Headlining the festival is revered Ghanaian highlife and Simigwa Do exponent Gyedu-Blay Ambolley just back from a world tour with his Sekondi Band. The Ghanaian highlife musician, songwriter, producer, and composer acknowledged as the first to ever formally incorporate rap on record, will vibe with fans at 6:00pm during a Q&A session dubbed #UpClose&Personal. Last year, it was Ben Brako.
World Cup: Game of Friendship
The festival proper opens at 9:00 am with an exhibition of acrylic paintings by artist Hacajaka at the Main Hall of the AUCC Business & Professional Development Centre. This is Harry Agyemang, the man who designed the iconic brown batakari with the leopard skin strip won that J. J. Rawlings wore to meet Bill Clinton. Seven of his radiant works will be on show. Also on display will be two works from James Cudjo’s “World Cup: Game of Friendship” series to celebrate the football season.
Enstoolment
Prof. Toyin Falola the distinguished history scholar has been especially invited to speak at this year’s AUCC Distinguished Lecture as part of activities marking the university college’s 20th anniversary celebrations. The African intellectual, a legend on both the continent a
nd in the world, is a history scholar who recently celebrated the publication of his 100th book. Prof. Falola holds seven honorary doctorates, several prestigious lifetime career awards and countless accolades. He will however be enstooled for the first time in his illustrious life as Development Chief by the Otuopai Palace during Tabon 2 on November 24 after his Lecture to hundreds of festival visitors. Adabraka Otuopai Queenmother Naa Korkor Aadzieoyi 1 and Accra royalty will be present to observe the ceremony. Officiating the event will be Adonten-Mantse Nii Addy Kuaku V.
Drum & Dance
Tesaa Cultural Troupe will be present to provide royal obonu drumming and dancing at the historic enstoolment. The Obonu drums -also known as fontomfrom – are played for royalty. Emmanuel Ampofo will be leading his Tesaa (ancient rock) Troupe to dazzle visitors with authentic Ga traditional music and movement.
Untold Stories
The afternoon kicks off with the launching of “Untold Stories Vol. 1 – short stories and poems from Ghanaian University Students. This will be the fourth anthology to be published by the Ama Ata Aidoo Centre for Creative Writing at AUCC. The authors who are principally from AUCC, Ghana Institute of Journalism, GIJ, Accra Technical University, ATU, and other colleges in Accra will be there with other literati.
#OneBookOneCommunity
At 2:00pm, Ellen Gyimah, final year journalism student and host of ‘Pimpinaa – Storytime’ on Afronova Radio, will be reading Prof. Naana J. Opoku-Agyemang’s “Kweku Ananse and His Five Wives” to 100 students from neighboring Amusudai JSS and Floating Crystals Academy, Ashiaman. This is part of the Aidoo Centre’s pre-college reading outreach initiative known as #OneBookOneCommunity.
Talk
Prof. Toyin Falola will talk on the AUCC@20 theme of “Excellence in education within the context of PanAfricanism and Digitalization”. There will be two more talks however: Kwabena Brakopowers, founder of the Accra International Book Festival which is in its fifth year, will speak on the need for book festivals in Ghana; Ghanaian film legend Socrate Safo will discuss “3 Challenges that need fixing in the GH film industry”.
Short films screening
From 2:00pm to 4:00pm, festival goers will be served short films from three Accra institutions: from NAFTI will be shown Redemption, Hunu bi and Shwapo’e Naa! From AUCC’s Visual & Digital Communication-DFS student productions are Gambling, The Waste Collector, The Bully Bullied and The Foodian. Also showing will be shorts from YMCA and the AUCC Centre for Creative Arts graduating students.
Ghana V. Portugal Match
At 4:00pm, all attention will be focused on watching Ghana Black Stars defeat the Portuguese National team in the 2022 edition of the FIFA World Cup tournament being held in Qatar.
Complimenting all these activities will be assorted Ghanaian foods and beverages at Discovery house.
#UpClose&Personal
To crown the festival will be the legendary Gyedu-Blay Ambolley. The 75-year-old musician has just released yet his 35th record, “Hi-life Jazz”, in which he revisits works by John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Wayne Shorter and Miles Davis.
The man from Sekondi has lived throughout the highlife rollercoaster since he crafted his signature Simigwa-do style while a young member of the Uhuru Dance Band along with Ebo Taylor and Sammy Larteh.
Last year, it was Ben Brako who was distinguished guest at #UpClose&Personal at Tabon Festival. The appearance of highlife superstar and his wife Effie at the AUCC Auditorium in the #OrangeCouch for an UpClose&Personal chat with program host Ruth Aryeh and 40 of his die-hard fans on campus was an experience in itself. After an hour of questions and revelations, Brako performed a couple of his tracks to close the day-long festival.
The TabonFestival is held annually to showcase students’ interactions with original urban arts and culture from the Ga traditional area.
