Tour and release of EP and LP http://www.makkumrecords.nl/shop.html

The 7in1 for Peace band including Sheriff Ghale participated in the World Damba Festival 2012 @ Tufts University, a vibrant cele-bration of the music, culture and religious traditions of northern Ghana which took place Friday, September 14 through Sunday, September 16 at the Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus.

In addition to offering cultural affirmation and festive celebration, the WDF 2012 Washington Tufts Alliance an opportunity for discussion of important community development issues and business promotion. Northern Ghana is on the frontline of many global challenges: climate change, community health, economic disadvantage, changing gender roles, the role of traditional chieftaincy within the modern state, ethnic conflict, and Islam’s encounter with the contemporary world.

(taken from http://insidemedford.com/2012/08/22/world-damba-festival-at-tufts-september-14-16/)

http://www.charlesbwembya.com/

Charles Bwembya is a public speaker, entreprenuer and radio host of the podcast, In the Morning with Charles Bwembya.

A Zambian native, Charles is a world traveler that has mastered several languages and skill sets. His career in public speaking started in Southern Africa in the field of conflict resolution and has since expanded to various culture topics but his passion begins with peace building.  One of his life goals is to  develop and expand peace through dialogue.

The exhibition Kayaye is the result of a collaboration between visual artists Gillion Grantsaan, Tahid Abu, Abdul-Hameed Ibrahim and Bettina Fürstenberg.
On the opening day there will be an acoustic Sababas performance with some of northern Ghana’s most notable musicians.

The video installation is a sensory experience. Music, movies, effects and aesthetic elements draw the audience into the work and allow for an unconventional depiction of “Kayaye”. “Kayaye” refers to mainly women from northern Ghana, who travel south and often end up in the capital Accra, where they work as day laborers carrying things for people, bearing almost anything. Kayaye is a phenomenon arising from poverty, unemployment and lack of education and possibilities, especially for women in northern Ghana. In this context, Kayaye can be a way for people with a strong will to stand on their own feet and earn money for themselves and their families. It can also be a way for young people to detach themselves from their families’ powerful and sometimes constricting obligations, and thus have the opportunity to act on their own and become more independent. While these young people are not completely separated from their families, by being far from home they gain distance from the challenges and authoritarian power of the elders, which can create pressures in everyday life. This is seen for example in the case of young girls and women who do not want to marry, or those who wish to leave their husbands or meet freely with men of their own age. The exhibition aims to show social problems through a different lens presenting another side of Africa from what is usually shown in mainstream media. The language is poetic, the images are aesthetic and the women are powerful.

This exhibition is part of a series of activities of the Sababas project, including music and videoperformances in Århus Music House on the Raggapak Festival, in the Vega Lounge, TrailerParkFestival, Karrierebar and others.

In cooperation with HeartRebels www.heartrebels.com and The Danish Culture Institute. The project is supported by: Danish Arts Council, Danish Center for Culture and Development, The Danish Music Union and Brandstrup Travels.

Dansk version:

Udstillingen Kayaye er opstået ud af et samarbejde mellem de visuelle kunstnere Gillion Grantsaan, Tahid Abu, Abdul-Hameed Ibrahim og Bettina Fürstenberg.

På åbningsdagen vil der være unplugged Sababas performance med nogle af Nordghanas mest bemærkelsesværdige musikere.

Samt: En videoinstallation som går direkte i kroppen. Musik, film, effekter og æstetiske finurligheder leder beskueren ind i værket. Med en utraditionel skildring af “Kayaye”.

“Kayaye” er navnet på de, hovedsagelige kvinder, fra Nord Ghana, der rejser mod Syd, de fleste ender i hovedstaden Accra, hvor de arbejder som daglejere med at bære ting for folk. Som en slags menneskelige 3 x 34 bærer de stortset alt der kan bæres.

Kayaye er et fænomen, der udspringer af fattigdom, arbejdsløshed og manglende uddannelse og fremtidsperspektiver, især for kvinder, i Nord Ghana. Det at blive Kayaye kan i den sammenhæng være en måde hvorpå personer med en stærk vilje, kan komme til at stå på egne ben og tjene penge til dem selv og deres familier. Det kan desuden være en måde hvorpå unge kan løsrive sig fra deres familiers stærke og til tider snærende bånd, og derved få mulighed for at handle på egen hånd og blive mere selvstændige. Disse unge løsriver sig ikke altid helt fra familien, men de udfordrer og løsner den autoritære magt de ældre i familien kan have over dem i dagligdagen, ved at være langt væk hjemmefra. Dette ses ofte hos unge piger og kvinder, der ikke vil giftes, vil væk fra deres mand eller vil mødes frit med mænd på deres egen alder.

Udstillingen stiler mod at vise sociale problematikker ud fra en anden optik og med andre billeder fra Afrika end dem man oftest præsenteres for i medierne.

Sproget er poetisk, billederne æstetiske og kvinderne kraftfulde.

Baobab festival on facebook

Get ready, soon the Sababas CD/DVD will be available for ordering. And all donations collected will go to the amazing follow-up projects from the Ghanaians members of the project! More information coming soon….for now, we are getting ready for launching the CD/DVD release and donation website at the Baobab Festival

Performances took place in Ghana at The Youth Home and Picorna Garden and in Denmark at The Music House in Århus, Raggapark Festival, Trailerpark Festival, Galleri Pixel, Karrierebar, Idealbar and Klaverfabrikken. Below you can see some still pictures of the performances.

2009 Performances

Neera nonge a menga – Love yourself

The Sababas | Myspace Video

IN GHANA
Youth Home
Tamale, Ghana

Picorna Gardens
Tamale, Ghana

IN DENMARK

Klaverfabrikken, Fredensvej 12 A, 3400 Hillerød
Karrierebar, Flæsketorvet, København V
Det Danske Kulturinstitut, Vartov, Farvergade 27, 1463 København K
Ideal bar, Enghavevej, København
TrailerPark Festival Copenhagen, Skatepark, København SV
RaggaPak Festival, Bødskovgårdvej, Them
Århus Musikhus, Århus C
Galleri Pixel, H.C. Ørstedsvej, Frederiksberg
Fernisering 8. August kl. 20.00 videoinstallation og akustisk liveperformance

The Sababas Project CD/DVD is out!!!!! If you would like to receive a copy, we ask you to kindly make a donation to cover at least the shipping costs, but preferably at least 50 DKK/60SEK/10USD/7Euro. Any additional funds raised will then go to enable small-scale follow-up projects in the spirit of the Sababas Projct.The main purpose of these projects is to continue building the capacity of northern Ghanaian artists and strengthen the role of art as a tool for social change.

The following projects were designed by the Sababas participants in Ghana. They all have a budget of 1000 USD with the idea that they are small-scale, purposeful and achievable. Their results will be presented here on the website and other other platforms such as youtube. With your donation, these projects can be realized!

To receive a copy of the Sababas Project CD/DVD, please select the project you would like to support and click on the donate button. If you would like your donation to support all equally, click on the link below. Your copy of the Sababas CD/DVD will be sent to the address you provide by following the PayPal link.

Project 1: Documentary on Migrants 

- by Tahid Abu, filmmaker, Tamale, Ghana

A group of young men will be filmed during their preparations to cross the Sahara heading north, with the dream of reaching Europe. The film will be shot in the northern regions of Ghana, and follow them to the Burkina Faso border, combining fiction with documentary. The film will be screened in Tamale and after adding English subtitles, will be uploaded onto the Sababas website and youtube to reach a broader audience.

The 1000 USD raised will cover the cost of equipment and material, meals for the participants, and travel costs of the film crew to the Bukina Faso border.

Project 2: Talent Hunt

- by Kawastone, musician, Tamale, Ghana

 The proposed  “Talent Hunt” will provide an opportunity for young musicians around Tamale to participate in the recording of a compilation album with support from the Sababas team in Tamale. By participating, the young artists will receive exposure and publicity and contribute to building a good performance culture among participating artists.

The 1000 USD raised will cover the costs of overall planning including communication, seating venue for 500 people, rental of musical instruments and a PA system, publicity and refreshments. The recording and release will be financed by the project leader, Kawastone.

Project 3: Setting up a Digital Music Library of Northern Ghanaian Music
- by Sheriff Ghale, musician, Tamale, Ghana

Please select:

Documentary Film

Talent Hunt

Digital Music Library