Ghana, West Africa

Formerly known as the Gold Coast because of the deposits of gold once found in its soil, and “the fever coast” because so many early Western visitors had their first bout with malaria there, Ghana became independent from Britain in 1957 and has since earned the reputation of being a warm and welcoming country.

Ghana is the hub of highlife music, which can be heard bounding from most every boombox and taxi radio (more on highlife below), and has become well known for its very public religious devotion. It was also the home of Pan-Africanist leader Kwame Nkrumah, who African respondents to a BBC survey voted “The Man of the Millennium” and whose vision of a modern, industrialized continent inspires millions of Africans to this day.

The ___ is a recreational dance of the Ga people which they created in the late ’50s/early ’60s in part to celebrate Ghana’s independence from the British. The movements are bold and radiate joy! The term can also refer to a type of drum, as well to a style of music that has had substantial influence in the West.

Dancing the ____ helps us relate to the optimism Ghana and other African nations felt as they shook colonial powers in the 1950s through the 1970s.

We can also follow the bell pattern across the Atlantic, creating a rhythmic “paper trail” to connect West Africa with the Americas.