The great music revolutions of our times have come from Africa, and the…
Fonko - Episode 3: Angola + Ghana
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- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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Ghana and Angola are two of the fastest growing economies in the world, as well as two countries in midst of a musical revolution. Angola is still trying to come to terms with the three decades of civil war that tormented the country. Meanwhile kuduro, which could be described as extravagant ghetto techno, has grown out of the shanty towns to become the country's biggest cultural asset.
Ghana has a totally different tradition of education and democracy. Ghanian musicians don’t need to fight for freedom of speech and therefore focus on artistic luxuries as irony and pastiche.
This freedom is used to challenge religious and traditional sentiments. But also to create ever new styles of light hearted dance music. The latest craze is azonto.
Featured artists: Wanlov the Kubulor, EL, Sarkodie, Diplo, Sister Deborah, Titica, Tony Amado, Djeff, Sebem, a.m.o.
Citation
Main credits
Jadama, Lamin Daniel (filmmaker)
Lovén, Lars (filmmaker)
Olsson, Göran Hugo (filmmaker)
Janson, Tobias (filmmaker)
Cherry, Neneh (narrator)
Other credits
Cinematography, Ania Winiarska [and 3 others]; editor, Limpasen Game & Mikael Jönsson.
Distributor subjects
No distributor subjects provided.Keywords
00:00:00.384 --> 00:00:02.086
- [Neneh] Fonko.
00:00:02.086 --> 00:00:06.050
In the Manding language,
Fonko means "the thing."
00:00:06.050 --> 00:00:08.813
In Wolof, "to take care of each other."
00:00:10.190 --> 00:00:14.660
Great musical revolution of
today takes place in Africa
00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:17.210
where urban club music is merging
00:00:17.210 --> 00:00:18.803
with traditional styles.
00:00:19.880 --> 00:00:22.940
New technology and swift communications
00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:24.650
has released the super talents
00:00:24.650 --> 00:00:28.490
of the continent, spreading music, art,
00:00:28.490 --> 00:00:31.550
and ideas to the rest of the world.
00:00:31.550 --> 00:00:36.200
But this is just one aspect
of an even bigger change.
00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.200
In three episodes, we
will take you from Dakar
00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:43.310
in the west through
Accra, Lagos, and Luanda,
00:00:43.310 --> 00:00:47.090
to Johannesburg in the south,
to meet the most prominent
00:00:47.090 --> 00:00:49.580
and eloquent musicians, bloggers,
00:00:49.580 --> 00:00:51.893
and business people on the continent.
00:00:52.760 --> 00:00:53.966
Fonko.
00:00:53.966 --> 00:00:58.753
(upbeat club music and singing)
(crowd cheering)
00:01:29.589 --> 00:01:32.339
(crowd cheering)
00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.464
(crowd cheering)
00:01:56.911 --> 00:02:01.911
(rapping and upbeat club music)
00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:17.330
(rapping and upbeat club music)
(crowd cheering)
00:02:23.181 --> 00:02:26.014
(crowd screaming)
00:02:34.450 --> 00:02:37.160
(upbeat club music)
00:02:37.160 --> 00:02:39.680
- [Neneh] It's winter in Angola.
00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:42.920
The new boardwalk in the
capital of Luanda
00:02:42.920 --> 00:02:45.080
is lined by palm trees,
00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:48.170
all of them imported from the Middle East.
00:02:48.170 --> 00:02:51.800
There's an abundance of palm
trees in this tropical country,
00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:54.710
but the indigenous species
don't look like the ones
00:02:54.710 --> 00:02:56.540
on the Riviera.
00:02:56.540 --> 00:02:58.340
One block away from the sea,
00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:01.220
Portuguese colonial
buildings are torn down
00:03:01.220 --> 00:03:04.460
to make way for Chinese skyscrapers.
00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:08.600
In this episode of Fonko, we
will visit Ghana and Angola,
00:03:08.600 --> 00:03:11.630
two of the fastest growing
economies in the world,
00:03:11.630 --> 00:03:15.233
and two countries in the
midst of a musical revolution.
00:03:16.267 --> 00:03:17.100
♪ Hey ♪
00:03:17.100 --> 00:03:20.085
(upbeat kuduro music)
00:03:20.085 --> 00:03:23.892
♪ Hey ♪
00:03:23.892 --> 00:03:24.725
♪ Hey ♪
00:03:24.725 --> 00:03:26.690
- [Neneh] The new Angola taking shape
00:03:26.690 --> 00:03:28.880
after decades of civil war
00:03:28.880 --> 00:03:31.610
is radically different from the old.
00:03:31.610 --> 00:03:33.620
And while Chinese investments
00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:36.530
and oil billions are reshaping Luanda,
00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:39.140
the extravagant music style Kuduro
00:03:39.140 --> 00:03:41.030
has grown out of the ghettos
00:03:41.030 --> 00:03:45.080
to become the biggest cultural
asset of the new Angola.
00:03:45.080 --> 00:03:47.420
The name kuduro means "hard ass."
00:03:47.420 --> 00:03:49.790
One of the pioneers is Sebem,
00:03:49.790 --> 00:03:52.702
who welcomes us to his house in Luanda.
00:04:23.069 --> 00:04:28.069
(rapping and kuduro music)
00:05:38.573 --> 00:05:43.573
(rapping and kuduro music)
00:06:49.932 --> 00:06:51.770
- [Neneh] Titica
started out as a dancer,
00:06:51.770 --> 00:06:53.090
but went on to become one
00:06:53.090 --> 00:06:55.610
of the biggest kuduristas in Angola.
00:06:55.610 --> 00:06:58.550
Initially, she had to
fight to be accepted.
00:06:58.550 --> 00:07:01.460
No transsexual person has ever had
00:07:01.460 --> 00:07:03.642
such a position in Angola.
00:07:03.642 --> 00:07:07.475
(Titica rapping)
00:07:32.104 --> 00:07:37.104
(rapping and kuduro music)
00:07:53.716 --> 00:07:56.799
(upbeat kuduro music)
00:08:11.499 --> 00:08:13.893
(upbeat kuduro music)
00:08:13.893 --> 00:08:18.893
(singing and kuduro music)
00:09:22.959 --> 00:09:26.273
(upbeat kuduro music)
00:09:35.985 --> 00:09:39.710
- [Neneh] In 2006, the
Angolan-Portuguese group
00:09:39.710 --> 00:09:41.360
Buraka Som Sistema
00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:44.180
releases the album
"From Buraka To The World,"
00:09:44.180 --> 00:09:46.643
which influences artists
all over the world.
00:09:48.650 --> 00:09:51.470
One of them is the
American producer Diplo,
00:09:51.470 --> 00:09:53.030
who has worked with such artists
00:09:53.030 --> 00:09:56.228
as M.I.A., Beyoncé and Major Lazer.
00:09:56.228 --> 00:09:59.600
♪ Sound of kuduro
knockin' at your door ♪
00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:02.030
- I know Angola, from
like a social standpoint,
00:10:02.030 --> 00:10:04.250
has been through a lot of
stuff in the last 25 years,
00:10:04.250 --> 00:10:07.640
from the civil war to a
huge boom in the economy.
00:10:07.640 --> 00:10:09.260
That place is super-unique in the fact
00:10:09.260 --> 00:10:13.760
that it's part of one of the
belt of Portuguese colonies,
00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:16.340
so it has this, like, weird
flow of music and culture
00:10:16.340 --> 00:10:18.260
but then it has a really
strictly African vibe,
00:10:18.260 --> 00:10:20.510
and then now with the
international influence
00:10:20.510 --> 00:10:23.120
'cause of the Chinese and the
European, all the money there.
00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:24.890
I think it's very strong,
00:10:24.890 --> 00:10:26.360
and it's still very African in the way
00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:27.260
that they make the videos,
00:10:27.260 --> 00:10:29.660
the way they dress, the style.
00:10:29.660 --> 00:10:31.250
And it's very influential
to a lot of producers
00:10:31.250 --> 00:10:33.140
the way that they made such
uptempo music that works
00:10:33.140 --> 00:10:34.300
in the club.
00:10:34.300 --> 00:10:38.133
(rapping in Portuguese)
00:10:46.790 --> 00:10:49.190
- [Neneh] The economic
boom has made Luanda
00:10:49.190 --> 00:10:51.710
the most expensive city in the world,
00:10:51.710 --> 00:10:54.680
and the one-party state
has been transformed
00:10:54.680 --> 00:10:58.820
into a liberal democracy,
at least on paper.
00:10:58.820 --> 00:11:01.910
While filming in Luanda,
we are constantly stopped
00:11:01.910 --> 00:11:04.760
by heavily armed security forces,
00:11:04.760 --> 00:11:06.860
and anyone really trying to criticize
00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:10.490
the power faces a harsh reality.
00:11:10.490 --> 00:11:13.850
The 22nd of November, 2003,
00:11:13.850 --> 00:11:17.180
a young man by the name
of Arsenio Sebastiao,
00:11:17.180 --> 00:11:18.650
is singing a hip-hop song
00:11:18.650 --> 00:11:21.560
with lyrics criticizing the government.
00:11:21.560 --> 00:11:25.160
He's overheard by members
of the Presidential Guard
00:11:25.160 --> 00:11:26.690
and is beaten to death
00:11:26.690 --> 00:11:29.660
in sight of a large number of witnesses.
00:11:29.660 --> 00:11:32.330
The song is written by MC Kappa.
00:11:32.330 --> 00:11:33.527
He's a hip-hop artist,
00:11:33.527 --> 00:11:37.940
and one of the most prolific
oppositional voices in Angola.
00:11:37.940 --> 00:11:39.680
He doesn't want to tell us where he lives,
00:11:39.680 --> 00:11:41.600
so we meet him in a parking lot
00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:43.700
in front of a newly erected mall.
00:12:31.086 --> 00:12:34.919
(singing and rapping in Portuguese)
00:13:09.567 --> 00:13:13.734
(MCK rapping in Portuguese)
00:13:36.538 --> 00:13:40.705
(MCK rapping in Portuguese)
00:14:15.830 --> 00:14:18.740
- [Neneh] There's a background
to the lack of free speech
00:14:18.740 --> 00:14:20.690
and civil rights in Angola.
00:14:20.690 --> 00:14:23.870
For three decades,
the country was tormented
00:14:23.870 --> 00:14:26.720
by a civil war that
involved the superpowers
00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:29.780
of the Cold War, the
neighboring countries,
00:14:29.780 --> 00:14:33.620
as well as the apartheid
regime of South Africa.
00:14:33.620 --> 00:14:37.070
The war has shaped politics, the culture
00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:40.313
and not least the music in today's Angola.
00:14:41.300 --> 00:14:45.590
Until 1975, the colonial
power Portugal clung
00:14:45.590 --> 00:14:49.610
to Angola with its huge reserves of oil.
00:14:49.610 --> 00:14:52.040
When the Portuguese finally left,
00:14:52.040 --> 00:14:55.133
they destroyed water
and electricity plants.
00:14:55.970 --> 00:14:59.750
Even before the Portuguese
troops had left Angola,
00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:02.390
South Africa attacked from the south.
00:15:02.390 --> 00:15:04.640
Cuba sent soldiers by air
00:15:04.640 --> 00:15:08.300
and sea and managed to
repulse the invasions.
00:15:08.300 --> 00:15:11.450
Nelson Mandela once called it the moment
00:15:11.450 --> 00:15:13.460
when Cuba destroyed the myth
00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:16.463
of the invincibility
of the white oppressor.
00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:20.513
The civil war finally came to an end.
00:15:27.590 --> 00:15:29.540
- [Neneh] Three decades of civil war
00:15:29.540 --> 00:15:31.790
has shaped the politics, the culture,
00:15:31.790 --> 00:15:34.490
and not least the music in Angola.
00:15:34.490 --> 00:15:36.530
In the kuduro song, "Bazuka",
00:15:36.530 --> 00:15:40.040
the producer Batida is
trying to problematize
00:15:40.040 --> 00:15:42.506
the official story of war.
00:15:42.506 --> 00:15:47.506
(singing and percussive music)
00:15:55.190 --> 00:15:56.930
- [Neneh] The town of Malanje
00:15:56.930 --> 00:16:00.650
is situated 400 kilometers
east of Luanda,
00:16:00.650 --> 00:16:04.400
and for most of the '90s
Malanje was besieged.
00:16:04.400 --> 00:16:05.840
But during the siege,
00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:09.770
a musical revolution started
to grow among the ruins.
00:16:09.770 --> 00:16:13.460
In one of the few standing
buildings, the radio station,
00:16:13.460 --> 00:16:16.730
Tony Amado created the
first kuduro rhythms
00:16:16.730 --> 00:16:19.154
on an old Casio keyboard.
00:16:21.138 --> 00:16:25.999
(Tony and crowd conversing)
00:16:40.643 --> 00:16:42.109
(crowd cheering)
00:17:15.256 --> 00:17:19.118
(singing and kuduro music)
00:19:02.270 --> 00:19:04.250
- [Neneh] When Tony
Amado hacked a keyboard
00:19:04.250 --> 00:19:06.050
and made it play new rhythms,
00:19:06.050 --> 00:19:10.070
he laid the foundation for
what was to become kuduro.
00:19:10.070 --> 00:19:12.110
The style was born out of the war
00:19:12.110 --> 00:19:14.000
and the lack of equipment.
00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.240
Later on, the minimalistic and raw sound
00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.017
became an aesthetics in its own rights.
00:19:20.999 --> 00:19:23.191
(upbeat kuduro music)
00:19:39.397 --> 00:19:44.397
(rapping and kuduro music)
00:20:56.205 --> 00:21:01.205
(singing and upbeat music)
00:21:53.643 --> 00:21:55.540
(chatter and crowd noise)
00:21:55.540 --> 00:21:59.120
- [Neneh] When Kuduro got
more widely accepted in Angola,
00:21:59.120 --> 00:22:01.310
a new kind of artist emerged.
00:22:01.310 --> 00:22:04.550
Less ghetto in style and
with mainstream appeal,
00:22:04.550 --> 00:22:07.733
it's a universal trick and
it worked here as well.
00:22:07.999 --> 00:22:08.499
♪ Windeck ♪
00:22:08.999 --> 00:22:09.499
♪ Windeck ♪
00:22:09.990 --> 00:22:10.490
♪ Windeck ♪
00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:11.490
♪ Windeck ♪
00:22:12.590 --> 00:22:15.260
- [Neneh] Cabo Snoop
is maybe the best example.
00:22:15.260 --> 00:22:19.130
When he won an MTV Music
Award in Nigeria in 2010,
00:22:19.130 --> 00:22:22.490
he broke through old
colonial language barriers.
00:22:22.490 --> 00:22:24.500
The song "Windeck" spread
00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:27.443
even in Anglophone and
Francophone Africa.
00:22:54.192 --> 00:22:58.025
(Music: Fat Joe, "Lean Back")
00:23:15.951 --> 00:23:20.951
(Cabo Snopp rapping)
00:23:36.501 --> 00:23:38.021
(dogs barking)
00:23:39.097 --> 00:23:42.710
- Hochi Fu's label Power House
has made a big effort
00:23:42.710 --> 00:23:46.626
to conceptualize kuduro and
market it across Africa.
00:24:26.022 --> 00:24:31.022
(singing and kuduro music)
00:25:41.899 --> 00:25:42.799
It's finished!
00:25:44.227 --> 00:25:45.860
(percussive house music)
00:25:45.860 --> 00:25:47.930
- [Neneh] Like in all Southern Africa,
00:25:47.930 --> 00:25:50.210
SA House has become hugely popular
00:25:50.210 --> 00:25:52.490
in the growing middle classes.
00:25:52.490 --> 00:25:54.830
This has also affected kuduro,
00:25:54.830 --> 00:25:57.350
which has started to
incorporate many elements
00:25:57.350 --> 00:25:59.282
from house music.
00:25:59.282 --> 00:26:04.243
(singing and upbeat house music)
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:25.110
(percussive drum sound)
00:26:29.144 --> 00:26:30.744
(complex percussion patterns)
00:27:12.999 --> 00:27:14.861
(acoustic guitar pattern)
00:27:19.619 --> 00:27:21.219
(acoustic guitar and percussion)
00:27:40.977 --> 00:27:44.428
(upbeat house music)
00:28:39.190 --> 00:28:42.107
(crowd chattering)
00:28:44.132 --> 00:28:47.965
(rapping and kuduro music)
00:29:01.808 --> 00:29:04.808
(Sacerdote rapping)
00:29:11.929 --> 00:29:14.499
(call and response with crowd)
00:29:25.150 --> 00:29:27.228
(upbeat house music)
00:30:33.251 --> 00:30:37.084
(singing and hip-hop beats)
00:30:48.350 --> 00:30:51.530
- [Neneh] Even in Ghana,
there's oil discoveries.
00:30:51.530 --> 00:30:54.470
Some years the production
has beaten Angola's,
00:30:54.470 --> 00:30:58.040
but this rather small and
stable West African country
00:30:58.040 --> 00:30:59.840
has a totally different tradition
00:30:59.840 --> 00:31:02.360
of education and democracy.
00:31:02.360 --> 00:31:05.780
Ghanaian artists don't need to
fight for freedom of speech,
00:31:05.780 --> 00:31:08.750
and therefore focus on artistic luxuries
00:31:08.750 --> 00:31:11.123
such as irony and pastiche.
00:31:59.588 --> 00:32:03.421
(rapping and azonto music)
00:32:15.740 --> 00:32:17.150
- [Neneh] When "U Go Kill Me"
00:32:17.150 --> 00:32:21.590
by Sarkodie and E.L.
charted in Britain in 2012,
00:32:21.590 --> 00:32:25.670
it started the spread of
azonto music outside of Africa.
00:32:25.670 --> 00:32:29.615
It was also the first song
which featured the word "azonto."
00:32:29.615 --> 00:32:34.615
(rapping and azonto music)
(crowd cheering)
00:32:42.020 --> 00:32:43.880
- I didn't plan to do azonto.
00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:46.910
I just did a song,
and it was a nice song,
00:32:46.910 --> 00:32:49.100
people were dancing to it,
and I said the word "azonto."
00:32:49.100 --> 00:32:52.220
I didn't name the song "Azonto,"
I said, I just said azonto.
00:32:52.220 --> 00:32:53.329
I'm a hip-hop artist.
00:32:53.329 --> 00:32:55.301
I never thought azonto was
gonna be this big, you know.
00:32:55.996 --> 00:32:57.498
(rapping and azonto music)
00:33:26.977 --> 00:33:29.977
(rapping and azonto music)
00:34:18.307 --> 00:34:21.807
(sparse dance music)
00:34:27.609 --> 00:34:29.120
(singing and dance music)
00:35:24.691 --> 00:35:27.941
(dramatic fanfare and percussion)
00:35:37.137 --> 00:35:40.970
(chanting and singing)
00:35:56.231 --> 00:35:57.064
- [Neneh] With azanto,
00:35:57.064 --> 00:36:01.010
the Ghanaian musical
self-esteem has grown immensely.
00:36:01.010 --> 00:36:04.220
The music has spread
throughout all of society.
00:36:04.220 --> 00:36:06.440
And beneath the international sound,
00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:08.660
it has deep local roots.
00:36:08.660 --> 00:36:11.210
In that way,
it is reminiscent of Ghana's
00:36:11.210 --> 00:36:14.210
last great music export, highlife.
00:36:14.210 --> 00:36:17.180
Professor John Collins at Ghana University
00:36:17.180 --> 00:36:19.070
is the world's leading expert
00:36:19.070 --> 00:36:22.140
on the Ghanaian music style highlife.
00:36:22.340 --> 00:36:24.980
- So when the British came here,
they trained Ghanaians
00:36:24.980 --> 00:36:28.310
to play European brass band music,
00:36:28.310 --> 00:36:30.170
and they sort of brainwashed them
00:36:30.170 --> 00:36:32.670
so they never thought about
playing African music.
00:36:33.560 --> 00:36:35.810
Of course, they were in
the colonial army anyway.
00:36:35.810 --> 00:36:40.010
Then between 1873 and 1901,
00:36:40.010 --> 00:36:42.590
the British brought 6,000 West Indians
00:36:42.590 --> 00:36:44.900
to Cape Coast as soldiers.
00:36:44.900 --> 00:36:50.727
And these Black Caribbeans
played Calypso music
00:36:50.730 --> 00:36:53.510
and other things in their spare time
00:36:53.510 --> 00:36:55.970
using regimental brass instruments.
00:36:55.970 --> 00:36:58.460
So the Ghanaians suddenly realized
00:36:58.460 --> 00:37:01.460
that there was a Black march idiom.
00:37:01.460 --> 00:37:02.510
And the rhythms are different.
00:37:02.510 --> 00:37:04.730
You know, for instance, one of the rhythms
00:37:04.730 --> 00:37:07.520
that the West Indians
brought here was this one.
00:37:07.520 --> 00:37:08.877
If I can play it.
00:37:08.877 --> 00:37:11.544
(fingers tapping rhythmically)
00:37:12.950 --> 00:37:15.110
And it's actually an
Afro-Caribbean rhythm.
00:37:15.110 --> 00:37:17.600
A lot of Ghanaians think
it's a Ghanaian rhythm.
00:37:17.600 --> 00:37:20.955
But the original African
rhythm it comes from is this.
00:37:20.955 --> 00:37:24.380
(fingers tapping rhythmically)
00:37:24.380 --> 00:37:27.620
One, two, three, one, two,
in a poly-rhythmic context.
00:37:27.620 --> 00:37:30.020
And when the slaves were taken to America,
00:37:30.020 --> 00:37:31.790
they weren't allowed to
play poly-rhythmically
00:37:31.790 --> 00:37:34.610
because it's connected with
African cults and religions,
00:37:34.610 --> 00:37:37.250
and that would give the
slaves the spiritual power
00:37:37.250 --> 00:37:39.020
to stand up to the whites.
00:37:39.020 --> 00:37:42.710
So when it was brought to
Africa by freed slaves,
00:37:42.710 --> 00:37:45.380
Black soldiers and so on,
it resonated here.
00:37:45.380 --> 00:37:46.820
And that was the rhythm that became
00:37:46.820 --> 00:37:48.939
one of the earliest rhythms of highlife.
00:37:48.939 --> 00:37:51.680
(upbeat highlife music)
00:37:51.680 --> 00:37:54.200
- [Neneh] High life was
the dominant popular music
00:37:54.200 --> 00:37:57.380
in Ghana for most of the 20th century.
00:37:57.380 --> 00:37:59.450
The scene reached its creative peak
00:37:59.450 --> 00:38:02.543
in the '50s and '60s after independence.
00:38:03.710 --> 00:38:04.970
- The dance orchestras
00:38:04.970 --> 00:38:07.220
after the second World War were influenced
00:38:07.220 --> 00:38:09.830
by swing music
because of foreign troops,
00:38:09.830 --> 00:38:13.999
so we got the sort of swing-jazz
type of music after the war
00:38:14.001 --> 00:38:16.850
pioneered by E.T. Mensa and the Tempoes.
00:38:16.850 --> 00:38:18.530
And this was the style that was spread
00:38:18.530 --> 00:38:21.410
into the whole of West Africa
at the time of independence,
00:38:21.410 --> 00:38:24.001
so it became the soundtrack
of the independence movement.
00:38:41.692 --> 00:38:43.700
(crowd clapping)
00:38:43.700 --> 00:38:47.629
- [Neneh] Everything Ghanaian
came to symbolize liberation.
00:38:47.630 --> 00:38:51.800
Ghanaian culture and music
spread across West Africa,
00:38:51.800 --> 00:38:55.463
and many Ghanaians look at
the time as a golden age.
00:38:56.780 --> 00:38:59.780
The euphoria following the liberation
00:38:59.783 --> 00:39:01.940
lasted for about a decade.
00:39:01.940 --> 00:39:03.620
In the '70s and '80s,
00:39:03.620 --> 00:39:07.520
Ghana was plunged into
chronic political unrest.
00:39:07.520 --> 00:39:10.250
And in the '80s the
golden age of highlife
00:39:10.250 --> 00:39:12.260
was definitely over.
00:39:12.260 --> 00:39:16.130
It took a long time for
Ghana's music scene to recover.
00:39:16.130 --> 00:39:18.440
But when it did, it was once again
00:39:18.440 --> 00:39:22.250
by merging foreign
influences with local music.
00:39:22.250 --> 00:39:26.540
In the '90s, young Ghanaians
mixed hip-hop with highlife,
00:39:26.540 --> 00:39:28.550
thus creating hiplife.
00:39:28.550 --> 00:39:30.170
That was the start of a new era
00:39:30.170 --> 00:39:34.510
of musical confidence,
leading to the birth of azonto.
00:39:34.510 --> 00:39:37.593
(singing and azonto music)
00:39:39.080 --> 00:39:41.000
- And then of course we have hiplife,
00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:42.260
which is born out of hip-hop.
00:39:42.260 --> 00:39:44.330
When it first started it was mimed.
00:39:44.330 --> 00:39:46.640
It didn't use many African beats,
00:39:46.640 --> 00:39:49.340
it was so geared towards hip-hop.
00:39:49.340 --> 00:39:51.950
It was only the words
that were maybe in Twi
00:39:51.950 --> 00:39:53.030
or a local language.
00:39:53.030 --> 00:39:55.010
But as the years went on,
00:39:55.010 --> 00:39:58.078
they started to integrate
more African rhythms.
00:39:58.078 --> 00:40:01.911
(rapping and hiplife music)
00:40:11.840 --> 00:40:13.860
- [Neneh] From a brick
house in Northern Accra,
00:40:13.860 --> 00:40:16.790
Panji Anoff runs Pidgen Music,
00:40:16.790 --> 00:40:20.150
the biggest alternative
record company in Ghana.
00:40:20.150 --> 00:40:21.860
- We chose the name Pidgen Music
00:40:21.860 --> 00:40:24.080
because Pidgen includes everything.
00:40:24.080 --> 00:40:26.840
Pidgen includes aboriginal music,
00:40:26.840 --> 00:40:29.600
and Pidgen includes Nigerian music,
00:40:29.600 --> 00:40:31.130
and it includes Ghanaian music.
00:40:31.130 --> 00:40:33.800
I mean, some people are
inspired by Jamaica,
00:40:33.800 --> 00:40:36.470
they want to imitate everything
that is Jamaican.
00:40:36.470 --> 00:40:41.470
At the end of it you are
just a poor, second class,
00:40:43.670 --> 00:40:46.673
disgrace of a Jamaican,
because it is not you.
00:42:01.443 --> 00:42:05.276
(rapping and hip-hop music)
00:42:08.539 --> 00:42:11.303
- [Announcer] Are you ready
for Yaa Pono?
00:42:11.303 --> 00:42:15.211
(upbeat dance music and singing)
00:42:56.253 --> 00:43:00.086
(rapping and hip-hop beats)
00:43:11.810 --> 00:43:14.001
- [Neneh] Most uncompromising
of all the Pidgen artists
00:43:14.003 --> 00:43:16.670
is Wanlov the Kubolor.
00:43:16.670 --> 00:43:18.140
Together with Mensa,
00:43:18.140 --> 00:43:22.790
he recorded the world's first
pidgin musical, "Cause of Money."
00:43:22.790 --> 00:43:25.490
But it was songs like "Jesus is Coming"
00:43:25.490 --> 00:43:29.480
"Sexing Islamic Girls" and
"Strong Homosexual Guys"
00:43:29.480 --> 00:43:32.720
that made him a scandal
celebrity in Ghana.
00:43:32.720 --> 00:43:34.599
The attention he gets,
he uses to highlight
00:43:34.601 --> 00:43:37.001
environmental issues and gay rights.
00:43:37.003 --> 00:43:43.133
That, in turn, creates new controversies
in the deeply religious country.
00:45:16.811 --> 00:45:18.159
(rapping and hip-hop beats)
00:45:18.159 --> 00:45:19.343
♪ We know they fear guns ♪
00:45:19.343 --> 00:45:20.593
♪ We know they fear knives ♪
00:45:20.593 --> 00:45:23.387
♪ We know they fear
strong homosexual guys ♪
00:45:23.387 --> 00:45:24.700
♪ We know they fear guns ♪
00:45:24.700 --> 00:45:25.937
♪ We know they fear knives ♪
00:45:25.937 --> 00:45:28.677
♪ We know they fear
strong homosexual guys ♪
00:45:28.677 --> 00:45:29.958
♪ We know they fear guns ♪
00:45:29.958 --> 00:45:31.355
♪ We know they fear knives ♪
00:45:31.355 --> 00:45:33.731
♪ We know they fear
strong homosexual... ♪
00:45:37.014 --> 00:45:39.001
♪ Uncle Obama, Uncle Obama ♪
00:45:39.003 --> 00:45:41.001
♪ I like the size of your banana ♪
00:45:41.361 --> 00:45:42.998
♪ I like the size of your banana ♪
00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:44.305
♪ Can I give it to my monkey? ♪
00:45:44.703 --> 00:45:46.189
♪ Can I give it to my monkey? ♪
00:45:46.291 --> 00:45:48.108
♪ It will be so very happy ♪
00:45:48.508 --> 00:45:50.167
♪ It will be so very happy ♪
00:45:50.999 --> 00:45:52.760
♪ One day I went to the market... ♪
00:45:52.760 --> 00:45:55.400
- [Neneh] One of the
biggest azonto hits so far
00:45:55.400 --> 00:45:59.450
is "Uncle Obama," sung by
Wanlov's sister, Deborah.
00:45:59.450 --> 00:46:03.140
At first it was intended
as a joke among friends,
00:46:03.140 --> 00:46:05.240
but the video soon went viral.
00:46:05.240 --> 00:46:09.170
In 2012, "Uncle Obama" was played on CNN
00:46:09.170 --> 00:46:11.360
to introduce a presidential debate
00:46:11.360 --> 00:46:14.309
between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
00:46:14.309 --> 00:46:16.044
♪ My monkey say can he have some ♪
00:46:16.046 --> 00:46:17.999
♪ I reach there, he sell all left one ♪
00:46:18.001 --> 00:46:19.699
♪ Luckily it be the biggest one ♪
00:46:19.701 --> 00:46:21.643
♪ Uncle Obama, Uncle Obama ♪
00:46:21.646 --> 00:46:23.999
♪ I like the size of your banana ♪
00:47:22.212 --> 00:47:23.434
(both laughing)
00:48:25.980 --> 00:48:29.634
♪ This is, this is crazy ♪
00:48:29.634 --> 00:48:33.467
(rapping and azonto music)
00:50:11.356 --> 00:50:13.773
(instrumental string music)
00:52:36.635 --> 00:52:41.635
(singing and upbeat dance music)
Distributor: First Hand Films
Length: 52 minutes
Date: 2014
Genre: Expository
Language: English / English subtitles
Grade: 10-12, College, Adults
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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