Oi oi oi,
No, I wasn’t kidnapped mid-sentence, I am alive and kickin’ it in Cotonou, Bénin. Quick update: I was in Accra when I was given a good contact in Lomé, Togo, which is only 3 hours from Accra. So I arrived in Lomé friday afternoon, met up with Alain, a Frenchy who has his hands deep in the Togolese scene, and who also happens to be an ancient African art dealer, with AMAZING art all over his AMAZING house, in which I spent the night. My room had such good local contemporary art that it eclipsed the authentic Warhol painting I slept under. BANANAS.
In Lomé I went to a free outdoors hip hop concert on Friday night. That was a trip. If you think Coachella is exciting, try to imagine people here who rarely have access to free live music, at a concert headlined by Awadi, pioneer of the Senegalese hip hop scene and a major star throughout Francophone Africa. The show was one of the very best hip hop performances I’ve seen in…. years. It was a real hip hop play/opera, much much better than any of the half-ass equivalents I’ve witnessed back in the States. Unfortunately I will not be coming home with this – yet! It’s fascinating to see how hip hop has blown up all over the globe, it’s such a versatile style of music, and here in Africa artists are finally stepping away from US imitations to truly incorporate their rich musical heritage.
Saturday morning, Alain asked: why don’t I go to Bénin?!?! Cotonou is only 2 hours away. So here I am. It’s amazing how different the music is a mere 100 miles away. Bénin is home to voodou, and some of the traditional music here is remarkably similar to Brazilian candomblé – which I love. So I’m a happy camper, this 14 hour visit to Cotonou is unbearably short but very, very productive.
Later today I head back to Lomé, and first thing tomorrow I go back to Accra, and possibly to Kumasi, heart of the Ashanti culture, and home to many old highlife geniuses. Highlife is the Ghanaian equivalent of Afro-beat, a style developped in the 60s, fusing tradition with elements brought by the Brits: electric guitars, horns, funk. I think finding some of this 60s highlife is too good to be true, but even if I only get my hands on a few records for my own listening pleasure, I’ll be STOKED.
So these last few days are a little insane…. I leave Accra on Thursday, I have more meetings than I can fit, and enough good shtuff to launch a VERY exciting catalog. I can’t wait to share it, but for the time being, I will tease you just a little longer :p
Cheers!
