By John Owoo

(In Casablanca – Morocco)

A body of work by Congolese artist Yvanovitch Mbaya that are heavily influenced by his passion for travel and its seeming impact on his life ended recently at the CDA Gallery in the Moroccan capital, Casablanca. 

Currently based in Casablanca, his vast experience of traveling around the African continent informed the complexities and constructed stories – that arise from these honorable and dishonorable trips – and are embedded in the works on display. 

Far from romantic praise stories, there abound intimate narratives that infests the canvases with creepy images that recall, confront and challenge travelers and voyagers on foreign lands amidst encounters in friendly and hostile environments.  

Through huge human figures in earth colours – that seem to float and shift either in distress or in comfort – Mbaya descends into his own world and takes viewers on a rather mute journey that happens to be one of discovery for him. 

Titled “Gâta Bantu” and curated by the Moroccan writer / researcher, Syham Weigant, the artist links picturesque andsomewhat exaggerated figures with ecological and relational dimensions while succinctly defining them by ancestral traditions.

Employing the use of coffee underlines the ecological intentions of Mbaya, who considers it as a trajectory of African social and cultural history while committing himself to the preservation of age-old African traditions, norms, mores and their relationship with nature. 

Undeniably, his figures bring back cherished memories and ancient wisdom while narrating contemporary stories that affect lots of people across the globe, who are compelled by circumstances to move from their land of birth and settle far from their homeland and possibly strange and hostile places. 

Trained at the National Superior School of Fine Arts in the Congolese capital Brazzaville, Mbaya is a former student of the acclaimed Congolese artist, writer and set designer Bill Kouélany.

The works will equally be displayed in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh in February 2023. 

By John Owoo

(In Accra – Ghana)

Master colorist Larry Otoo’s use of colors with different tints, tones and shades alongside transitory effects of natural light, appear in sync with the narratives that accompany his iconic and musically themed paintings. 

Indeed, his works, which are currently on display at the Artist Alliance Gallery in Accra, show him as a master technician with a mission to capture and express the delights, victories, joys and moods alongside his frustrations, which are presented in colours with fleeting effects of natural light. 

Undeniably, his color palettes are soft and tend to radiate – while expressing deep and innate feelings from his observation of activities around him – thereby providing an intimate feel to art collectors, critics and viewers alike. 

Vivid plugs of acrylic satiate his canvasses – some of which are large – while vibrant tones alongside exaggerated eyes and agitated brush strokes syndicate to form astounding African scenes, which are quite vibrant and leave an impressive impact on viewers. 

Working largely with three primary colors – red, yellow and blue, which he applies mostly without shades or mixtures thereby terminating in diverse scenes and extraordinary portraits of women as well as dejection and adversity.

His themes include traditional groups of drummers, dancers, markets and crowds with musical subjects providing joy and hope while transforming them into abstract rhythms that invoke jazz, which is becoming more and more popular in Ghana.

Otoo, who is widely collected over the globe, has exhibited in Ivory Coast, Nigeria, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Canada, United States, Japan and various venues in Ghana.

Curated by the Ghanaian artist / academic Dr. Sela Kodjo Adjei and British art historian / critic Asana Greenstreet, the exhibition ends on Monday December 26, 2022. 

By John Owoo

(In Accra – Ghana)

The second edition of “Our Music Festival” – which featured five evergreen musicians ended last Monday at the Goethe-Institut with scissor kicks – an amalgam of highlife with other genres that brought nostalgic feelings to several members of the audience.

With a lineup of living legends such as Pat Thomas, K.K. Kabobo, Akablay, Nii Aryee Ankrah and the Germany based drummer Ekowmania, the artists showcased their singular and collective influences while refracting them into a new synthesis.

Undeniably, highlife laced with inflections of ragga (K.K. Kabobo), highlife mixed with Kundum rhythms (Akablay), contemporary highlife (Pat Thomas / Nii Aryee Ankrah), highlife fused with reggae (Ekwomania) and traditional music from Efeee Noko Cultural Troupe, turned the evening into one of a possible renaissance for Ghanaian highlife. 

Supported by Makcabo Band, these matured musicians brought new life into highlife as horns, guitars, keyboards and percussive instruments utilized the essential rhythms and sounds of highlife to showcase its power and capacity to inspire diverse music genres.

With frenetic pace drumming and recurring rhythms alongside changeable guitar lines, the audience was taken on a journey that transferred them into a musical groove, where highlife was born, nurtured and transformed into diverse variations.

Earlier two Ghanaian musicians – saxophonist Gyedu Blay-Ambolley and flutist Dela Botri – presented a plaque to the director of the Goethe-Institut Heike Friesel for her support and that of the Institut for the arts and artists in Ghana.

In a recorded message, the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mark Okraku Mantey sent fraternal greetings to the organizers of the festival and expressed the readiness of government to continue to support the promotion of tourist sites and the arts in general.

Organized by Ekowmania, “Our Music Festival” aims at offering a platform for Ghanaian artistes with different approaches to music to showcase their stuff while reminding the world of some of the attractive melodies that abound in Ghana.

Goethe-Institut Ghana, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, UNESCO, Triple A Security Printing and Packaging, Chop n Chill, Golstar Air and FYNNexhibits supported the festival.

By John Owoo

(In Accra – Ghana)

A multi-disciplinary production that effectively blended elements of traditional music from Ghana and Vietnam – that proved the power of cross-cultural collaborations – recently charmed an enthusiastic audience at the Goethe-Institut in Accra.  

Directed by the Vietnamese electro-acoustic musician / composer Luong Hue Trinh, the piece, which highlighted the plight of oppressed people, also embraced the use of traditional / contemporary dance, poetry, spoken word, theatre and new music. 

Titled “The Vivid Silences”, the performance, which was set in different parts of the Institut, made use of a variety of sounds – from street hawkers, mini bus / taxi stations and streets that fed into reflective tunes from the Atenteben dynamo Dela Botri and the xylophone / mbira maestro Aaron Bebe Sakura.

Dances from Shelly Ohene-Nyako, Keziah Appreku and Oteanankanduro were deeply distinctive, inventive, angular and spasmodic as their agile bodies transmitted messages on oppression, suffering and discrimination alongside their innate thoughts and prejudices. 

Interspersed by energizing solos, the dancing was quite direct, controlled and compelling – one can easily sense deeply thought-through references that highlighted the difficulties and challenges facing millions of people around the globe. 

Multi-talented artist, Oteanankanduro ambled up from the library and majestically moved his way through the audience with a voice that progressed from high to low and low to high pitches as he rendered a poem that kept the crowd at the edge of their seats. 

With Joyce Markyere on traditional drums and Vivian Lotsu on bells, “The Vivid Silences”, is an intricate production that showcased rich music, agile bodies, inventive movements, infectious rhythms and effervescent energy that made the evening a memorable one. 

Educated at the Vietnam National Academy of Music, Luong has focused on electro-acoustic music and is interested in exploring traditional and experimental elements in music, visuals and scenography while creating artworks for specific sites. Her works have been presented in Asia, Europe, North America, Australia and a number of countries in Africa.

Goethe-Institut Ghana produced and sponsored the production in collaboration with the Alliance Française in Accra. 

By John Owoo

(In Rabat – Morocco)

Visa for Music Festival 2022 opened last week with magical concerts by three dynamic bands and musicians – Fanie Fayar (DR Congo), Demi Portion (Morocco / France) and the Cosmic Carnival (Morocco / Holland) – at the King Mohammed V National Theatre in the Moroccan capital Rabat.

In a brief speech, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid expressed his optimism for the future of the festival following the high interest  exhibited by musicians and other stakeholders following the Covid 19 pandemic and its attendant lookdowns and restrictions.

Festival director, Brahim El Mazned revealed that the 9th edition attracted participants from over seventy countries including thirty from the African continent adding that the objective of the festival has always been to contribute to the structuring of the music industry in Africa and the Middle East, while enhancing its global influence.

The festival’s lineup and topics for discussion is a testament to the traction Rabat holds for musicians, promoters, producers and academics who are afforded the opportunity to engage, collaborate, network and above all participate in a celebration of musical and cultural diversity. 

With groups such as Little Kesho (Rwanda), Beb Diwan (Tunisia), Zef (Lebanon), Rasha Nahas (Palestine / Germany), Pamela Badjogo (Gabon / France), Mr. Leo (Cameroon) Kwame Yeboah (Ghana / UK), Julia Colom (Spain) and Anss Oublaid (Morocco), the party literally never stopped as magnetic performances and after parties rocked the chilly nights in Rabat.

Others bands that mesmerized crowds on the various stages are Tenin Diawara (Guinea) and Odreii (Canada / Jamaica), Amara Quartet (Portugal), Abir El Abed (Morocco), Saintrick (Congo / Senegal), Wood Sound (Benin) and Tenin Diawara (Guinea), Pamela Badjogo (Gabon / France) and Ans T-Crazy (Guinea).

Undeniably, one could sense the sudden realization of witnessing live music in the flesh again resulting in smiles that rippled throughout the crowds as hands and feet moved with upbeat rhythms, beats and voices that soared through the night air like sparrows in flight.

Ultimately, live music audiences were excited to witness vigorous performances of recent artistic creations while interacting with diverse personalities and a host of spirited and joyous musicians who were ever ready to entertain and amuse.

Visa for Music aims at galvanizing the cultural and creative industries of the concerned region in order to stimulate their economies while providing platforms for musicians to showcase the artistic creations and the stimulation of intellectual dialogues. 

It was organized by the Moroccan Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, Atlas Azawan, Anya, Hiba Foundation and Rabat Capitale de la Culture with sponsorship from InDrive, Institut Français, Embassy of France, La Francophonie, SACEM and Orange Foundation. 

Pictures – Courtesy of Visa for Music

By John Owoo

(In Rabat – Morocco)

A number of panel / round table discussions on the future of the music industry in Africa and the Middle East with diverse topics and subjects marked the 2022 edition of Visa for Music Festival, which is currently ongoing in the Moroccan capital Rabat. 

Held largely at the Café de la Scene Renaissance and Coupole Palais Tazi in downtown Rabat, themes and topics include “The Export of Music – To Which Markets”, “Which Music for Which Industry – Restitution of CCI Work in Morocco”, Public Space and Current Music – What Actions for a Wide Territorial Attractiveness Through Music?”.

Others are “Generating Investments in CCIs in Africa – “Diversifying Sources and Methods of Financing”, “How Music can be Integrated in Revolutionary Ways Through Web 3”, “Reconsideration of Mobility of Artists and Professionals in Cultural and Creative Sectors” and “Language as a Structuring Toll for Musical Expressions – What Roles, Issues and Impacts”.

Based on figures on music exports by The Netherlands, Germany, United States, United Kingdom and France, which amounts to over 89.7% of global revenues for sheet music sold on international markets during 2021, panelists dilated on diverse strategies including collaboration, partnerships and infrastructural development to increase the share of developing countries in the global market. 

Touching on the revitalization and regeneration of dead public spaces through creative practices, panelists noted the importance of bringing life back to the public realm and called for a revamp of the processes, which will ensure the effective use of public spaces for creative purposes.

New ways of bankrolling the music industry besides the traditional ones, which include self-financing, grants, subsidies, private investments, debt financing, crowdfunding and sponsorship must be set in motion so as to boost and enhance the availability of funds to improve creativity while ensuring a positive effect on various economies. 

Equally, the discussions facilitated a clear roadmap on how to keep abreast with new information and communication tools – indeed, African music can make great strides and reach out to new continental and global markets through these contemporary tools. 

Undeniably, Intellectual Property is important for every artiste in this digital age – nevertheless, it is critical to seek and acquire legal advice as regards to all transactions since content IP to protect copyright ownership in the digital space provides a room for massive reach as well as massive infringement.

Held under the auspices of King Mohammed VI, Visa For Music Festival aims at promoting the constitution of a music marketplace in Africa and the Middle East in order to offer greater visibility as well as an environment that favours creativity and professionalization in the cultural sector.

Directed by Brahim El Mazned, the festival is also a means to galvanize the cultural and creative industries of the concerned region in order to stimulate their economies while providing platforms for musicians to showcase the artistic creations and the stimulation of intellectual dialogues. 

It is equally aimed at promoting music from Morocco, Africa and the Middle-East to Europe and northern markets, encourage artistic mobility between African countries and the Middle-East while participating in the development of local cultural sectors.

Others are develop the music scene at an international level while contributing to the improvement of the status of artists from southern countries, strengthen the North-South and South-South relationships in the cultural sector. 

Visa for Music was organized by the Moroccan Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, Atlas Azawan, Anya, Hiba Foundation and Rabat Capitale de la Culture with sponsorship from InDrive, Institut Français, Embassy of France, La Francophonie, SACEM and Orange Foundation. 

By John Owoo

(In Rabat – Morocco)

Photographs by the late Malian photographer Malick Sidibé who created waves with works that are characterized by emotions, spurts of enthusiasm and joy during the transition of Mali from colonial rule to an independent country. 

Currently on display at the King Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in the Moroccan capital Rabat, his works also created the space for numerous activities that took place in the years after independence from France in 1960, depicting liveliness and energy that actually helped to shape Malian youth culture.

Titled “La Promesse de Soi”, this monographic exhibition showcases portrait subjects who affirm their ambitions and desire for social rank while embodying it through photography. Indeed, party scenes immortalized by Sidibé from the 1960s to the 1980s stand out in the elaborate exhibition hall. 

Equally on show are images relating to family frescos, which are captured in and out of his studio, which cover important events – childbirth, birthdays and marriage ceremonies among others. Consequently, models eventually become actors and actresses as the images are revealed in all magnificence while asserting beauty and success.   

Sidibé, who died in 2016 set his attention on studio portraits alongside a background of the fabrics in vogue during the period while marshaling a black-and-white linoleum carpet on which he took pictures with diverseprops including motorcycles, record players, cars and television sets.

His lively pictures of young people at parties, sports events and swimming / picnicking on the shores of RiverNiger, which is the main river in West Africa as well as dancing in nightclubs, showcase the energy and life in postcolonial Mali. 

Undeniably, the metropolitan, stylish and animated images of Sidibé contributed to the emergence of the contemporary African and fundamentally changed the idea of black beauty in fashion and society over the years. 

Sidibé’s photographs have been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions, including the first Rencontres de la Photographie Africaine (Bamako 1994); In/Sight: African Photographers, 1940 to date, Guggenheim Museum (1996); ¡Flash Afrique!, Kunsthalle Wien, (Vienna 2001).

Others are You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge Massachusetts (2001); traveled to Hammer Museum of Art, University of California, Los Angeles [2002]; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida (2002–03) and High Museum of Art, Atlanta (2003).

The rest are The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, (1945–1994), Museum Villa Stuck (Munich 2002); traveled to the Martin-Gropius-Bau, (Berlin 2001); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2001), MoMA PS1, (New York 2002) and the Venice Biennale (2008). 

Since 1995, he has served as the president of the Groupement national des photographes professionnels du Mali. In 2003, he became the first African photographer to receive the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography. 

He was also awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Venice Biennale (2007); Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement, International Center of Photography, New York (2008) and Baume and Mercier Award, Photo España (2009). 

The Museum takes advantage of Morocco’s geo-strategic position as a crossroad between Europe and Africa and tries to play an important role in the cultural history of both continents through the dissemination of arts and culture.

Masters such as Caesar, Giacometti, Goya, Picasso, El Glaoui, Gharbaoui, Chaibia Talal, Delacroix and Cartier-Bresson among others have been exhibited at the museum as part of events and retrospectives.

By John Owoo

(In Accra – Ghana)

Diverse figurative portraits that reflect a transformational narrative of mutual discovery and connection by Slovenian artist Tjaša Rener are currently on display at Gallery 1957 in Accra.

Over the past several months, Rener has benefited from portrait sittings of some creatives, which was organized by the gallery that posed a huge challenge to the artist, who is currently based in Accra. 

Undeniably, the artist spent a considerable time researching some of her subjects through interactions anddoor to door studio visits that enabled her to establish a point of contact – thereby ensuring portraits that embrace a flow of energy – and actually, a quality of aliveness and presence. 

Indeed, live painting by Rener has evolved into a deeply personal and transformational part of her practice as she strives to achieve a likeness of the sitter that is recognisable to those who have seen them while ensuring that the portrait is good record of their appearance. 

Without doubt, Rener exhibits a successful mastery of the human anatomy, which she paints with alacrity. With human faces being asymmetrical, she proved her skills through subtle left-right differences thereby revealing her knowledge about underlying bone and tissue structure, which helps make a convincing portrait.

Working primarily on paper and non-stretched canvases while alternating between charcoal and acrylics as well as dry and oil pastels, Rener equally juggles a number of brushes, which are not cleaned during sessions. 

Titled, “In Your Presence I Meet My Absence”, the collection is a body of work that theorizes the notion of homecoming as a shared and mutual pursuit, while being refreshing in both its humanity and emotional honesty.

The use of light, subject and composition are visible in Rener’s portraits – and these elements stand out clearly due to research, which obviously enabled her to convey physical and emotional messages.

The exhibition ends on Tuesday December 1, 2022. 

By John Owoo

(In Accra – Ghana)

An exhibition of paintings by Araba Opoku that relate to the current socio-economic turmoil facing Ghana is currently on show at Gallery 1957 in Accra.

Indeed, she paints psychological dreamscapes that delve into socio- economic problems with this particular body of work, which focusses on fetching water in the middle of the night – a daunting yet dreamlike cycle that appears in resonance with the moon.

Influenced by her current studies for a degree in Psychology at the University of Ghana, she embarked on a research that explored individual and familial effects on those deprived of basic needs, while commending their resilience and ability to withstand such shocks.

With her ethereal works largely in abstract formats, aquatic blues and vegetative greens, she subtly brings to the fore her formalized experience of collecting water – a familiarity she acquired in one of the sprawling neighborhoods in Accra.

Undeniably, this immersive show invites viewers on a sensory journey that starts with the artist’s ritualistic vigil and travels across the many moons of our solar system while investigating their origins and mythological namesakes.

Deriving her titles from Sci-Fi TV shows including the fantastical “Sandman”, “Stranger Things”, animated space opera “Final Space” and adult comedy “Rick and Morty” among others, Opoku manages to present science as a discipline shrouded in secrecy as we witness some form of communication between the creator, planets and galaxies.

While surveying a tradition of fetching water at midnight across generations, the artist takes into consideration the effects of moonlight, which is believed to energize and relieve stress while improving relaxation by prompting the natural release of melatonin.

Also on display is Opoku’s first video directed by Christine Boateng. Titled “Spiders Blanket”, it documented the sensory, insomniatic stages of midnight rising and water rationing with her sister.  

The exhibition is being curated by Catherine Finerty.

By John Owoo

(In Accra – Ghana)

“Be-Longing” – a duet piece by Cactus Junges Theatre that created an entire world on stage by invoking diverse contemporary issues – recently delighted a capacity audience at the Goethe-Institut in Accra.

A dynamic play in its action and smooth in its tone, “Be-Longing” reveled in its theatricality, thereby revealing the effects of this courageous production. Indeed, it was slow, intense and electric at the same time while moving the audience to cheer and applaud intermittently.

As diverse themes including slavery, colonialism, racism, culture, perilous journeys across the Sahara, poverty in Africa and Europe among others unfolded during the performance, the crowd appeared to sit on the edge of their seats as they await a surprise from the next scene.

The hour-long piece equally touched on subjects relating to romance, flexibility and new paradigms of mutual respect and equality between men and women, idealistic African entrepreneurship and the awareness of the fact that there is power in partnership within the continent of Africa and beyond.

With Emmanuel Edoror and Gifty Wiafe on stage, the dialogues were nuanced and thoughtful thereby resulting in a combative intellectual complexity alongside sheer bare-toothed drama, which took the audience by storm.  

Drawing equally on dance, music, comedy and spoken word, the production is accessible in many senses – through its incorporated subtitles alongside a simple, easy-to-understand approach. Indeed, it told neatly rounded stories, some of which are unpalatable and unpleasant.

Directed by Barbara Kemmler with texts from Petra Kindler and Chief Moomen, the drama is replete with elemental power while possessing a great deal of thematic potential, which were by and large explored by the two writers.

With choreography by Frank Sam and scenography by Henry Nyadiah, the play is a carefully crafted metaphor and a delightful narrative despite the fact that it is equally representing real issues that is plaguing and continues to harass many parts of the world.

Cactus Junges Theatre, which is based in the German city of Münster collaborated with Accra based Tete Adehyemma Theatre. The State of North Rhine-Westphalia within the Ghana Partnership, Fachstelle Weltkirche Katholische Bistum Münster, Engagement Global and Goethe-Institut Ghana supported the performance.