High Vibes Festival was initiated in 2009 with the support of the French Embassy in Ghana to promote an international annual music festival in a vibrant cultural city such as Accra, in confident hope that High Vibes will grow and achieve the status of other distinguished festivals in West Africa such as the Photo Biennale in Bamako, Mali and the Festival of Pan African Cinema (FESPACO) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Because the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been for the best part of the last fifty years dedicated to globally promote cultural diversity, and doing so through its agency Culturesfrance and the network of Cultural Centres and Alliance française, the French Embassy in Ghana strongly believes that Accra deserves its own music festival, with a local and international recognition.
The other partners are Coca Cola, Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, CulturesFrance and Alliance Francaise. This year, the core of sponsors is joined by the African Women’s Development Fund, bringing additional focus to the critical need to develop and empower women artists, and by the World Bank who is supporting the musical industry and the circulation of African artists.
After a successful launch in 2009, High Vibes Music Festival, a partnership between Ghanaian producers and key partners in the cultural and entertainment industry returns with an innovative programme featuring some of the most accomplished artists on the cutting edge of African and global culture and some exciting newcomers. Uniquely, High Vibes is collaborating with Accra’s leading venues to showcase a range of musical genres that should draw maximum audiences and ignite a real celebration of the capital’s increasingly dynamic live music scene.
“High Vibes is a distinguished blend of Highlife, HipLife, Afro Jazz, Francophone sounds, Afro Beat and more. It is part of a renaissance bringing back live music to craving audiences” says Panji Anoff, the festival’s Creative Director.
The festival opens on a ‘Hip and Movie Vibe’ on Wednesday 10 November at Rockstone’s Office with the screening of excerpts from two seminal music films: Singing 4 Freedom, exploring the history of High Life and Coz Ov of Moni, the ‘first pidgen musical’ featuring MOBO nominees, M3nsa and Wanlov the Kubolor. The highlight of the evening is a unique HipLife lyrical clash hosted by Reggie Rockstone, the originator of the genre. Lined up are established rappers such as Sarkodie, Ghana’s leading rapper and emerging artists from the Hip Hop underground: Trigmatic, Kay Ara, Macho Rapper, and Yaa Pono whose clip on You tube has received over a million hits! These young artists are making incisive observations about Ghanaian society and the ‘lyrical clash’ is much anticipated.
The rest of the programme is as follows:
THURS 11 NOV 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM AFRICAN REGENT HOTEL
High Vibes presents the Acoustic Divas in collaboration with African Women’s Development Fund celebrating 10 years of progress empowering African women. This is a 3 course buffet dinner in an intimate acoustic music setting featuring three of Ghana’s most exciting women vocalists: Nana Yaa, Efya and Offie. Limited tickets on sale from Creative Storm (Tel. 0267 778926 and 0244 826730).
THURS 11 NOV 11 PM BOOMERANG NITE CLUB 11PM: FRENCHY VIBE!
This promises to be the hottest Francophone night this year with Degg J Force 3, Guinea’s Dance sensation. A collaboration with Boomerang Nite Club hosted by Omar I, Ghana’s No.1 Francophone DJ playing the latest tunes. Please call Boomerang on 0277 154328 / 0244 150613 and Creative Storm on 0244 826730 / 0267 778926 for your invitation to this special presentation.
FRI 12 NOV 8 PM +233 CLUB: JAZZY VIBE!
This night is going to add a distinctly High Vibes flavor to Ghana’s Jazz scene. It features Kae Sun, Ghanaian born Canadian star, performing in Ghana for the first time, Agorsor Band with their infectious rhythms and Kwame Yeboah famous for his work with Osibisa and Craig Davids. He teams up with his special group of collaborators to introduce their new Dzidudu sound! Gyedu Ambolley also makes an appearance with his Jazz band!
SAT 13 NOV 4 PM HOLY GARDENS, NEAR KWAME NKRUMAH CIRCLE
This is billed as the HIGH VIBES explosion in the heart of Accra featuring great music from Ghana and across West Africa. It features Wulomei, the High Life pioneers, Warriors, Sarkodie and R2 Bees from Ghana, King Mensah (Togo), Degg J Force 3 (Guinea) Awa Sissao (Burkina Faso) and Kezitah (Togo). A musical culmination bringing together all the wonderful musical strands of the festival.
FRI 19 NOV 7PM ALLIANCE FRANCIASE: Tony Allen and Degg J Force 3
High Vibes closes with what should be a memorable evening featuring Tony Allen, the co-originator of Afro Beat and Degg J Force 3 from Guinea.
High Vibes Festival Organizers
The High Vibes Festival is produced by Pidgen Music and Creative Storm.
PIDGEN MUSIC is headed by Mr. Panji Anoff, who is the Creative Director of High Vibes. Panji Anoff is Ghana’s award winning music producer and creative director. He has been central to the development of Ghanaian music since the 1990’s and managed successful artists, such as Reggie Rockstone, Talking Drums, King Ayisoba and Wanlov the Kubolor.
In the late 1990’s, Panji worked as tour manager for the African & Caribbean Music Circuit in the UK and promoted music concerts in Miami, USA featuring artists such as Buju Banton, Beenie Man and Sizzla. He also received recommendations for his work in film, as Script Writer for Desmonds, UK’s Channel Four Television Comedy series and as Associate Producer for Back Home Again, the Ghanaian independent film. Panji organized the highly successful Cultural Caravan in 2009 which toured eight cities with artists like Kwaw Kese, King Ayisoba, Yaw Konto and Reggie Rockstone. The Cultural Caravan, with its exciting fusion of music and drama, staged at specially selected community venues, was the precursor to the High Vibes initiated by the French Embassy in Ghana and supported by Coca Cola, French Embassy in Ghana, Culture France, UNESCO, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture.
CREATIVE STORM
Creative Storm are leading communicators for social and cultural development in Ghana with a strong reputation for high quality event management and streaming effective publicity campaigns. Creative Storm has organized major concerts at Accra’s Independence Square and a variety of venues across Accra as organizers of the annual Environmental Film Festival of Accra. It is headed by Dr. Kwesi Owusu, leading filmmaker and event producer with credits spanning decades. He produced the Standing Tall against Poverty Concert in 2005 which brought over 350,000 people to the Independence Square. The marathon concert featured leading Ghanaian artists, as well as Salif Keita (Mali), Seun Kuti (Nigeria), Mahotella Queens (South Africa) Daddy ShowKey (Nigeria) and Eric Wainaina (Kenya). Dr Owusu organized successful tours to Ghana for Courtney Pine, UK’s leading Jazz exponent in 2003 and 2004 and staged the Homecoming concert at Independence Square in 2007 featuring American Soul star, John Legend and Reggae icon, Luciano. This year, he produced the critically acclaimed Charity Concert for Haiti and the tribute for Mac Tontoh at Alliance Francaise in Accra.
Contact at the French Embassy:
Valérie LESBROS
Attachée for Cultural Affairs
Tél (233-302) 21 45 74- 0244 34 61 96
Fax (233-302) 21 45 79
valerie.lesbros@diplomatie.gouv.fr
http://www.ambafrance-gh.org/
High Vibes Festival Team
Contact Info:
Mr. Panji Anoff – Director, Pidgen Music
Tel: 0244 882 148 / 030 2 773 716
Email: panjianoff@yahoo.com
Dr. Kwesi Owusu – Director, Creative Storm
Tel: 0244 715 602 / 0267 778926
Email: kwesi@creativestormghana.com
Ms. Mildred Samuel - Co - coordinator
Tel: 0244 826 730 / 0267 778926
Email: mildred@creativestormghana.com