A Political Safari: Spreading The Word About Peaceful Elections In Ghana

Once upon a time, long before I started Akwaaba, I DJed a birthday party in Los Angeles for a group of groovy creative types. Turns out to be the birthday boy was filmmaker Jarreth Merz, who would later on piece together An African Election, a fantastic documentary about the 2008 elections in Ghana. The movie paints a compelling portrait of politics in Ghana, giving a much needed nuanced overview of the realities behind Ghana’s 2008 elections, which Western nations often consider Africa’s current democratic success story. I was lucky enough to see the movie last year, but unfortunately most Ghanaians have yet to watch it.

In an effort to spread knowledge about democracy in Ghana, and to ensure peaceful elections next December, Jarreth is going a step further with A Political Safari, by pushing for a grassroots campaign through Ghana’s different regions: his plan is to have the movie translated into the 5 most common languages in Ghana: Twi, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani and Hausa. Then to have a mobile truck bring the movie to the people, particularly in remote areas where the electoral process is most sensitive.

Of course, this fantastic project comes with a price tag, one that we strongly encourage you to chip into. This is a project with legs, this is a project that may actually make a difference next fall. Especially after president Atta Mills’ sudden death last Tuesday, which adds yet another odd twist to Ghana’s election campaign.

R2Bees – Agyei – Remix Contest

If you haven’t heard of R2Bees, clearly you have not been to Ghana recently. These cats are at the forefront of the newest craze: afrobeats. With an S, and with little to do with Fela Kuti. A couple of years back, their collaboration with Nigeria’s Wande Coal on the song Kiss Your Hand saw them blowing up in Ghana, and to some extent in Nigeria. Fast forward to the fall of 2011, when Agyei was on repeat anywhere you turned your head.

R2Bees is a loose crew with many ramifications in Tema, the new hotbed for music in Ghana. At its core R2Bees is made up of rapper Paedae and singer Mugeez, with Killbeatz handling production. The song features Ghana’s premier rapper Sarkodie, as well as Nana Boroo, the man behind the massive 2010 hit Ahayede. Given that Killbeatz is on top of his game in Ghana, remixers will have to work extra hard to top his flyness. Listen for yourself:

The rules are as follows:

– download the acapella

– do your thing, work your magic, procrastinate on everything else in your life until you are satisfied with the result

– send us a link to download your creation (no attachments please), either by email, or in our Soundcloud dropbox. We can’t stress this enough: make sure your song is properly tagged. Make sure it has your name somewhere in it. And please make sure we can download it, if we can’t download it we won’t listen to it.

– deadline for this contest is March 31.

– winners will be selected with R2Bees, and their remixes will appear on the Agyei Remix EP. Remixers get 33% revenue share on their remix, including direct sales as well as third party licenses.

– if you don’t feel like sending it back, no stress, do anything you like with it. As long as you don’t make money off of it, we’re cool with it. If you want to license it somewhere else, or make money from it in any other way, that’s also possible, but this bit will require our approval.

That’s it!!! Get to your studios ooooo!

Edoheart – “Sosomoney cockplease” Remix Contest

Remember Edoheart and Sosomoneycockplease? We’ve been preparing some remixes of this tune, featuring… we can’t tell you just yet. But we decided, together with Edoheart, to add one remix by a yet to be found remixer… which could be YOU, given this is another contest!!! On this one we have to make it quick, please send your remix back no later than February 15. In case you are new to this, here is how it works:

– download the stems and the original song here – CLOSED! EP is already out 😉

– assemble these stems however you see fit, then send us the result of your work.

– if we like it and select it, you will be featured on the Sosomoneycockplease EP to be released this Spring. You will get a 33% revenue share for sales related to your remix.

– before you send: make sure the song is tagged. If it doesn’t say your name somewhere, it will get lost.

– you can send a link to download the track by email (no attachments please) or add it to our Soundcloud Dropbox.

– if you win, we will contact you to inform you, get original unmastered wav file, photos, bio etc.

Music Video: in and out by betina quest

Oct 22, 2020

in and out is about all those times of finding yourself in between the 'here', the 'there' and the 'nowhere' while trusting you will eventually find your way and the peace within. The visuals depict that very state of mind and lure you into that special space. Take a...

Lyrics Video: Jeune Lio – My Love feat. Magasco

Aug 18, 2020

Follow up to Abidjan-based Cameroonian DJ and creative director Jeune Lio, here's the lyrics video to his debut single My Love featuring Magasco. Video animation was done by Ozaki & Tiemo. RELATED Follow up to Abidjan-based Cameroonian DJ and...

Music Video: Solid K – Music on the Road

Aug 11, 2020

Music on the Road was shot by Daniel Kwabena Marmo of The 3 Suns. According to Solid K, " The video tries to capture how I feel about music, it depicts how hard it is to explain with words. It shows what a surreal feeling it brings to me. As can be seen, I walk...