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)