in Berlin that

I took with a digital Canon Ixus camera. It was exhibited and

a week afterwards I bought my first ‘real’ digital camera. My

skills were quite limited in the beginning but I get better every

day and my aims keep rising.

Because I‘m an architect, my eyes are trained to see th ings and

details others miss. I capture so many mentionable moments

that are sometimes hard to describe to other people, so I make

it a habbit to take a camera along everytime I’m outside.

TF: Well, I try to capture the moment. I don‘t use flashlights or

opolis of Foreign Beggars (Ghana/UK) Yahzahrah of The Foreign Exchange (Ghana/US)

Ty (Nigeria/UK)

the Ambassador (Ghana/US)

Ayers (US)

aylor (Ghana)

tobiasfreytag

f l a s h

d u s t 5 4



jamesBARNOR

When I first met eighty-two year old photographer James

Barnor, we were both being interviewed for the celebrations

of fifty years of Ghana’s independence. He as an ol der creative

from Ghana, I as the younger.

I looked through the paper photocopies of photographs that he

had brought with him, mounted on large pieces of black card. I

saw portraits from the 1940s of a Ghanaian ballroom dancing

champion and of one of Ghana’s first female policewomen

taken in his Ever Young Studios. I saw pictures of foreign

dignitaries and of local market women that came to witness

the handover of power to Africa’s first sub-Saharan country

to gain its independence from colonial rule. I saw c over shots

of young Africans who came to London to study in the 1960 s,

taken for Drum, the first magazine produced by Africans for

an African audience. These pictures filled the gap between thestories my parents told me, and the portrayals to the world of

Africans by a largely negative Western media.

I told James Barnor I wanted to do an exhibition of his work and

a few months later, the opportunity arose for us to do one at

the Black Cultural Archives in London. Only this was somehow

not enough. In the seeming absence of us presenting our own

stories to the world, others had told them for us, often in ways

that were incongruous. I decided I had to write a book on James

Barnor and his pictures an d through them trace the history of

photography and the birth of our na tion, to uncover what the

images told us about how we have represented ourselves,

and our own modernities. James Barnor’s photographs and

negatives were under his bed in his apartment, so following the

advice of David Adjaye, the Ghanaian architect, I approached

Autograph ABP, who agreed to digitize his work and put on

a major retrospective last year.

A country is nothing without its history, and yet we do not

always honour those that have told and created the stories of

our becoming. James Barnor is one of our greatest storytellers

and now, the time has come for him to have an exhibition at

home in Accra to celebrate him and his work, accompanied

by a documentary, and the book.

The story has come full circle, James Barnor, as the older,

I as the younger, will together try to tell a history of Ghana

that will allow us as Ghanaians, to reflect on ourselves, our

provenance and our direction, to reclaim the framing of

our own representations, and so to stand stronger in our

contribution to the world.

If you want to support the project (e.g. invest, in-kind, technical

expertise, broadcast, put on a

concert, print a James Barnor

T-shirt or kaba and slit, have

photographic workshops for

children, host a radio or TV

discussion on, e.g., the question

of historical representation

or the importance of the

photographic document

or in any other way

actively participate),

please

email: [email protected]

m y i c o n

By Nana Oforiatta Ayim

studio setup. I take every picture with the help of natural

light because I want it to be pure. I always use solid 50

or 85mm lenses because I think it‘s false to stand 200

metres away from the actual motive to get your picture.

I am always “right in your face.” I’m probably not the

only one who does this. There is no recipe: my eye tells

me what to do.

When I do concert photography, I always get in contact

with the musician before the show. I like to get to know

them and build up some kind of relation to get the best

picture when they perform. They also get to know who

the guy behind the camera is.

D: Between TY, Shad, Blitz, etc, you’ve invariably

shot a lot of artists of African origin. What kinds

of artists interest you enough to photograph or

listen to them?

TF: They need to have character. I need to feel that their

music is coming from their heart and of course, it needs

to make your booty shake. I am interested in music by

Fela Kuti, Tony Allen, Mulatu Astatqe, Matata and of

course Uncle Ebo [Taylor]. I am also a big fan of reggae/

dub music, which also has its origins in africa.

In my teenager years, I listened a lot to hip-hop like KRD

One, Wu Tang Clan, Biggie Smalls, Jungle Brothers... By

the end of the 90s, gangster rap became too popular and

hip-hop parties became a meeting place for little wannabe

gangster so it became quite unattractive!

Through my many friends in the music business, I was

introduced to Afrofunk and it was not just the music,

but also the people who listened to it and came to the

parties that made it more enjoyable. Everybody dances

as soon as such sounds come on and everybody is in

such a good mood. I noticed this on Uncle Ebo’s face

when he played in Cologne in January. He received such

good vibes from the Colognian crowd that he just kept on

smiling and in the end he joined the crowd and started

dancing with everybody! We all had smiles on our faces

for days after that!

D: So... any plans to come to Ghana?

TF: At the moment I live in Andalusia/Spain. From here

you can see the Atlas mountains of Morocco, so this

year I’m planning a trip there. Next year, I will hopefully

travel a bit further in and come to Ghana. I hope to make

it to the next Asabaako Music Festival where I’m really

looking forward to meeting nice people, having a blast,

taking good pictures and getting to know the interesting

characters in front of my lens.

KG

Lëk Sèn (Senegal/France)

d u s t 5 7

d u s t 5 6



The Talk Parti The Ehalakasa Talk Party

The Adventurers in the Diaspora

(AiD) Series

The AiD Film Series

The Chalewote Street ArtFestival

The Open Air Stock Exchange

GO! Increasingly less of a Talk Party than an Action

Party, these events - organized by filmmaker

Mantse Aryeequaye & cultural commentator,

Dr. Sionne Neeley - have already resulted in

the Accra[Dot]Alt Festival and the upcoming

Chalewote Street Art Festival.

Poetry, performance and the power of the spoken

word from and in the company of some of Accra’s

most creative writers, artists, and musicians.

A forum for critical discussion on the role of creativity and

design in Ghana’s development, hosted by a team lead by

one of Ghana’s foremost creative minds, Joe Addo.

A spin-off of the aforementioned AiD series, this film series

fosters relationships between and creates awareness of the

work of local filmmakers and their counterparts in the Diaspora.

Music, Motorcycle Stunts, Skateboarding,

Spoken word, Caporeira, Crafts, Acrobats,

Art Installations, Graffiti, Photography,

Children’s Art, Dancing, Drumming,

Drama and even tales by the fireside from

a collective of over 20 Accra-based artists,

activists, writers, students and musicians.

What more could you possibly want?

Accra’s very first monthly flea market has

quickly established itself as a fine place to find

(or flog) home or handmade items, clothes,

crafts and more.

Like any metropolis, Accra

always has a number of cool

events and goings-on.

You just have to know

where to look.

When? First Friday of every month

Where? Passions Cafe (behind Pippa’s Gym), Osu

How Much? Free

Info: www.facebook.com/accradotalt

When? Second & Fourth Sunday of every month, 5.30-

9.00 pm

Where? The Nubuke Foundation (near Mensvic Hotel),

East Legon

How Much? Free

Info: 0246419861, 0271556786

When? First Thursday of every month, 7.00 pm

Where? The Branche Lounge at the Golden Tulip Hotel

How Much? Free

Info: http://adventurersinthediaspora.visualsociety.com

When? First Saturday of every month, 7.30 pm

Where? The Golden Tulip Hotel Tennis Court

How Much? Free

Info: http://adventurersinthediaspora.visualsociety.com

When? July 16th, 10 am-10 pm

Where? Jamestown

How Much? Free

Info: www.facebook.com/accradotalt

When? First Saturday of every month, 9.00 am-6.00 pm

Where: Nyaniba Park

Entry: Free

Info: 0244 799 134

d u s t 5 8



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competitionEnjoy a movie date courtesy of DUST! We have five pairs of

tickets to the Silverbird Cinema to give away. For a chance to

win, just visit http://wwww.surveymonkey.com/s/dustaccra&

answer our short survey.

Winners will be announced on our Twitter & Facebook pages on

20th July.

We look forward to hearing from you!



Documents

Dust v - June 2011 Edit