Best Week Ever: “Loud” in Accra, Guinness White Party, Art Exhibition, Kokrobite, Toga Birthday Party

So this post should have gone up about two weeks ago when all the festivities began, so I apologize, but hopefully this is better late than never!

The Loud in Accra Concert had two performances scheduled: one for Saturday at the La Palm hotel, and one for Sunday at the Trade Fair Centre. We went to the Sunday concert because it was less expensive. The banners advertising the show boasted an audience of over 20,000 people, and the hottest performances by the biggest artists in Ghana, like Batman, Ofori Amponsah and Wutah. What was odd was that none of the ads gave any indication of what time the concert would begin. We figured it would probably take place after sunset, after things cooled down a bit, and since it was supposed to be the greatest concert in Ghana yet, we would just ask our Ghanaian friends about the exact time of the show. What was weird was nobody besides us seemed to even know about the concert, or they had heard about the concert at La Palm the night before, but had no idea what time the concert would take place on Sunday at the Trade Fair Centre. So we guessed.

We made dinner first. Del made her fabulous hot wings, Katie made her amazing baked macaroni and cheese, and Franny made some delicious homemade potato wedges. I cheered them on. Dinner took longer to prepare than expected – because you can’t rush the making of a masterpiece, so we didn’t head out to the concert until around 8pm or so. There were five of us in tow: Katie, Del, David, Mariamma and myself. When we arrived at the Trade Fair Centre, everything looked pretty dead. We approached the gate and there were people clad in Loud in Accra attire, and they told us to go ahead and buy our tickets and come back in about an hour (around 9:30pm). So we went to a nearby bar across the street and just hung out and listened to various hip life music for about an hour, during which I invited everyone back at the compound to come out and join us for the concert.

We returned to the Trade Fair Centre a little after 9:30, operating on Ghanaian time as usual. We heard music in the distance, but it sounded like mainstream American hip hop. As we walked through the Trade Fair Centre, I felt like we were walking through a deserted amusement park, or Coney Island. We passed this dome-like indoor arena that looked like a UFO ready for lift-off. And then we arrived at the concert field site, and we were the only people there! The only people there to see the concert anyway. There were a few people wearing Loud in Accra T-shirts that were walking around, but there was no concert. In fact, they seemed to be taking stuff down. We asked around and found out that the performers had come earlier and left because there was no audience! Since the stage was empty, they let us go on stage and hold our own private concert. The novelty wore off and it was time to ask for refunds and free T-shirts and hats. A few people ran back to the gate to find out about free T-shirts and hats, and that’s when we met Frederick Steve and Pauly Blaze, who were working at the concert that night. While we waited, they took us back on stage and taught us how to salsa dance. I wish I had pictures – but we were expecting to go to this huge concert and didn’t want to bring anything valuable with us! We headed back to the main gate, where we learned that there was an after party at some nightclub that all the performers were at, and they were going to try to get us in for free, VIP. Cool deal, why not. However, this just resulted in lots more waiting. The free T-shirts and hats ended up being locked in some guy’s car, so we finally just got our refunds and left.

Anti-climactic, I know, but good things come to those who wait! Frederick, Steve and Pauly Blaze had told us about another concert happening on Thursday, sponsored by Guinness, that was invitation only. They said they would call if they could get the five of us invites. And they did, Wednesday night. We met them at Celsbridge, a neighborhood bar, and after some more waiting, they gave us four invites, which each allowed two guests, which was great because we had talked to other people in the compound in the concert and other people were excited about going, so now we could bring a few more people. My friend Kakra that I work with at West African AIDS Foundation said he was going to try to get me an extra invite as well.

The one condition about the concert was you had to wear all white. None of had all white ensembles, which meant some more shopping Ghana style! I was too busy working on Lyle’s art exhibition for Friday to break away for a shopping spree, so Katie and Del did the dirty work and went to Makola Market and stocked up on all white attire for all of us.



All decked out in white, eleven of us headed out to the Trade Fair Centre for a white party extravaganza. We met Kakra, Frederick, Steve and Pauly Blaze at the gates, where we cut the line and they gave us the extra invites we needed to all of us in. It felt like we were walking the red carpet as we walked toward the UFO-esque indoor arena, where the concert was being held. We arrived in time to see Praye perform, which was cool, and then the concert turned into a big dance party, which was so much fun! We only stayed for a few hours because the UFO had turned into a sauna, between the lack of AC, all the people and lights, and of course the African heat! It was a great time, and the guys that invited us turned out to be really chill. It’s too bad we met them only a few weeks before we leave!



The next day, Friday, was the opening of Lyle’s art exhibition. Lyle Ashton-Harris is my photography professor, and we decided as a class to hold an art exhibition to feature some of our work from the semester. We collaborated with Lyle’s other class, and invited other students in the program to submit artwork as well. There were almost 40 pieces in all. The art exhibition was held at the NYU Faculty House, and we were able to use both inside and outside spaces. I was in charge of coordinating the artwork in the exhibit. Lyle’s friend Nii Obadai helped to curate the exhibit, while I kept tabs on what everyone was submitting, and worked with Tom to put together the program for the exhibition. The exhibit was originally scheduled for 4pm, but last minute Christa, the Assistant Director of the program here in Ghana, rescheduled it for 3pm, which put us in a bit of a time crunch, but because we’ve adapted to Ghanaian time here, the show didn’t really get started until around 4pm anyway. Christa arranged for a high life band to perform outside in the garage area, and for the catering of some hors d’oeuvres. When people first arrived they had a chance to look at all of the artwork, listen to some music and eat some food before the poetry reading began around 5pm. Four students had prepared pieces to read. Annette read a poem about her experience here in Ghana. Nate read two spoken pieces that he had written for classes about life in Manhattan, which he juxtaposed to his experiences here in Ghana. Nicole read a story she’d written that voiced her views against abortion. Suzette arrived late because she had an exam, so she read three poems that she had written upon her arrival. I became the emcee during the performance segment, and at the end announced that it was World AIDS Day and talked about the significance of wearing the red ribbon.



Earlier that day I made a bunch of red ribbons for people to pick up with a program to wear during and after the exhibition. My piece in the exhibition was my final project for Lyle’s class, which is a collage of photographs I’d taken of the signs all over Ghana about HIV/AIDS prevention, with newspaper clippings about HIV/AIDS from several of the local papers, and items I’d collected from West African AIDS Foundation. I wanted to get more photographs of people living with AIDS, but even though I’ve been working at WAAF all semester, it was still difficult to get people to let me take their photograph. Nobody wants to be exploited, and there is such a stigma attached to living with HIV/AIDS here in Ghana, that being photographed for a student project about HIV/AIDS is the last thing most people want to be a part of.





On Saturday, seven of us headed to Kokrobite for a weekend of relaxation. Kokrobite is a beach town that is about a 30-45 min. drive via tro-tro. Joe and Del rode there on Joe’s motorbike while Katie, Molly, Emily, Ben and myself traveled tro-tro style. The hotel there is called Big Milly’s Backyard. All seven of us stayed in one room, with two people sharing each twin bed, and three people sharing the double. The room cost us the equivalent of $3 per person for one night. We headed out to the beach, but were advised to leave everything behind because theft is a big problem. The beach there is so much nicer than Labadi Beach back in Accra. I felt like I was back in Wrightsville Beach. Well, not exactly. People don’t really lay out on the beach here, and there were a lot of fisherman working on the beaches here that you wouldn’t see at home. But the sand and water and waves were almost identical in nature. We were able to swim out pretty far too because the water stayed relatively shallow.



We ate an early dinner at the Garden Restaurant next door to Big Milly’s, which was so good! The couple that owns the place are Italian and Spanish, and were so sweet. Most of us ordered pizza, which was phenomenal, as were the bruschetta appetizers and the pasta dishes. Stuffed to the max after dinner, we strolled back to Big Milly’s and listened to some live music and hung out at the beach for a few more hours before going to bed early.



The next morning we woke up sandy, and enjoyed an amazing breakfast at the hotel. I ordered banana pancakes, cinnamon toast, an omelette, tea and orange juice and paid only 30,000 cedis (approx. $3.50). Then it was back to the water for me. I really can’t get enough of the ocean. I have this thing about not being able to live anywhere that’s landlocked. There’s just something about being near water that I can’t get away from! Kokrobite was a lovely way to spend my birthday weekend.



We had to check out from the hotel by noon, so afterwards we headed over to the Garden Restaurant for another amazing meal before heading home on another quick and painless tro-tro ride. That night, we decided to kick-off the birthday celebration with a trip to Champs, a local sports bar that serves the only Mexican food in town, which is my favorite! Unfortunately, we found out that Sunday nights at Champs are movie nights, which meant paying a 60,000 cedi cover, and being quiet while people watched the movie, which didn’t sound like too much fun. So we just ate outside at the Paloma Restaurant. I was still very full from lunch at the Garden Restaurant, so I didn’t eat too much. Frederick, Steve and Pauly Blaze stopped by for some food a little later, but I didn’t get to talk to them very much because I was at the opposite end of the table. It was still very nice to go out with everyone though.

Monday was my birthday, December 4th, and I decided to spend it at Labadi Beach Hotel. I paid for a club membership at the beginning of the semester, which gave me access to the gym, pool, sauna, and beach. It’s a cool idea, and it’s definitely nice to go every now and then for a day of R&R, like on my birthday. I probably haven’t gone often enough to really have used the membership to its fullest, but I think that’s okay because I didn’t really come to Ghana to spend it at a hotel. Katie joined me at Labadi for the day. That evening, everyone sang Happy Birthday at dinner at Tante Marie. After dinner I had to write my final paper for my Journalism class, and study for my Traditional Medicine final, so the remainder of my birthday festivities were postponed until the following night.



Everyone I know seems to have someone close to them with a birthday on December 4th. Another girl in the program, Sonia, shares my birthday here, except while turned 21 this year while I turned 20 – yes, I know, I’m a youngin’! Katie, Del and Lisa planned a joint birthday party for us at the compound Tuesday night, but not just any birthday party – a TOGA PARTY! Katie and Del also compiled a list of our favorite songs to play throughout the night. The best part was that they did everything in their power to keep me in the dark about everything until right before things got started, and it was the best birthday party ever!