Back in the Day: On the Organization of African Unity

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 [embed]https://soundcloud.com/crossatlantic/oau-welcome-to-liberia[/embed]  The Creator has given us this share of the earth that goes by the name of the African continent; it belongs to us and we are its only masters. - Patrice Lumumba, African Unity and National Independence, 1959By 1963, there were thirty-two liberated African nations. For any newly freed nation, the question of, "what now?" always arises, as forming policies and a flourishing nation post-colonialism is a hard task. One must understand how to unbind the country from the damaging grasps of white-colonial policies. The question of "what now?" was proposed in two ways; The Cassablanca Bloc of 1961, which comprised of  the so-called progressive states Ghana, Libya, Mali, Algeria, Guinea and Egypt, who believed in a federation of African states. Nkrumah, perhaps the most radical of them, also believed that a united African army would protect itself from colonialism.  The second asking of "what now?" came in the form of The Monrovia Bloc, consisting of Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Cameroon and other nations who believed in Pan-Africanism, however did not believe in a federated continent.These two groups merged and on May 25, 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, these thirty-two African nations established the Organization of African Unity. The purpose of the OAU, was to, above all, create a better life for Africans. Member nations thought this possible through the objectives of the OAU Charter. By ridding the continent of white-colonial rule and apartheid, maintaining the sovereignty of the Member States and creating a coordinated political, economic, civic and social policies, the OAU felt true African liberation could exist.The Founding Fathers of the OAU Are:Kwame Nkrumah, GhanaWilliam Tubman, LiberiaHIM Emperor Haile Selassie I, EthiopiaAhmed Ben Bella, AlgeriaCoutoucou Hubert Maga, Dahomey (now Benin)Maurice Yaméogo, Burkina FasoKing Mwami Mwambutsa IV, BurundiAhmadou Ahidjo, CameroonDavid Dacko, Central African RepublicFrançois Tombalbaye, ChadJoseph Kasa-Vubu, DR CongoFulbert Youlou, Republic of CongoFélix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivory CoastGamal Abdel Nasser, EgyptLéon M'ba, GabonAhmed Sékou Touré, GuineaIdris I, King of Libya, LibyaHamani Diori, NigerNnamdi Azikiwe, NigeriaGrégoire Kayibanda, RwandaLéopold Sédar Senghor, SenegalMilton Margai, Sierra Leone (Margai was a Prime Minister, Sierra Leone was a commonwealth until 1971Aden Abdullah Osman Daar, SomaliaIbrahim Abboud, SudanSylvanus Epiphanio Olympio, TogoHabib Bourguiba, TunisiaEdward Frederick William David Walugembe Mutebi Luwangula Muteesa II, UgandaPhilibert Tsiranana, MadagascarModibo Keïta, MaliMoktar Ould Daddah, MauritaniaJulius Nyerere, Tanganyika, now TanzaniaWe Must Unite or Perish. - Kwame Nkrumah, Speech to the OAU, May 24, 1963Fifty three years after the creation of the OAU, the state of Africa as a continent is both disheartening and inspiring. Most of the leaders who founded the OAU are long gone, most by deception, exile or death. White-colonial rule has reinvented itself in various forms and still plagues us in the form of debt, foreign investors, foreign aid and missionaries, to name a few. Outside of the foreign detriment to the continent, many African leaders have sold their countries to the highest bidder in exchange for wealth; leaving a vulnerable and weakened continent.We must ask ourselves, what was the struggle for and how will that struggle not be in vain? As the child of immigrants, my African identity has always been important and a large factor in knowing myself. I am an African because it was born in me - to paraphrase Nkrumah. The pride that comes with being an African must not just be in name, but also in action. It is important that we use ourselves to the fullest capacity to ensure the longevity and prosperity of that great Continent.  What does Africa Day mean to you?  Song: OAU Welcome to Liberia (The Theme Song for 1979 OAU Conference, held in Monrovia, Liberia)Artist: The Liberian DreamAlbum:Writer(s): C. Alake Williams, Zack Roberts, Joseph Toomey, Geebah Swaray, Evan Dukuly and E. Tonieh WilliamsReleased: 1979

It's Highlife Time: On the History of Ghanaian Brass Music

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 etmensah[audio mp3="https://blackloveproject.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/05-abele.mp3"][/audio] My father and maternal grandfather are from Keta, Ghana, West Africa. There was never a time that I did not have a deep sense of pride in being Ghanaian. One of the greatest cultural traditions my father gave me is Ghanaian music, particularly highlife.  At any given time in our household, highlife played and was as common as the air we breathed. It accompanies some of the strongest memories I have of my father, so in turn I hold it very dearly.  It reminds me of the warmth of Ghana, distinctly African and proud, the fufu and okra stew my father fed me with his right hand, the feeling of embarrassment for being too American when being taught to dance traditional Ewe dances, wishing I spoke the language but feeling like home when I heard it; this is everything highlife evokes within me.  For me, there is a a deeply cultural and historical connection to the music of my father's land.Ghana became an independent nation on March 6, 1957, under the leadership of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It is with Ghana's independence that we see a deep sense of black pride spread across the Continent in a quest for liberation. As history shows, Africans and the Diaspora continuously create even while under oppressive circumstances.  Ghana was no different.  The long arms of colonization reached into the musical sector of its former colony. Through European military music, Ghanaian musicians were introduced to brass instruments and European tempo and time-signature.  By the late 19th century,  the more expensive brass instruments were replaced with traditional African drums and singing and it is here we have the birth of Adaha, the earliest form of highlife.  As the new genre moved inward towards places like the Volta Region, it became more African, using local languages and traditional circular African dancing rather than military procession. The Ewe people of Ghana call this borborbor music, the particular form of highlife played in my youth.  We also see an exchange of the Diaspora's interpretation of brass music. West Indian soldiers stationed in Ghana brought with them calypso, while Ghanaian musicians like trumpeter E.T. Mensah and percussionist Kofi Ghanaba travelled to America to study the jazz coming out of New Orleans and other cities. There is a distinct parallel and connection in the creation of highlife, calypso and New Orleans brass band music. Adaha was officially coined as highlife in the 1920s, as its increasing popularity found its way into high society events. Reimagined street music had found its way uptown.Music cannot escape politics and politically, highlife gained greater importance during the infancy years of Ghana.  President Nkrumah urged musicians to create and artists in turn spoke candidly about their support of Ghanaian independence, as heard in ET Mensah's Ghana Freedom, in which he sings, "Ghana, we now have freedom. Ghana, land of freedom. Toils of the brave and the sweat of their labor. Toils of the brave which have brought results." In the 60s and 70s, highlife's influence travelled across Africa, most notably to Nigerian artist Fela Kuti, who began his musical career as a highlife artist. Artists like Sweet Talks, TO Jazz Band and K. Frimpong and His Cuban Fiestas dominated the scene, experimenting with guitars, Afrobeat and the funk coming from the Diaspora in America. Modern artists like Daddy Lumba use more synth based sounds and artists like Kontihene helped create hiplife, which is highlife tuned into the sounds of American hip hop; all variations founded in the early methods of highlife.Highlife is essentially Ghanaian independence in musical form. The one thing colonialism couldn't steal from Ghanaian people was our ability to create. And as years of colonialism drew to an end, we see the steady erasure of European elements that infiltrated the music. Abele is a song that demonstrates the peak moment of artists shunning  European ideals with a greater embrace for all things black African.  Artists like E.T. Mensah stand as political figures in Ghanaian history, as he and many others freely created fully in their blackness and against oppression.  It is in highlife that we find the soul of Ghanaian music, but also the retelling of our rise to freedom.Happy Independence Day, Ghana. God bless our homeland Ghana. Check out the list of some of my favorite highlife songs:

  1. Adjoa, Sweet Talks
  2. Hwehwe Mu Na Yi Wo Mpena, K. Frimpong & His Cuban Fiestas
  3. Owuo Adaadaa Me, T.O. Jazz Band
  4. Nye Asem Hwe, City Boys Band
  5. Madamfo Pa Beko, Kontihene

 Song: AbeleArtist: E.T. Mensah and His Tempo's Dance BandAlbum: Decca Presents: E.T. Mensah and His Tempo's Dance BandReleased: 1963, Decca (West Africa), United KingdomWriter: Mensah, E.T.Mensah, E.T. 1957. “Ghana Freedom” Africa, 50 Years of Music: 50 Years of Independence. West Africa CD1: Track 1 . Discograph LC 14868-3218462.

James Harrison: Untitled

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[wpvideo yxqjg7oc] What I love most about working with the younger generation is being able to learn from their honest and earnest perspectives. Listen to James as he questions color politics and understanding history within the black community.Untitled:this is supposed to be our monthbut why do we have to celebrate our historyonce a month, once a year at one timeand that's only for the ones that noticei never wanted to come off offensivebut blacks need more than just one monthto be rememberedthis is just compensationfor the one twelfth of the yearbecause we were three fifths of a personnow is that fair?i never wanted to be national tragedyor neither a national treasuryi just want to be able to lookthrough the history books andsee what we did rightbecause February isn't justnational black history monthit's national minority montha month for confederates to say,"oops, we'll do better next time."the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juicethe darker the flesh the deeper the rootsbut how far do we date back when the blackwas forced to mix with the whiteand didn't make fifty shades of greybut the next generation of house slvesand now a hard history filled with cotton ballescovering rock spires not knowingthere's a deeper meaning behind what we saylike #lightskin #darkskin wars on social mediabut really mean #houseslave vs. #fieldslaveeven rap and hip-hop is corruptedwith images of black bodiescommitting all the bank robberiescause corporate America's scandalousthat's why they still can't handle usliquor straight to my livahignorance just might kill yahpoverty just might hit chahwhile walking home from the riverit's racismbecause we are constantly being force fed liesof how one shade of slave is better than the nextbecause after two-hundred years of overflowing hatredif we don't know our rootsthen why did we leave the plantation?

James Harrison

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[wpvideo vMheZDn7]Name: JamesAge: 17Hometown: Baton Rouge, La (Scotlandville)

Love Is:

Love to me isn't really a specific, defined thing.  It's something that you actually have to get through to a connection with somebody. Love and hate, you actually have to tough it through with somebody , be with somebody, with all their quirks and actually understand and work through even if you can't stand it at [some] times. It's not just about giving up, it's also about that connection that you have to have with somebody and it's not always in a positive way. [Because] some people claim that they're in love but it's always a negative relationship. So you have to have that honesty, the understanding, that respect in the relationship and you actually have to want to be with the person, for them, instead of what they have.