Man of Science
Great interview with Congolese-Belgian rapper Baloji here:
http://africasacountry.com/2012/05/11/talking-to-rapper-baloji/
And the beautiful video for his beautiful track “Le Jour d’Après / Siku Ya Baadaye” (Indépendance Cha-Cha)
can be watched here:
So good!
pink cells in the desert
Author and friend Trinie Dalton taught a bookmaking workshop at the super beautiful Snow in the Desert event last weekend. Basically just a bunch of ladies meeting up in the desert to swim, make ceramics, eat snow cones, dance, read, watch the supermoon…. sigh.
Beautiful pictures of the event here:
http://blog.acehotel.com/post/22497317347/snow-in-the-desert-palm-springs
We were proud to notice Trinie wearing her Osei-Duro tunic in these dreamy pictures!
Sale ON: May 6th – May 13th
Spring sale!
Everything prior to SS2012 is 40% off for the next week at shop.oseiduro.com
Maybe for your mom?
Buk Buk- Kolom
In line with my recent posts on Ghanaian Hip Life I present you Kolom, by Buk Buk. It was hitting pretty hard when I was in Accra last month and so, to get deeper into the song I had a short conversation with a taxi driver about it. I asked him what the word “kolom” meant. He told me it means “to put inside”. I was like “oh, the song is talking about sex?” He got bashful (can you imagine a bashful taxi driver in Accra?) Anyways, I eventually got it out of him that it was indeed talking about sex. And then at some point in the song I hear the word condom. So I asked him if it was promoting condom use and he said it was. So I was happy. Did I hear the words “plantain chips” in there as well?
Side note: I am pretty sure this video was shot in one of Accra’s prolific fried chicken fast food restaurants.
DIY in LAX
Osei-Duro is going to be included in the 3rd installment of talented bookmaker Iris Porter’s DIY series. DIY in LAX follows PDX and HFX in a series of books about independent makers in North American Cities. All of her books are beautiful, we are excited! Iris is currently raising funds on kickstarter to pay for printing. Check it out here:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/394742941/diyinlax
Azonto Bag for Molly
Bikelordz
This documentary film about the Ghanaian BMX scene is pretty mind blowing. It’s being shot in Ghana now, by a small but enthusiastic crew of film makers who I went out dancing with recently. Their recent images of the bikers they follow preforming at the Chale Wote Festival in Accra make me super happy!
La Paz Toyota
La Paz is a place in greater Accra and “La Paz Toyota” is a line in a song over here. I couldn’t understand why there would be a line saying “La Paz Toyota” in a song, like is there a Toyota dealership there? But the truth revealed itself to me today at the Taxi rank in Tema, when one of the share taxi drivers kept announcing “La Paz Toyota”. Apparently the share taxi was going to La Paz, and you guessed it, the car just happened to be a Toyota! I asked the guy sitting next to me to verify if that’s why the song had the line in it and he yelled to the taxi driver who was yelling the line and they thought it was super funny. So then I sang a bit of the song, which by the way has been hitting over here pretty hard.
The problem with giving shoes away….
This brief article addresses the Aid vs Trade issue very clearly, using the ubiquitous example of Tom’s Shoes as what not to do, and referencing our friends Oliberte as an example of what might actually help. Nice work, Cheryl Davenport.
The Broken “Buy-One, Give-One” Model: 3 Ways To Save Toms Shoes
My new favourite song- Chop my money by AKON and P-Square
OK, OK. It’s a bit cheesy, but what can I say? I love some West African cum American music sometimes. This song has been hitting hard over here in Ghana, and I finally found out it’s a collaboration between AKON and P-Square. Akon of course everyone knows, he’s from Senegal and the US, is somewhat misogynist, but still can make me dance despite the lyrics. P-Square is lesser known in North America. They are made up of two brothers from Nigeria. They had a hit record a few years back and were all over West Africa and I think even made it to the US. Now it appears this music video was filmed in the US, so they must be getting big.
Anyways, back to the song. Chop in Ghana (and I suppose Nigeria) means eat. So chop my money is about a girl using up all the dude’s money. But he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care.
Once again I don’t think it’s the great lyrics that make this song catchy, but rather the combination of West African hip-life and American style pop.