Afrokids holds arts, music festival for schoolchildren

Children-focused non-governmental organisation, Afrokids Foundation, has held a two-day arts and music festival for some selected school children within the Shai Osu-Doku District.

The event, held at the Rycon Academy at Flatland in Dodowa, aimed at fostering creativity, cultural understanding, and meaningful social interactions, as well as providing an avenue for learners to exhibit their talents and build confidence.

On the theme: “Preservation of Cultural Heritage,” the arts festival was characterised by traditional music performances, poetry, ethnic fashion and art exhibitions (painting), craft work and captivating performances from a parade of school models and the school choir.

During the ceremony, a medley of musical performances was staged featuring African and Ghanaian musical instruments such as the atenteben, seperewa, kora, ngoni, djembe and calabash drums.

The occasion was used to showcase Kadanu and Kaponu, newly invented Ghanaian instruments by Asamani who performed some patriotic songs on the atenteben along with the school choir, Abena Serwaa on seperewa and Lucas Doe on the flute.

The festival was attended by parents of learners and other distinguished personalities connected to the arts including Rabi Sika Attah, Chief Moomen, Wanlov Kubolor, Kweku Aacht, Sir Alexander, Abena Serwaa, Mama Sitso, among others. 

Handicrafts

For the practical lessons, the children were introduced to the techniques in handicrafts which depicted ancestral knowledge and skills passed down through one generation to another.

All four groups of learners at the workshop featured school children from Basics 1-6 engaged in beading, painting, balance drum and hand fan making.

For their practicals, they were grouped and trained to make slippers by adorning flip-flops with beads as a way of adding value to such products.

The facilitator for the Beading workgroup, Gladys Gbordzor Asamany, said beading or beadwork was one of the age-old occupations of our forebears.

She said it was an aspect of Ghana’s culture that expressed our unique sense of beauty and cosmetology and said beading today had been turned into a very lucrative business as they were used as ornaments, used to make clothes more sophisticated as well as to make footwear.

The facilitator for the Painting workgroup, Adams Agbenyega, disclosed that learners possessed great imaginative skills and that after observing their artworks, it was necessary to always allow learners to operate freely once quality guidance had been given.

This, he said, allowed for immense creativity and critical thinking prowess.

Helping the participants to explore their creativity in the hand fans and balance drums making, facilitator Wisdom Kekrebisi Asamany explained that climate change and hot weather conditions underpinned his interest in training learners to develop the skills in hand fan making.

The portable handicraft brought satisfaction during hot weather conditions by making it possible for people to fan themselves during hot temperatures.

Teaching them young

Speaking on the theme, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Afrokids Foundation, Theophilus Kwame Kekrebisi Asamany, indicated that every effort must be made to introduce all aspects of the African-Ghanaian culture to the younger generation.

"I have observed throughout my travels to other parts of the country, and beyond its borders, that most people do not know about our indigenous African and Ghanaian musical instruments, inventors and their origin. Most are unable to play these instruments.”

“The drive to orient some Ghanaian children to play foreign instruments is so high and effective to the detriment of indigenous ones; that phenomenon devalued our culture and plunged our heritage into insignificance.”

“The time was now for an initiative such as this to be rolled out in schools for the African and Ghanaian child to share with the world his God-given talent which was needed for humanity much the same way as other foreign ones, Mr Asamany, himself an Afrojazz musician, emphasised.