This past weekend was different from anything I have experienced thus far. We took a trip to Kumasi in the central region of Ghana. The drive took us through Ghana's incredible country side. The forests are dense and the trees are huge. Driving here is a painful and uncomfortable experience. The roads are not in good shape and are covered with potholes and ruts. Imagine 6 hours of that each way.
Kumasi is insane! Urban chaos is something to experience in West Africa. We were able to spend a couple of hours in the largest outdoor market in West Africa. Picture a sea of people rushing about between vendors selling various foods and clothes and women balancing baskets of water and other goods on their heads. The most overwhelming part was the meat section which in itself was the size of any normal market in the states. Every kind of meat you could imagine (and many that i had no clue about) in various states of freshness and decay was piled on tables and on the ground on mats. The smell was intense to say the least. The market probably covers 4 or 5 football fields! All of this happens amidst choking fumes from thousands of tro-tros battling the traffic on the streets. People walk amidst the tro-tros next to the market and knock on your window to try to sell you various things. It was really interesting seeing people go about their daily lives, not the "lives" that people see on the typical tourist tracks. There were very few westerners in Kumasi so we definitely got our fair share of attention. I am still getting used to being the minority. One can never really get used to being stared at constantly and being called out because of the color of your skin. It still is a great way to meet people though... many jump at the opportunity to talk with a white person or to help us out when we are lost.
Kumasi is insane! Urban chaos is something to experience in West Africa. We were able to spend a couple of hours in the largest outdoor market in West Africa. Picture a sea of people rushing about between vendors selling various foods and clothes and women balancing baskets of water and other goods on their heads. The most overwhelming part was the meat section which in itself was the size of any normal market in the states. Every kind of meat you could imagine (and many that i had no clue about) in various states of freshness and decay was piled on tables and on the ground on mats. The smell was intense to say the least. The market probably covers 4 or 5 football fields! All of this happens amidst choking fumes from thousands of tro-tros battling the traffic on the streets. People walk amidst the tro-tros next to the market and knock on your window to try to sell you various things. It was really interesting seeing people go about their daily lives, not the "lives" that people see on the typical tourist tracks. There were very few westerners in Kumasi so we definitely got our fair share of attention. I am still getting used to being the minority. One can never really get used to being stared at constantly and being called out because of the color of your skin. It still is a great way to meet people though... many jump at the opportunity to talk with a white person or to help us out when we are lost.
Over the weekend we visited various sites in Kumasi dealing with the famous Ashanti empire. People are so proud of their heritage and ethnic ties here. Also had the privilege of having a private performance by Koo Nimo, a pioneer and famous composer of palm wine music in ghana. his music is mainly guitar based with more traditional rhythms in the background. Heard some incredible music and did our best to learn dances to the songs that he played for us. Thus far we have been able to meet and experience the music of the pioneers of nearly all of ghana's musical traditions.
Tomorrow is our final performance and farewell dinner here at the University of Ghana. We will be putting on a performance of 3 or 4 traditional pieces. I am dancing in one of them and drumming in the rest. We are going to do our best to make it through the performance without messing up too much haha. It can be quite humbling trying to learn such rhythmically complex music that most Africans began learning at birth. Later in the evening we will gather with all of our professors and lecturers for a farewell dinner and lecture by Nketia, one of the founders of African ethnomusicology. I can not believe that tomorrow is our last day. My roommate and I were recently talking about how comfortable we have become here. Now it's time to try something new I guess.
On Friday morning we leave for the village of Dagbamete. I have no idea what to expect there. There will be much drumming and research and I have a feeling that we will get to know a lot of the locals very well. On Friday and Saturday we will be taking part in funeral celebrations and on Sunday we will have an opportunity to observe the traditional religious rituals (including animal sacrifice.... hmm) at the local shrine. This is going to be interesting.
I am not sure what internet is going to look like for the rest of the trip. I am guessing that there will not be internet in the village... but who knows, Ghana keeps on surprising me. So my apologies in advance if there are no updates for a while. After the 2 weeks in the village I will be hanging around in Ghana for a little more than two weeks. I will definitely head up to Mole national park to check out the elephants and other big critters. Other than that I am hoping to spend some time in the Muslim north of the country and hopefully get a little off of the beaten tourist track. Who knows what the next month is going to look like. I hope that I will get a chance to make some updates on the blog. Anyways, I am off to write a paper and start doing some packing. ciao.
Tomorrow is our final performance and farewell dinner here at the University of Ghana. We will be putting on a performance of 3 or 4 traditional pieces. I am dancing in one of them and drumming in the rest. We are going to do our best to make it through the performance without messing up too much haha. It can be quite humbling trying to learn such rhythmically complex music that most Africans began learning at birth. Later in the evening we will gather with all of our professors and lecturers for a farewell dinner and lecture by Nketia, one of the founders of African ethnomusicology. I can not believe that tomorrow is our last day. My roommate and I were recently talking about how comfortable we have become here. Now it's time to try something new I guess.
On Friday morning we leave for the village of Dagbamete. I have no idea what to expect there. There will be much drumming and research and I have a feeling that we will get to know a lot of the locals very well. On Friday and Saturday we will be taking part in funeral celebrations and on Sunday we will have an opportunity to observe the traditional religious rituals (including animal sacrifice.... hmm) at the local shrine. This is going to be interesting.
I am not sure what internet is going to look like for the rest of the trip. I am guessing that there will not be internet in the village... but who knows, Ghana keeps on surprising me. So my apologies in advance if there are no updates for a while. After the 2 weeks in the village I will be hanging around in Ghana for a little more than two weeks. I will definitely head up to Mole national park to check out the elephants and other big critters. Other than that I am hoping to spend some time in the Muslim north of the country and hopefully get a little off of the beaten tourist track. Who knows what the next month is going to look like. I hope that I will get a chance to make some updates on the blog. Anyways, I am off to write a paper and start doing some packing. ciao.
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