lessons with Moustapha Tete Addy

Okay... so Ghana is pretty cool (definitely not in the temperature sense though haha). We spent the weekend in a small village called Kokrobite just west of the capital of Accra. It was really nice to get away from the insanity of urban living here. Traffic here is insane. It can literally take you 30 minutes to drive a couple of miles as many of the roads are in poor condition and are far too small for the number of cars... lanes are definitely not paid attention to. Anyways, that's just a taste of daily life.

Kokrobite was paradise... definitely not the Africa portrayed in Western media. Palm trees, incredible beaches etc. I spent way too much time on the beach reading and hanging out with the local kids. I did my best to teach them hacky sack but they ended up using it as a soccer ball haha. Also had a chance to do a little body surfing. We stayed in an incredibly cheap place ($5 a night) where there was no running water and you had to take showers with water drawn from the well... I am convinced there is no better way to shower. Friday night they had a performance of traditional drumming and dancing and Saturday an African Reggae group performed. It was a lot of fun talking with the various people who pass through Kokrobite... various African travelers and a ton of Rastafas (is that how you spell that?). Only regret for the weekend... not wearing more sunscreen... ouch!

In the afternoons we studied drumming with a famous master drummer in Ghana... Moustapha Tete Addy. He is really an incredible man and it was enlightening to study with him. He lives on a compound right along the sea with a massive palm tree grove. There is nothing like coconut milk fresh from the tree!! A lot of his teaching is interspersed with life wisdom which was really fascinating. Very wise and charismatic man. We were able to hear a performance of his yesterday evening.

Time is already flying by. This is only the second week of classes but time will be speeding up soon. However, I know that this won't be my last time in Ghana! I am getting to know people in the group really well... Canadians are really cool... very laid back. School is going to be getting busier here fairly soon with a couple of upcoming papers. I am learning more than I can handle in terms of culture and music. The topics we are dealing with are really challenging but are incredibly mind opening. Everybody in the group is finding it hard to stay up to date with the readings and all since the culture is much more laid back than in the West. Caffeine, power, personal success and wealth don't drive society here. It is a very communal society where people will bend over backwards to help each other and where there is no rush getting from one place to another. Just being immersed in this society on a daily basis puts you into contact with amazing people and ideas.

It is funny... I came here expecting to learn about the conflict of Western and traditional African styles of music. But much of the music in Ghana doesn't have those barriers. The interaction and sharing of ideas between the two has been really mind opening. There are so many musical genres here it is overwhelming. Traditional drumming mixes with jazz which mixes with soul, reggae and everything that you can imagine. I have started taking lessons on the Seprowa (spelling?) a 10 stringed instrument used in a lot of Ghanaian highlife and other genres of music. Learning that and various drumming styles is giving me a feel for the wealth of Ghanaian music.

Getting in the flow of life here. I have officially broken my caffeine addiction! Ghanaians usually don't drink caffeinated beverages in the morning. Life is so much better without caffeine. Still haven't gotten sick even though I am eating everything that I shouldn't here. Usually go through a couple bags of fresh mango and pineapple a day. It is so good. Newest food... fufu... a giant blob of yam and cassava paste in a bowl of spicy tomato broth... a new favorite.

Classes are done for the week. We have a free weekend. Off to travel to a famous waterfall in the morning a couple of hours away from here. Then going to a wedding on Saturday... should be really cool. Hope everybody is well!