Frances Ademola - Ghana's pioneer art gallery owner

Breaking the silence I bring to you Ghana's pioneer art seller Frances Ademola. The 81 year-old lady has been running The Loom, Ghana's first private art gallery, since she returned home in 1969 after a 12 year sojourn in Nigeria. Being in Ghana these days, I have come to know her and enjoy the weekly visits to her gallery on Kwame Nkrumah Street in Accra where she shares a lot of insight with me on her life, work and Ghana and Nigeria of the past. It's always great learning for me.

Wondering why the site has not been updated? It's because I have had to move to work in Ghana. You can find my Ghana work on accracityphotos.blogspot.com

Seun Kuti in Accra

Son of FELA, Seun Kuti was in Accra last Tuesday as part of a 13-city tour of West Africa with his 14-man Egypt 80 Band. Nice music, as usual, political as ever and it was really nice to meet him in person. Humble dude, he opened his hotel room for me unannounced quite late when I went seeking for an interview.

He is presntly promoting his maiden album Many Things which came out last year. He performed his own songs as well as his father's big hits Army Arrangement, Suffering and Smiling, etc to the delight of the multicultural audience.

I first saw him perform in Lagos in 2005. His act has since matured.

"Afrobeat is not just another genre of music" he told me. "Afrobeat is a movement".

Personally, I think Afrobeat is like listening to Adams Oshiomhole's political speeches during his labour days on a dance floor. It is intense.

Travelers of the African continent

Last Thursday I finally met in person Chioma Ogwuegbu of www.celebrateafrica.net who alongside her sister Oluchi have been traveling across Africa by road since July. We met up at Accra Mall's Rhapsody's before setting out for Baze Lounge where an underground artists society thrives every Thursday night.

Both ladies have been doing something which many Africans haven't been doing, not because they haven't thought about it but because of a fear of the unknown. They have both traveled across 12 countries in the West Afican region on their first round of a continent-wide tour. They regaled me with a lot of stories about ancient African cities like Timbuktu, Mopti, Ouaga, and Freetown as they experienced it on their journey. They hope that many other young Africans will begin to find time to explore the beauty of the continent.

"Africa's people are its greatest asset" Chioma told me. For Oluchi, the women of Senegal are the most elegant in the world.

Check out their website for some photos and read their blog. They plan to embark on a second leg of their journey next year. This time round will see them going to East and southern Africa.

The Gods Are Not To Blame

Nigeria's independence day was October 1 and the Nigeria High Commission in Ghana hosted Accra to a staging of classic play The Gods are not to blame by Ola Rotimi, an adaptation of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex at the National Theatre.

Meeting Ghana's President

I met Ghana's President John Kufuor last week at the Ghana-Nigeria Business Summit in Accra. I had written a story for my magazine on the challenges of Ghana's new found oil and he made a comment about it when he saw the magazine at our stand at the exhibition.

Nice fellow, him. He'd be leaving office in December as Ghana goes to the polls to elect a new leader after Kufuor's 8 years in office.

When Lagos Met Accra Daily Photos

I am presently in Ghana to attend a couple of sumits and happened to meet the brain behind Accra Daily Photo blog at the just concluded ACP (African, Carribean and Pacific States) summit. Emmanuel Bensah and I have been virtual friends for more than a year now but only just met in the flesh. He was one of the people that inspired me into taking photos of Lagos because of the good job he does with projecting Accra through his blog.

Here's to the progress of our two cities and the continuing influence of the Daily Photos community worldwide which has encouraged people to know more about their world.