For a lover of life, I am excited about seeing things that portray the beautiful scenes of nature hence my interest in the painting and arts sector. While growing up in primary school, I used to move from one classroom to the other to admire the cartoon drawings done on blackboards to celebrate Our Day; a period to mark the end of the academic term. I became more interested in the arts during my days in Adisadel College and made it a point to see the Art works displayed by the Visual Arts students during our Speech and Prize Giving Day. Although I found it difficult understanding the concepts of some of the art works, I was intrigued by the ingenuity of the students in using paints, brushes and pencils to transform plain white sheets into beautiful portraits and collages. Then while a freshman in KNUST, I had three roommates who were in the Faculty of Arts so I couldn’t help but develop a keener interest in their assignments when they come to the room to do their assignments. I literally slept and woke up in arts as their works and art materials were displayed all over the room.
My love for the Arts would then to take a dramatic turn when I experienced first-hand the Chale Wote Street Arts Festival held in James Town, Accra in August 2014. Chale Wote means ‘Buddy let’s go’ in the local Ghanaian language, Ga. The festival is not only about street arts but serves as a focal point to hang out and meet friends whom you have lost touched with since your Junior High School days. It also has side attractions such as music concerts, sale of Ghanaian products including printed shirts, local beverages like asaana and palmwine.
The festival, which was then in its 4th edition, blew my mind away by the quality of murals, graffiti and other art works displayed along the streets of James Town and Usher Fort. I met one of the artists, Nicholas Tettey Wayo who told me that the festival had gradually gained much popularity in the James Town community and beyond because it is celebrated as part of the Homowo festival- a traditional festival of the Ga people. The Ga people are naturally artistic so natives of James Town and other surrounding community attend the festival to display their own traditional arts and culture. I couldn’t wait to experience the next Chale Wote Festival after my first experience so when the date was set for the 2015 edition, I knew I definitely couldn’t miss such an occasion. The theme for this year’s edition- AFRICAN ELECTRONOMICS piqued my curiosity in what art works would be displayed.
Chale Wote 2015 beckoned and I made it a point to be part of the thrilling experience once again. It was exciting walking along the streets of James Town admiring the various art works, meeting friends and taking photographs. Patronage of the festival had almost tripled and it appears this festival will soon take over from the Joy Fm Annual Old Skuul Reunion. It has now become a ground to showcase not only art works and the Ga culture, but fashion and photography. It is indeed a sight to behold when individuals dress in vintage stuff all in a bid to attract attention to themselves- you have to do extraordinary things to stand out from the huge crowd that gathers at the festival.
The Chale Wote festival can now be seen as a tourist attraction platform as it complements the already existing tourist monuments such as the Usher Fort, James Fort and the Light House in the James Town Community. Through this festival, many Ghanaians have begun to cherish and appreciate arts and culture. Chale Wote Festival has gained media recognition from both local and international channels like BBC. Organizers of the festival, Accradotaltradio.com with support from REDD KAT Pictures, Foundation for Contemporary Art Ghana and many others deserve high commendation for this initiative.
By: NABIL AHMED RUFAI
Email: ahmed.nabil38@gmail.com
The writer is a Broadcast Journalist who specializes in radio and TV productions.
Enjoy the pictures that follow;
