Alliance Française was the venue for a large gathering of all sorts of people on Saturday, December 18th 2010. The event being held on the grounds was "ACCRA [DOT] ALT", a celebration of alternative arts [in Ghana, I presume]. There were the alternative arts enthusiasts, the curious n semi-curious, hawkers, gymnasts, exhibitors, you name it…….. And then there was ME.
I eagerly showed up at 7pm, delusional, I suppose, that the show was going to start on time. Disappointingly, this was another avenue, I guess, for a Ghanaian display of ignorance of time efficiency and promptness. And not surprisingly, the show was finally over at about half past midnight, instead of the slated 11pm.
Act after act, I was expecting the display of alternative music and arts promised by the organizers. Instead, I was presented with the Ghanaian definition of hip hop and hip life. Well…..not in all fairness. With the exception of performances from Wanlov the Kuborlor, Yaa Pono, Efya, ART and Spoken word from Mutombo Da Poet, everything was a class act of typical performances at any Ghanaian event.
I was disappointed to see the likes of Jayso, Lil' Shaker, Rumor; all from the Skillions camp on the stage. Likewise JTown, Trigmatic, D-Black, The CANZ, etc. It is not like I have anything against them professionally or personally, but I thought I was going for an "ALTERNATIVE ARTS" show.
How do hip hop and hip life feature in alternative arts? When can one be sure of ever paying for an event and get exactly what one bargained for or more and not less? It is a disappointing mess to say the very least. It is not as if what we call hip hop, in Ghana, is of a good enough quality anyways. I will not even get started on that topic.
The organization of the event was poor in my opinion. Yes! It was so poor, I was appalled. For example, anyone could walk up on stage and introduce the next act just because they are friends with that next act or the organizers. I figured there should have been a moderator of some kind? O wait! There were 2 moderators…… or at least there were supposed to be. I kept wondering where Mantse a.k.a. Accra Boy disappeared after introducing the first act….. Or was it the first two? Then you have the likes of The CANZ, an international act, having to introduce local acts on stage. "WHERE THEY DO THAT AT?"
Aside the quality performance I received from the REAL alternative arts artistes and the house-moving performance Yaa Pono and Wanlov gave, everything else was a no-no. Hopefully, there was a lesson learnt from this first show and the subsequent productions would be much better.
A success? I think not! And I hope the organizers are not, in any way, moved to thinking they provided a successful event in any way, shape or form.
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