OBITUARY
KOFI GHANABA
(Aka Guy Warren and Kpakpo Kofi Warren Gamaliel Harding Akwei)*
Master drummer Kofi Ghanaba passed away at the end of last year, aged 85. When we interviewed Addai Sebo about the origins of Afrikan History Month in the UK in the mid-1980s it was the involvement of Kofi Ghanaba at the concerts for London schoolchildren in the Royal Albert Hall that he was most proud of.
Kofi Ghanaba’s name at birth had been Kpakpo Akwei. His teacher father added Warren Gamaliel Harding in honour of the then US president, who was considered to be one of the ‘Five Afrikan American Presidents’ before Barack Obama’s election. He won a scholarship to Achimota College, where he learned music theory and taught himself to dance and act in pantomime and variety shows. In 1943, he dropped out of teacher-training and went to New York via South America. There he worked with the trombonist and jazz veteran Miff Mole. He returned to Accra with a quartet that included the saxophonist Joe Kelly, with whom he formed the original Tempos Band, later joined by the trumpeter ET Mensah, who re-formed the band under his own name.
By 1950 Von Coffey and Eddie Yebuah, pianist and guitarist with the wartime quartet in Accra, had started a band in London. Ghanaba joined them playing bongos alongside Kenny Graham, a saxophonist inspired by Dizzy Gillespie's Afro-Cuban rhythms. Hand-drummers of Ghanaba's dexterity were unknown in British jazz, and he was welcomed by musicians such as Don Rendell and Johnny Dankworth. He also broadcast a London jazz scene series for BBC radio's Calling West Africa.
When Ghanaba returned to Accra he was carrying Latin American instruments and recordings of calypsos which he taught to his peers. He led his own Cubop Quartet and espoused the nationalism of his friend Kwame Nkrumah, who would become the first president of independent Ghana. Ghanaba rejoined the Tempos for a visit to Lagos, Nigeria, and in 1951 took another band to Liberia, later becoming Liberia's first DJ.
He went to Chicago in 1954 where he met Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday and Billy Strayhorn. In the last picture ever taken of Parker, at the Beehive Club, he wore Ghanaian kente cloth while Ghanaba wore Parker's overcoat. He introduced talking-drums while playing with saxophonist Lester Young. With pianist Gene Esposito and drummer Red Saunders, he recorded the legendary 1956 album, ‘Africa Speaks, America Answers’. He spent two weeks as the Duke Ellington band's percussionist before moving to New York playing in a trio at the African Room nightclub and recording his ‘Themes for African Drums’ album. Max Roach had said of him, "Ghanaba was so far ahead of what we were all doing that none of us understood what he was saying - that in order for African-American music to be stronger, it must cross-fertilise with its African origins. We ignored him. The sound of Ghanaba is now being imitated all over the US."
From 1959 until the late 1970s, he performed as Guy Warren of Ghana. He then became Kofi Ghanaba, premiering his ‘Voices of Africa’ drum suite at the 1960 Ghana Jazz Festival. In the early 1960s, he returned to London and played with the Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott before the producer Denis Preston recorded his solo drum suite, based on the drum music of Congo Pygmies. After another British album with Rendell, he worked with the quintet co-led by Rendell and the trumpeter Ian Carr. In 1970, with the former Cream drummer Ginger Baker, he performed his Accra schoolroom concert. Ghanaba became a Buddhist and retired to Midie, near Accra. In 2002 he performed in ‘Yaa Asantewaa’, Margaret Busby's tribute to the Ashanti warrior queen. His last public performance was last September at the Goethe Institute in Accra.
[*Thanks to Val Wilmer]
EDITORIAL
‘Shell Pockets £22bn Profit: Oil giant rides out price slump’ – The London Paper, 29 Jan 2009
“Welcome to our Shell-shocked land.” - Ken Saro-Wiwa, late President, MOSOP
With the effects of the western-financed ‘credit crunch’ resounding globally it seems timely to revisit the issue of the role that the exploitation of Afrikan commodities play in enabling western economic ‘development’ or expansion. On July 7, 2005, the Gang of Eight met at Gleneagles and said that Afrikan poverty, illiteracy and ill-health could be eradicated for $50bn a year. At the time it was made to seem like a huge amount of money that ‘developed’ countries couldn’t afford even though they have reneged on their 1970 UN General Assembly commitment to give 0.7% of their GDP to aid. Yet now we hear about the trillions that have been gambled and lost on the stock exchange, bail-outs of banks and car industries and one man, Bernie Madoff, ripping off $50bn from investors himself!
Meanwhile, whole swathes of the planet, mainly Afrikans, subsist on less than $1 a day despite the fact that most of the essential commodities traded by those arrogant, greedy speculators are coming out of Afrika. All those NGOs, their hangers-on and puppet-on-string celebrities who were quick to talk about the great philanthropy of the west are now suddenly quiet when it comes to condemning the people who oversaw this descent into financial chaos. As one columnist asked: where was Bono and his Red glasses at the World Economic Forum at Davos this year? All those people claiming to be the indispensable movers and shakers of the world and those getting excited at the Barack Obama presidency in the US could maybe employ their talents getting the G8 to adopt a global minimum wage of $5 a day and enforce it on their multinationals that obviously have money to burn.
‘The Drilling Fields’, by Catma Films Production, was shown on Ch4 in Britain in 1994 with a commentary by actress Cathy Tyson. The film follows the struggle of the Ogoni, in the Niger Delta, led by author Ken Saro-Wiwa, President of MOSOP, to regain a livelihood after the destruction caused by oil drilling and exploration mainly by the Anglo-Dutch transnational, Shell.
“Nigeria was conceived by and for European interests.” At the time the documentary was made 6 million people were dependent on the Delta for their livelihood. The Niger Delta has a population density of 1,500 people per sq mile, the highest in Afrika. Shell found oil in 1958 and accounted for 50% of oil extraction in the area. Oil spills were cleared by burning increasing carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide content. General health and safety standards remain poor with pipes built overland through populated areas and areas of economic importance. Oil spills are allowed to flare for months and in the documentary a spill was seen still flaring on farmland after six weeks. Between 1976-91 there were 2,076 oil spills in the region. People are thus drinking polluted water. This led the Ogoni to adopt the slogan “Ogoni Must Survive” as the pollution combined with the Nigerian army and police’s repeated killing, raping and looting in the area led to valid claims of genocide.
So much of Nigeria’s foreign investment is now focussed on oil that it has gone from food basket to food importer. As we watched the documentary last week news came in that as well as Shell’s record profits, BP announced £18bn profits. Oil companies say that their wealth is not generated from motorists in western countries to avoid windfall taxes by those governments but if the profits are not at the refined petrol end then they must be at the extraction – in the Niger Delta. Looking at the poverty, the lack of facilities and the environmental destruction that has not been addressed for decades you know there is a case for corporate manslaughter against the oil extractors and their ‘business partners’, both in Nigeria and internationally
On Ogoni Day in 1993, 300,000 people took part in marches in all 6 kingdoms for the UN Year of Indigenous People. The Nigerian Constitution did not recognise minority rights and therefore all minerals found belonged to the Federal Government. This has changed slightly but still not to the satisfaction of the people in the Delta. Ernest Shonekan, a former Director of Shell, was installed as president after the annulled July 12 elections but he was replaced on Nov 17 by the mass murdering kleptocrat Sani Abacha. The military prevented Ogoni Week in 1994 apart from a Christian service. On Nov 9, 1995, after this film was shown, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP leaders were judicially murdered by the regime who claimed they had taken part in the killing of traditional Ogoni leaders but it was really for their continued non-violent resistance to the destruction of Ogoniland. Don Etiebet, the then Petroleum Minister, had the gall to say “Your problems are our problems.”
Fifteen years on from the making of ‘The Drilling Fields’ the Niger Delta is still a hotbed of dissatisfaction at the exploitation, murder, displacement and environmental destruction with army atrocities, people’s insurrections, gas flaring and the kidnap of oil workers, prominent politicians and their relatives the order of the day.
“Diamonds are something you die for.” Diamonds have driven people mad with greed and lust for decades as people buy into the fiction of their scarcity while major diamond conglomerates keep the price artificially high by stockpiling huge quantities that come to market in reserves.
The Warner Brothers’ feature film ‘Blood Diamond’ with Djimon Hounsou, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly looks at the story of DiCaprio’s search for a large diamond while Hounsou is searching for his son who has been abducted by the RUF. In the commentary on the film director Edward Zwick says, “The child is the jewel,” in Hounsou’s life. The film portrays all sides in the Sierra Leonean war as being driven by American cultural imperialism either through the technology or the rap music (with a strong dose of gangster rap and bling videos being played by the rebels).
Between UN, Global Witness and Amnesty International they estimate there are over 200,000 child soldiers in Afrika with many of the conflicts funded by minerals. The film points out there is a need to forgive these children who were forced to engage in the most despicable, callous and depraved behaviour as they lost respect for life while high on brown – a mixture of heroin, methamphetamine and gunpowder. Zwick mentions that one book that helped him get inside the mindset of those who plunder Afrika was ‘King Leopold’s Ghost’ about the Belgian rule in DR Congo. It should be remembered that it was these Europeans who introduced large-scale limb amputations into Afrika as they had to account for every bullet they used to kill Afrikans who they deemed had failed to reach their rubber quota. Despite that there are still deluded Afrikans who think, “We were better off when the white man ruled.”
Looking at the destruction caused by war leads one elderly man to the ultimate wish, “I hope they don’t discover oil.”
‘Blood On The Stone’ is a documentary by Sorious Samura that follows the journey of diamonds from the ground to the shop. Global Witness report conflict diamonds still fund fighting in Angola, DR Congo and Cote d’Ivoire.
Seventy countries have signed up to the Kimberley Process - up from the 40 initial signatories. There is still scope for blood diamonds to enter the system as the certificate covers the package and not the individual diamond - there is no independent auditing and very little transparency. The main countries that diamonds are exported to for cutting and polishing are Belgium, Holland, Russia, India, Israel and South Africa. The price depends on the 4C’s – clarity, colour, carat and coat.
One man in the documentary claims you have to move 5 tonnes of earth to get 1 carat diamond! However, while you see the alluvial miners who rarely find a diamond and earn 500 leones (30 cents) a day there is no doubt the corporations would not still be in business if that was the real average for a diamond find.
Bongoman, a Lebanese diamond dealer who survived the civil war, wouldn’t have stuck around if he rarely saw diamonds and is clearly lying when he says 99.9% of Sierra Leone’s diamonds are legitimate. It is estimated 25% of the diamonds - 4-600,000 carats - are smuggled every year. In Guinea the diamond price is triple that in S Leone so £36m annually could be used to buy weapons. Sorious was offered $800 for a one carat.
The RUF used Kono as a base and were believed to have smuggled diamonds through Charles Taylor’s Liberia. During the years of the civil war Liberia reported a phenomenal increase in diamond sales despite having no major diamond deposits. This is why Taylor awaits trial in the Hague accused of funding the war, while his son, Chucky, just picked up a 99-year sentence in the US for torture and related crimes during his father’s presidency. An element of victor’s justice and racial prejudice cannot be discounted as soldiers and mercenaries from other countries, including Sandline and Executive Outcomes, also enriched themselves during their time in Sierra Leone but got off more lightly.
In Mubji Mayi, DR Congo, official exports are now put at $900m. This has tripled since the Kimberley Process was introduced but it is estimated 50% of diamonds still leave the country illegally. The main diamond areas are towards the east of the country where the majority of the 5 million people who have died in the last decade from war, hunger and disease are based. It is the area repeatedly invaded by Rwanda and Uganda as proxies for the western powers and conglomerates. Miners who don’t pay bribes get arrested everyday but as one said, “A starving stomach doesn’t have ears.”
At the store end of the diamond trade the US imports $1bn of uncut diamonds per year. Willing buyers can be found in the US who do not adhere to any aspect of the Kimberley Process. The lure of diamonds as a symbol of powerful and romantic love with slogans such as ‘Diamond geezer’, ‘Diamonds are forever’ and ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ continues in the face of the reality. As for the rappers and their bling imitators handing back all their hard-earned cash for vastly hyped up, over-priced stones they just look ridiculous. Nas identifies himself as a diamond in his video, ‘Shine On’. “Everybody wants heaven but nobody wants dead. / Everybody wants diamonds without the bloodshed.” However, as Sorious concludes, “As long as some of these stones continue to fund the maimings, rapings and killings then how on earth can we offer these diamonds as a true symbol of love?”
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
FEB PROMOS
~ ‘Free Soul’ – Peter Hunningale [Coxsone Records – Out Now] ‘Put the hate down cause it’s heavy / Chill out and show some love.’ We picked this up late last year and has Mr Honey Vibes singing over classic Studio One rhythms as if they were built for him. Stand out tracks include: ‘In the Ghetto’, ’17 – This Is Life’, ‘Overcome’ and the album’s opener ‘Good Vibes’, from where the above lines are taken.
NUBIART LIBRARY – FEB MEDIA:
We will try to recommend books we have read and DVD / videos we have seen and that are available in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and production there may be books, games and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
- ‘BLOOD DIAMOND’ - Dir. Edward Zwick (Warner Brothers) Double DVD set of the feature film with Djimon Hounsou, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly; The extras include: commentary from the Director Zwick; ‘Blood On The Stone’, documentary following a diamond’s path from the ground to the store presented by Sorious Samura; ‘Journalism on the Frontline’, documentary on women journalists in war zones by Jennifer Connelly; and Nas’s video ‘Shine On’ about the impact of diamonds fuelling conflict and crime around the world
- ‘THE DRILLING FIELDS’ – Dir. Glenn Ellis (Catma Films Production, Ch4, 1994) Commentary by Cathy Tyson. DVD looking at the destruction of the Niger Delta by Shell, other corporations, the Nigerian government and army. It follows the MOSOP President Ken Saro-Wiwa as he campaigns for a proper life and livelihood for the people in he Delta and was recorded before the genocidal kleptocrat Sani Abacha had him and eight other prominent Ogoni leaders judicially murdered.
NUBIART DIARY:
~ NARM OPEN DISCUSSION: 'Do We Need Role Models?' BTWSC is working on the NARM role model project, and researching British male role models of African descent from 1907 to 2007, in various fields of endeavour - The Sciences, Politics / Legal, Entrepreneurship / Business, Faith / Community /Voluntary Sector, Arts / Entertainment / Sports. The end product will be free resources including a DVD and booklet.
BTWSC decided to work on the NARM project because we were tired of 1) hearing that there were not enough male role models in the African British community, and 2) the tendency to confuse positive role models with celebrities.
We believe that there are countless role models in various fields, not just entertainment and sports, and that many are unsung heroes. For this reason, we are particularly interested in role models who are engaged with the community. Nominations are welcome at http://www.btwsc.com/NARM Please note that as NARM is a heritage project, the achievement must date back at least 10 years. On Thurs 19 Feb at 6.30-8.30pm at The Space, Willesden Green Library Centre, 95 High Road, London, NW10. Adm: Free.
~ ANCIENT FUTURE & MUATTA BOOKS present ‘The Science of Music, Drumming & Dance: A Day of Readings, Ritual & Divination’. Featuring: Bro. Kimani Nehusi - Libation: An African Ritual of Heritage; Afro Groove & Bro. Nia - Jazz & Spirituality; Errol “Lonestar” Gibbons - Hip Hop History through Imagery; Sis. Omilani - Rituals of an Oshun Priestess; Ifa Leke - Healing Vibrations of the Drum; Bro. Derick - The Singing Bowl; Bro. Dennis - African Dance & Martial Arts; Chief Lloyd – Spiritual Medium; Osunwummi – Cowry Shell & Crystal Ball Readings; Bro. Clyde – Astrological Readings; Luis Fernandez – Tarot; Israel Ogun – Astrological Charts & Tarot. On Sun 15 Feb at3-9pm at Happy People Restaurant, 160 Page Green Terrace, High Rd Tottenham, London, N15 4NU. Adm: £7 / £5 Concs. Contact: Ancient Future – 07983 442 876 / 07956134 370. Email: info@ancientfuture.org.uk / www.ancientfuture.org.uk
~ PAN AFRIKAN SOCIETY COMMUNITY FORUM presents the 2009 annual series of workshops
‘Afrikan Freedom means Defeating Neo-colonialism: Nkrumah@100’. Afrikan History Month - Malcolm X Workshops. It is a massive contradiction that despite the fact that we are actually living in the neo-colonial phase of history, most of us do not know what it is. If we remain stuck in neo-colonialism, Afrika cannot be liberated and we will not be a free and self determining people. The critical task before us therefore, is to raise our collective level of consciousness of the nature of neo-colonialism and how to defeat it in Afrikan communities everywhere. Supporting notes available.
- Fri 13 Feb at 6.30pm: ‘The Legacy of Malcolm X - Afrikan Hero’
- Fri 20 Feb at 6.30pm: ‘Linking Afrikan Greats -Kwame Nkrumah & Malcolm X’
- Fri 27 Feb at 6.30pm: ‘What Would the Great Malcolm X Make of Barack Obama’
At 44-46 Offley Road, The Oval, London, SW9 0LS. Adm: Free. Youths are especially welcome. For more info tel: 07940 005 907. E-mail: Panascf@yahoo.co.uk; Web: www.pascf.org
Afrikan Liberation Day planning meetings – Same venue alternate Mondays @ 6.30pm
~ SABLE LIT MAG PRESENT JACOB ROSS has published his long-awaited first novel, ‘Pynter Bender’. Set in and around the cane fields of Grenada in the Caribbean 'Pynter Bender' is about the conflict between the world of men and women, men who walk away from their families and from the cane fields and their women who forbear. It brilliantly describes the birth of a modern West Indian island and the shaping of its people as they struggle to shuck off the systems that have essentially kept them in slavery for centuries. Hear Jacob read from his fascinating new book with writers from Peepal Tree Press including: Khadijah Ibrahiim reading from her poetry chapbook, ‘Rootz Runnin’, based on her childhood, growing up in Leeds; and Simon (symurai) Murray reading from ‘Kill Yourself Now: True Confessions of an Advertising Man’, detailing his time in the ad industry.
On 20 Feb at 6-7.30pm at Borders in Leeds, 94-96 Briggate, Leeds, LS1 6NP. Tel: 0113 24 24 400. Kadija George: 07980 269 138. Web: http://leeds.borders.co.uk/events/leeds/19/ or www.peepaltreepress.com or http://jacobrossonline.com/The_Books/Pynter_Bender
~ SEMINARS ON AFRIKAN BRITAIN: Julia Bush, Northants Black History Association and University of Northampton: Sharing the Past: community historians at work. On Feb 19 at 6-7.30pm at Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, 28 Russell Square, London WC1B.
~ ANNUAL HUNTLEY CONFERENCE: On Sat 21 Feb at 9.30am-4.30pm at London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R.
~ DISCUSSION EVENING: With more government control over our lives and our means to express ourselves politically, where are the new spaces of resistance? A round table discussion where artists, writers, young people and political activists come together to discuss this issue. On 11 Feb at 7-9pm at 198, Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London, SE24 OJT. Adm: Free. Tel: 020 7978 8309. E-mail: info@198.org.uk
~ ETF PRESENT NIGHT OF TRUTH: Truce is called on a brutal civil conflict. The two sides agree to a feast. Can they put the past behind them? Fanta Régina Nacro's award-winning directorial debut reveals the darkness that falls when war is waged. Her shocking story was based on the barbarity of the former Yugoslavia and set in Africa. On Sat 21 Feb at 2-5pm at BFI, Belvedere Road, London, SE1. Adm: ₤5 Tel: 020 7928 3232 Web: www.bfi.org.uk/southbank For interview with one of the few female Afrikan directors click here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tHyrZjM0vSQ
- BLACK VICTIMS OF THE NAZIS: What we know today as the Holocaust was researched, rehearsed and refined in Afrika with Afrikan people long before 1939. Germans in their Namibian colony stole land from Afrikans and when they fought back built railroads, labour camps and medical experiment labs in order to work them to death or experiment on their bodies to see how they were able to cope with heat. This happened in the 1900s and the German government even apologised in 2004. This underviewed documentary states the case with detailed testimony from Namibian and German people and evidence from German secret files. There were Afrikans in Germany before, during and after WW2. Some even joined the army, some were entertainers, thousands were sterilised and a vast number were sent to the gas chambers. Curator, Z Nia Reynolds, author of ‘Black Victims of the Nazis’, will give an illustrated talk about these issues. On Sun 22 Feb at 1-4.30pm at Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London, SE1. For more info: www.iwm.org.uk
~ DAVID OLUWALE: Play based on Kester Aspden's book ‘The Hounding of David Oluwale’ telling the story of one of the earliest recorded Afrikan deaths in police custody. To 21 Feb at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2. On 25-28 Feb at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1.Other venues: Liverpool, Ipswich, Exeter, London and Nottingham.
~ CTJ DEMONSTRATION: Against judicial corruption, unlawful imprisonments and human rights abuses in the UK. ‘In a government of laws existence of the government will be imperilled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law. It invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy’. Every Sat at 12-3pm HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0AE. For further info contact Campaign For Truth & Justice. Tel 020 8516 4668. Mobile 07950 827 015. E-mail info@ctjnet.co.uk Web: www.ctjnet.co.uk
~ DR. LEZ HENRY will be delivering a 9 week course in Social Studies entitled An Introduction To Race And Representation In The Media And On Tell-Lie-Vison! From 2 Feb – 30 Mar 2009 on Mon 7-9.30 pm @ Unit 9. The course outline will be available for download from their website from Jan 19 and a reading pack will be distributed at the first session. The sessions will be interactive and thought provoking and all that is required is that you bring your mind and make sure it is open. For all enquires or to register your interest please contact us directly as places will be limited.
* The UJAAMA 9 Collective is an umbrella organisation that brings together: Janus Solutions http://www.janussolutions.co.uk/ - Hogarth Blake http://www.hh-bb.com/ - Social Solutions Institute http://www.socialsolutionsinst.com/ - Black Star Online & Nu-Beyond. It is their intention to deliver sessions and training that will cover every aspect of our struggles for liberation under one roof, utilising their various skills, expertise and experiences at the frontline of the struggle at a grass-roots level. This means you will be able to experience nourishment for both mind and body as Martial Arts classes are also available - for further info please contact Janus Solutions http://www.janussolutions.co.uk
Kubara Zamani, Afrikan Quest International, PO Box 35165, London, SE5 8WU. Tel: 07811 494 969. E-mail: afrikanquest@hotmail.com Web: www.southwark.tv/quest/aqhome.asp
KOFI GHANABA
(Aka Guy Warren and Kpakpo Kofi Warren Gamaliel Harding Akwei)*
Master drummer Kofi Ghanaba passed away at the end of last year, aged 85. When we interviewed Addai Sebo about the origins of Afrikan History Month in the UK in the mid-1980s it was the involvement of Kofi Ghanaba at the concerts for London schoolchildren in the Royal Albert Hall that he was most proud of.
Kofi Ghanaba’s name at birth had been Kpakpo Akwei. His teacher father added Warren Gamaliel Harding in honour of the then US president, who was considered to be one of the ‘Five Afrikan American Presidents’ before Barack Obama’s election. He won a scholarship to Achimota College, where he learned music theory and taught himself to dance and act in pantomime and variety shows. In 1943, he dropped out of teacher-training and went to New York via South America. There he worked with the trombonist and jazz veteran Miff Mole. He returned to Accra with a quartet that included the saxophonist Joe Kelly, with whom he formed the original Tempos Band, later joined by the trumpeter ET Mensah, who re-formed the band under his own name.
By 1950 Von Coffey and Eddie Yebuah, pianist and guitarist with the wartime quartet in Accra, had started a band in London. Ghanaba joined them playing bongos alongside Kenny Graham, a saxophonist inspired by Dizzy Gillespie's Afro-Cuban rhythms. Hand-drummers of Ghanaba's dexterity were unknown in British jazz, and he was welcomed by musicians such as Don Rendell and Johnny Dankworth. He also broadcast a London jazz scene series for BBC radio's Calling West Africa.
When Ghanaba returned to Accra he was carrying Latin American instruments and recordings of calypsos which he taught to his peers. He led his own Cubop Quartet and espoused the nationalism of his friend Kwame Nkrumah, who would become the first president of independent Ghana. Ghanaba rejoined the Tempos for a visit to Lagos, Nigeria, and in 1951 took another band to Liberia, later becoming Liberia's first DJ.
He went to Chicago in 1954 where he met Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Billie Holiday and Billy Strayhorn. In the last picture ever taken of Parker, at the Beehive Club, he wore Ghanaian kente cloth while Ghanaba wore Parker's overcoat. He introduced talking-drums while playing with saxophonist Lester Young. With pianist Gene Esposito and drummer Red Saunders, he recorded the legendary 1956 album, ‘Africa Speaks, America Answers’. He spent two weeks as the Duke Ellington band's percussionist before moving to New York playing in a trio at the African Room nightclub and recording his ‘Themes for African Drums’ album. Max Roach had said of him, "Ghanaba was so far ahead of what we were all doing that none of us understood what he was saying - that in order for African-American music to be stronger, it must cross-fertilise with its African origins. We ignored him. The sound of Ghanaba is now being imitated all over the US."
From 1959 until the late 1970s, he performed as Guy Warren of Ghana. He then became Kofi Ghanaba, premiering his ‘Voices of Africa’ drum suite at the 1960 Ghana Jazz Festival. In the early 1960s, he returned to London and played with the Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott before the producer Denis Preston recorded his solo drum suite, based on the drum music of Congo Pygmies. After another British album with Rendell, he worked with the quintet co-led by Rendell and the trumpeter Ian Carr. In 1970, with the former Cream drummer Ginger Baker, he performed his Accra schoolroom concert. Ghanaba became a Buddhist and retired to Midie, near Accra. In 2002 he performed in ‘Yaa Asantewaa’, Margaret Busby's tribute to the Ashanti warrior queen. His last public performance was last September at the Goethe Institute in Accra.
[*Thanks to Val Wilmer]
EDITORIAL
‘Shell Pockets £22bn Profit: Oil giant rides out price slump’ – The London Paper, 29 Jan 2009
“Welcome to our Shell-shocked land.” - Ken Saro-Wiwa, late President, MOSOP
With the effects of the western-financed ‘credit crunch’ resounding globally it seems timely to revisit the issue of the role that the exploitation of Afrikan commodities play in enabling western economic ‘development’ or expansion. On July 7, 2005, the Gang of Eight met at Gleneagles and said that Afrikan poverty, illiteracy and ill-health could be eradicated for $50bn a year. At the time it was made to seem like a huge amount of money that ‘developed’ countries couldn’t afford even though they have reneged on their 1970 UN General Assembly commitment to give 0.7% of their GDP to aid. Yet now we hear about the trillions that have been gambled and lost on the stock exchange, bail-outs of banks and car industries and one man, Bernie Madoff, ripping off $50bn from investors himself!
Meanwhile, whole swathes of the planet, mainly Afrikans, subsist on less than $1 a day despite the fact that most of the essential commodities traded by those arrogant, greedy speculators are coming out of Afrika. All those NGOs, their hangers-on and puppet-on-string celebrities who were quick to talk about the great philanthropy of the west are now suddenly quiet when it comes to condemning the people who oversaw this descent into financial chaos. As one columnist asked: where was Bono and his Red glasses at the World Economic Forum at Davos this year? All those people claiming to be the indispensable movers and shakers of the world and those getting excited at the Barack Obama presidency in the US could maybe employ their talents getting the G8 to adopt a global minimum wage of $5 a day and enforce it on their multinationals that obviously have money to burn.
‘The Drilling Fields’, by Catma Films Production, was shown on Ch4 in Britain in 1994 with a commentary by actress Cathy Tyson. The film follows the struggle of the Ogoni, in the Niger Delta, led by author Ken Saro-Wiwa, President of MOSOP, to regain a livelihood after the destruction caused by oil drilling and exploration mainly by the Anglo-Dutch transnational, Shell.
“Nigeria was conceived by and for European interests.” At the time the documentary was made 6 million people were dependent on the Delta for their livelihood. The Niger Delta has a population density of 1,500 people per sq mile, the highest in Afrika. Shell found oil in 1958 and accounted for 50% of oil extraction in the area. Oil spills were cleared by burning increasing carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide content. General health and safety standards remain poor with pipes built overland through populated areas and areas of economic importance. Oil spills are allowed to flare for months and in the documentary a spill was seen still flaring on farmland after six weeks. Between 1976-91 there were 2,076 oil spills in the region. People are thus drinking polluted water. This led the Ogoni to adopt the slogan “Ogoni Must Survive” as the pollution combined with the Nigerian army and police’s repeated killing, raping and looting in the area led to valid claims of genocide.
So much of Nigeria’s foreign investment is now focussed on oil that it has gone from food basket to food importer. As we watched the documentary last week news came in that as well as Shell’s record profits, BP announced £18bn profits. Oil companies say that their wealth is not generated from motorists in western countries to avoid windfall taxes by those governments but if the profits are not at the refined petrol end then they must be at the extraction – in the Niger Delta. Looking at the poverty, the lack of facilities and the environmental destruction that has not been addressed for decades you know there is a case for corporate manslaughter against the oil extractors and their ‘business partners’, both in Nigeria and internationally
On Ogoni Day in 1993, 300,000 people took part in marches in all 6 kingdoms for the UN Year of Indigenous People. The Nigerian Constitution did not recognise minority rights and therefore all minerals found belonged to the Federal Government. This has changed slightly but still not to the satisfaction of the people in the Delta. Ernest Shonekan, a former Director of Shell, was installed as president after the annulled July 12 elections but he was replaced on Nov 17 by the mass murdering kleptocrat Sani Abacha. The military prevented Ogoni Week in 1994 apart from a Christian service. On Nov 9, 1995, after this film was shown, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other MOSOP leaders were judicially murdered by the regime who claimed they had taken part in the killing of traditional Ogoni leaders but it was really for their continued non-violent resistance to the destruction of Ogoniland. Don Etiebet, the then Petroleum Minister, had the gall to say “Your problems are our problems.”
Fifteen years on from the making of ‘The Drilling Fields’ the Niger Delta is still a hotbed of dissatisfaction at the exploitation, murder, displacement and environmental destruction with army atrocities, people’s insurrections, gas flaring and the kidnap of oil workers, prominent politicians and their relatives the order of the day.
“Diamonds are something you die for.” Diamonds have driven people mad with greed and lust for decades as people buy into the fiction of their scarcity while major diamond conglomerates keep the price artificially high by stockpiling huge quantities that come to market in reserves.
The Warner Brothers’ feature film ‘Blood Diamond’ with Djimon Hounsou, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly looks at the story of DiCaprio’s search for a large diamond while Hounsou is searching for his son who has been abducted by the RUF. In the commentary on the film director Edward Zwick says, “The child is the jewel,” in Hounsou’s life. The film portrays all sides in the Sierra Leonean war as being driven by American cultural imperialism either through the technology or the rap music (with a strong dose of gangster rap and bling videos being played by the rebels).
Between UN, Global Witness and Amnesty International they estimate there are over 200,000 child soldiers in Afrika with many of the conflicts funded by minerals. The film points out there is a need to forgive these children who were forced to engage in the most despicable, callous and depraved behaviour as they lost respect for life while high on brown – a mixture of heroin, methamphetamine and gunpowder. Zwick mentions that one book that helped him get inside the mindset of those who plunder Afrika was ‘King Leopold’s Ghost’ about the Belgian rule in DR Congo. It should be remembered that it was these Europeans who introduced large-scale limb amputations into Afrika as they had to account for every bullet they used to kill Afrikans who they deemed had failed to reach their rubber quota. Despite that there are still deluded Afrikans who think, “We were better off when the white man ruled.”
Looking at the destruction caused by war leads one elderly man to the ultimate wish, “I hope they don’t discover oil.”
‘Blood On The Stone’ is a documentary by Sorious Samura that follows the journey of diamonds from the ground to the shop. Global Witness report conflict diamonds still fund fighting in Angola, DR Congo and Cote d’Ivoire.
Seventy countries have signed up to the Kimberley Process - up from the 40 initial signatories. There is still scope for blood diamonds to enter the system as the certificate covers the package and not the individual diamond - there is no independent auditing and very little transparency. The main countries that diamonds are exported to for cutting and polishing are Belgium, Holland, Russia, India, Israel and South Africa. The price depends on the 4C’s – clarity, colour, carat and coat.
One man in the documentary claims you have to move 5 tonnes of earth to get 1 carat diamond! However, while you see the alluvial miners who rarely find a diamond and earn 500 leones (30 cents) a day there is no doubt the corporations would not still be in business if that was the real average for a diamond find.
Bongoman, a Lebanese diamond dealer who survived the civil war, wouldn’t have stuck around if he rarely saw diamonds and is clearly lying when he says 99.9% of Sierra Leone’s diamonds are legitimate. It is estimated 25% of the diamonds - 4-600,000 carats - are smuggled every year. In Guinea the diamond price is triple that in S Leone so £36m annually could be used to buy weapons. Sorious was offered $800 for a one carat.
The RUF used Kono as a base and were believed to have smuggled diamonds through Charles Taylor’s Liberia. During the years of the civil war Liberia reported a phenomenal increase in diamond sales despite having no major diamond deposits. This is why Taylor awaits trial in the Hague accused of funding the war, while his son, Chucky, just picked up a 99-year sentence in the US for torture and related crimes during his father’s presidency. An element of victor’s justice and racial prejudice cannot be discounted as soldiers and mercenaries from other countries, including Sandline and Executive Outcomes, also enriched themselves during their time in Sierra Leone but got off more lightly.
In Mubji Mayi, DR Congo, official exports are now put at $900m. This has tripled since the Kimberley Process was introduced but it is estimated 50% of diamonds still leave the country illegally. The main diamond areas are towards the east of the country where the majority of the 5 million people who have died in the last decade from war, hunger and disease are based. It is the area repeatedly invaded by Rwanda and Uganda as proxies for the western powers and conglomerates. Miners who don’t pay bribes get arrested everyday but as one said, “A starving stomach doesn’t have ears.”
At the store end of the diamond trade the US imports $1bn of uncut diamonds per year. Willing buyers can be found in the US who do not adhere to any aspect of the Kimberley Process. The lure of diamonds as a symbol of powerful and romantic love with slogans such as ‘Diamond geezer’, ‘Diamonds are forever’ and ‘Diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ continues in the face of the reality. As for the rappers and their bling imitators handing back all their hard-earned cash for vastly hyped up, over-priced stones they just look ridiculous. Nas identifies himself as a diamond in his video, ‘Shine On’. “Everybody wants heaven but nobody wants dead. / Everybody wants diamonds without the bloodshed.” However, as Sorious concludes, “As long as some of these stones continue to fund the maimings, rapings and killings then how on earth can we offer these diamonds as a true symbol of love?”
FORTHCOMING NUBIART PROFILES
NUBIART: Focus on arts, business, education, health, political developments and the media.
FEB PROMOS
~ ‘Free Soul’ – Peter Hunningale [Coxsone Records – Out Now] ‘Put the hate down cause it’s heavy / Chill out and show some love.’ We picked this up late last year and has Mr Honey Vibes singing over classic Studio One rhythms as if they were built for him. Stand out tracks include: ‘In the Ghetto’, ’17 – This Is Life’, ‘Overcome’ and the album’s opener ‘Good Vibes’, from where the above lines are taken.
NUBIART LIBRARY – FEB MEDIA:
We will try to recommend books we have read and DVD / videos we have seen and that are available in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and production there may be books, games and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
- ‘BLOOD DIAMOND’ - Dir. Edward Zwick (Warner Brothers) Double DVD set of the feature film with Djimon Hounsou, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly; The extras include: commentary from the Director Zwick; ‘Blood On The Stone’, documentary following a diamond’s path from the ground to the store presented by Sorious Samura; ‘Journalism on the Frontline’, documentary on women journalists in war zones by Jennifer Connelly; and Nas’s video ‘Shine On’ about the impact of diamonds fuelling conflict and crime around the world
- ‘THE DRILLING FIELDS’ – Dir. Glenn Ellis (Catma Films Production, Ch4, 1994) Commentary by Cathy Tyson. DVD looking at the destruction of the Niger Delta by Shell, other corporations, the Nigerian government and army. It follows the MOSOP President Ken Saro-Wiwa as he campaigns for a proper life and livelihood for the people in he Delta and was recorded before the genocidal kleptocrat Sani Abacha had him and eight other prominent Ogoni leaders judicially murdered.
NUBIART DIARY:
~ NARM OPEN DISCUSSION: 'Do We Need Role Models?' BTWSC is working on the NARM role model project, and researching British male role models of African descent from 1907 to 2007, in various fields of endeavour - The Sciences, Politics / Legal, Entrepreneurship / Business, Faith / Community /Voluntary Sector, Arts / Entertainment / Sports. The end product will be free resources including a DVD and booklet.
BTWSC decided to work on the NARM project because we were tired of 1) hearing that there were not enough male role models in the African British community, and 2) the tendency to confuse positive role models with celebrities.
We believe that there are countless role models in various fields, not just entertainment and sports, and that many are unsung heroes. For this reason, we are particularly interested in role models who are engaged with the community. Nominations are welcome at http://www.btwsc.com/NARM Please note that as NARM is a heritage project, the achievement must date back at least 10 years. On Thurs 19 Feb at 6.30-8.30pm at The Space, Willesden Green Library Centre, 95 High Road, London, NW10. Adm: Free.
~ ANCIENT FUTURE & MUATTA BOOKS present ‘The Science of Music, Drumming & Dance: A Day of Readings, Ritual & Divination’. Featuring: Bro. Kimani Nehusi - Libation: An African Ritual of Heritage; Afro Groove & Bro. Nia - Jazz & Spirituality; Errol “Lonestar” Gibbons - Hip Hop History through Imagery; Sis. Omilani - Rituals of an Oshun Priestess; Ifa Leke - Healing Vibrations of the Drum; Bro. Derick - The Singing Bowl; Bro. Dennis - African Dance & Martial Arts; Chief Lloyd – Spiritual Medium; Osunwummi – Cowry Shell & Crystal Ball Readings; Bro. Clyde – Astrological Readings; Luis Fernandez – Tarot; Israel Ogun – Astrological Charts & Tarot. On Sun 15 Feb at3-9pm at Happy People Restaurant, 160 Page Green Terrace, High Rd Tottenham, London, N15 4NU. Adm: £7 / £5 Concs. Contact: Ancient Future – 07983 442 876 / 07956134 370. Email: info@ancientfuture.org.uk / www.ancientfuture.org.uk
~ PAN AFRIKAN SOCIETY COMMUNITY FORUM presents the 2009 annual series of workshops
‘Afrikan Freedom means Defeating Neo-colonialism: Nkrumah@100’. Afrikan History Month - Malcolm X Workshops. It is a massive contradiction that despite the fact that we are actually living in the neo-colonial phase of history, most of us do not know what it is. If we remain stuck in neo-colonialism, Afrika cannot be liberated and we will not be a free and self determining people. The critical task before us therefore, is to raise our collective level of consciousness of the nature of neo-colonialism and how to defeat it in Afrikan communities everywhere. Supporting notes available.
- Fri 13 Feb at 6.30pm: ‘The Legacy of Malcolm X - Afrikan Hero’
- Fri 20 Feb at 6.30pm: ‘Linking Afrikan Greats -Kwame Nkrumah & Malcolm X’
- Fri 27 Feb at 6.30pm: ‘What Would the Great Malcolm X Make of Barack Obama’
At 44-46 Offley Road, The Oval, London, SW9 0LS. Adm: Free. Youths are especially welcome. For more info tel: 07940 005 907. E-mail: Panascf@yahoo.co.uk; Web: www.pascf.org
Afrikan Liberation Day planning meetings – Same venue alternate Mondays @ 6.30pm
~ SABLE LIT MAG PRESENT JACOB ROSS has published his long-awaited first novel, ‘Pynter Bender’. Set in and around the cane fields of Grenada in the Caribbean 'Pynter Bender' is about the conflict between the world of men and women, men who walk away from their families and from the cane fields and their women who forbear. It brilliantly describes the birth of a modern West Indian island and the shaping of its people as they struggle to shuck off the systems that have essentially kept them in slavery for centuries. Hear Jacob read from his fascinating new book with writers from Peepal Tree Press including: Khadijah Ibrahiim reading from her poetry chapbook, ‘Rootz Runnin’, based on her childhood, growing up in Leeds; and Simon (symurai) Murray reading from ‘Kill Yourself Now: True Confessions of an Advertising Man’, detailing his time in the ad industry.
On 20 Feb at 6-7.30pm at Borders in Leeds, 94-96 Briggate, Leeds, LS1 6NP. Tel: 0113 24 24 400. Kadija George: 07980 269 138. Web: http://leeds.borders.co.uk/events/leeds/19/ or www.peepaltreepress.com or http://jacobrossonline.com/The_Books/Pynter_Bender
~ SEMINARS ON AFRIKAN BRITAIN: Julia Bush, Northants Black History Association and University of Northampton: Sharing the Past: community historians at work. On Feb 19 at 6-7.30pm at Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, 28 Russell Square, London WC1B.
~ ANNUAL HUNTLEY CONFERENCE: On Sat 21 Feb at 9.30am-4.30pm at London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R.
~ DISCUSSION EVENING: With more government control over our lives and our means to express ourselves politically, where are the new spaces of resistance? A round table discussion where artists, writers, young people and political activists come together to discuss this issue. On 11 Feb at 7-9pm at 198, Contemporary Arts and Learning, 198 Railton Road, London, SE24 OJT. Adm: Free. Tel: 020 7978 8309. E-mail: info@198.org.uk
~ ETF PRESENT NIGHT OF TRUTH: Truce is called on a brutal civil conflict. The two sides agree to a feast. Can they put the past behind them? Fanta Régina Nacro's award-winning directorial debut reveals the darkness that falls when war is waged. Her shocking story was based on the barbarity of the former Yugoslavia and set in Africa. On Sat 21 Feb at 2-5pm at BFI, Belvedere Road, London, SE1. Adm: ₤5 Tel: 020 7928 3232 Web: www.bfi.org.uk/southbank For interview with one of the few female Afrikan directors click here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tHyrZjM0vSQ
- BLACK VICTIMS OF THE NAZIS: What we know today as the Holocaust was researched, rehearsed and refined in Afrika with Afrikan people long before 1939. Germans in their Namibian colony stole land from Afrikans and when they fought back built railroads, labour camps and medical experiment labs in order to work them to death or experiment on their bodies to see how they were able to cope with heat. This happened in the 1900s and the German government even apologised in 2004. This underviewed documentary states the case with detailed testimony from Namibian and German people and evidence from German secret files. There were Afrikans in Germany before, during and after WW2. Some even joined the army, some were entertainers, thousands were sterilised and a vast number were sent to the gas chambers. Curator, Z Nia Reynolds, author of ‘Black Victims of the Nazis’, will give an illustrated talk about these issues. On Sun 22 Feb at 1-4.30pm at Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London, SE1. For more info: www.iwm.org.uk
~ DAVID OLUWALE: Play based on Kester Aspden's book ‘The Hounding of David Oluwale’ telling the story of one of the earliest recorded Afrikan deaths in police custody. To 21 Feb at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2. On 25-28 Feb at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Broad Street, Birmingham, B1.Other venues: Liverpool, Ipswich, Exeter, London and Nottingham.
~ CTJ DEMONSTRATION: Against judicial corruption, unlawful imprisonments and human rights abuses in the UK. ‘In a government of laws existence of the government will be imperilled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law. It invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy’. Every Sat at 12-3pm HMP Wormwood Scrubs, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0AE. For further info contact Campaign For Truth & Justice. Tel 020 8516 4668. Mobile 07950 827 015. E-mail info@ctjnet.co.uk Web: www.ctjnet.co.uk
~ DR. LEZ HENRY will be delivering a 9 week course in Social Studies entitled An Introduction To Race And Representation In The Media And On Tell-Lie-Vison! From 2 Feb – 30 Mar 2009 on Mon 7-9.30 pm @ Unit 9. The course outline will be available for download from their website from Jan 19 and a reading pack will be distributed at the first session. The sessions will be interactive and thought provoking and all that is required is that you bring your mind and make sure it is open. For all enquires or to register your interest please contact us directly as places will be limited.
* The UJAAMA 9 Collective is an umbrella organisation that brings together: Janus Solutions http://www.janussolutions.co.uk/ - Hogarth Blake http://www.hh-bb.com/ - Social Solutions Institute http://www.socialsolutionsinst.com/ - Black Star Online & Nu-Beyond. It is their intention to deliver sessions and training that will cover every aspect of our struggles for liberation under one roof, utilising their various skills, expertise and experiences at the frontline of the struggle at a grass-roots level. This means you will be able to experience nourishment for both mind and body as Martial Arts classes are also available - for further info please contact Janus Solutions http://www.janussolutions.co.uk
Contact Details
Kubara Zamani, Afrikan Quest International, PO Box 35165, London, SE5 8WU. Tel: 07811 494 969. E-mail: afrikanquest@hotmail.com Web: www.southwark.tv/quest/aqhome.asp
Get involved and help change our world