Tattle: Blakk’s ‘Tea Ritual’ at Ghana Coffee Festival!

Here comes another end of year, and our capital is once again oozing with a plethora of amazing things to do and enjoy. Truth be told, since January – with back-to-back events, it’s become rather commonplace as our capital city has hardly let up. There seems to be a well of events that keep springing up, which is making our Accra the go-to destination for fun and excitement in West Africa!

Week after week, month after month, posters for fresh events just keep popping up everywhere. What used to be a seasonal end-of-year affair, when events compete for the attention of revellers, has become a notoriously all-year-round one.

‘Tidal Rave’ – a beach festival – just took place last weekend with electrifying performances and saw scores of youth in their “Christmas outfits” milling around the venue with abandon!

A month ago in October, the ‘Chopbar Experience’ – a food festival, also saw a swarm of young people attending that event and making such a buzz of it.

Tomorrow, the Ghana Coffee Festival debuts and is expected to see a throng of people converge at Nyaniba Market for it. I’ll be there in all my ‘coffee self’ to see to  some brewing.  Speaking of brewing, I missed the Tea Ritual with Mohammed Osumanu event held last September, where Mohammed Blakk served some live aromatic brews of tea, sobolo and ataya, mixed with spices at a street event in Osu. It was such a community gathering. I learn he’ll be at the Coffee Festival, I won’t miss this one!

Gastro Feastival gallops near

Then there’s the Gastro Feastival – Ghana’s boldest Food Industry Festival – coming up Farmers’ Day weekend (Dec 6-7), where yours truly will be dishing out some of my signature grills nosh! It will be quite a flavourful journey where “food meets culture, vibes meet fun and every bite creates a memory — hot and fresh!”

That same weekend, my brother KOD’s “Rythmz on the Runway” fashion extravaganza takes place at the iconic Christiansborg Castle at Osu!

The Talking Drums Festival

Another event I’m looking forward to, being touted Africa’s largest hip-hop celebration, is the inaugural Talking Drums Festival with its debut on Dec 29-30 with more than 40 artists from the U.S., U.K. and multiple African nations! Now, this one is expected to draw tens of thousands of fans from across Africa, the global diaspora and not just Ghana.

Built to serve as a bridge between Africa and the global hip-hop community through music, dance, fashion and storytelling, this festival has priority access fans can sign for, as well as exclusive festival updates as anticipation builds for what is set to become a landmark cultural event on the continent.

It promises a dynamic blend of rhythm, culture and unity. The Executive Producer of the festival is my old buddy Ruddy Kwakye, who notes that the festival aims to “embrace hip-hop in all its forms, showcasing the genre’s global influence and diverse artistic expressions.”

Now, Ruddy is no stranger to big music concerts and mega festivals. As Chief Executive of The Rave Group, an investment business with interest in marketing communications across platform content, production, technology, experiential and digital marketing, he was the Executive Producer for the AfroNationGhana festival! And that event, part of the global AfroNation network, was the world’s No.1 urban beach music event targeted at the African Urban diaspora. We all saw the crowds it pulled.

Ruddy shapes dimensions with his thoughts and actions, and believes that “entertainment isn’t just fun, it’s serious business.” He has built quite a reputation as a serial entrepreneur, writer, technophile, content curator, producer by sheer dint of hard work.

From working as brand representative for global entertainment giant Viacom’s MTV Base and then as Innovations Manager for Ghana’s leading media brand Multimedia Group Limited – the parent company for Joy FM, then joining the erstwhile Media Ghana as COO to spearhead the repositioning and transformation of its radio, TV and telecoms assets in the UK, Liberia and USA, Ruddy is well-versed in leading the logistical course to bring forth a mega event as the Talking Drum Festival which is backed by a multi-year partnership with the Black Star Experience, the Government of Ghana’s cultural diplomacy platform and successor to the acclaimed Beyond the Return initiative – the one with good old Rex Omar at the helm. As Presidential Coordinator for the initiative, Rex highlights Ghana’s reputation as Africa’s cultural capital and stated that the nation’s vibrant creative scene makes it the ideal home for a premier global hip-hop celebration. I couldn’t agree more!

Collaborating with the Black Star Experience office “underscores Ghana’s continued commitment” says Rex, “to inviting the worldwide Black diaspora to reconnect with the continent through art, music, heritage and tourism.”

So it is a star-studded performer lineup we should expect when The Talking Drums Festival, produced by the culture-focused Republic of Amusement, comes off this December.

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