[By Malcolm Durfee]

In my last post, I implied I was bored of Accra, and this could not be further from the truth. I have learned to stop making assumptions because I have found many things to do in this city. Firstly, movie theaters here are much more affordable than back home. I got buckets of popcorn for only $1 USD() each and a ticket for a little less than $10 (USD) – making going to the movies something that I could enjoy a lot more. Recently, I was able to catch up on recent releases like Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2.

There were also plenty of concerts to go to. I attended my first concert in Ghana about three weeks ago at the University of Ghana. The headliner was Shatta Wale, who I didn’t know then but seemed very popular in Ghana. Many Ghanaians I have met have told me he is Ghana’s most prominent rap artist. Though the venue was difficult to navigate, and the performances started later than announced (they call it Ghanaian time), his fans were crazy excited, which made up for any discrepancies.

During the concert, our group had to leave the area in front of the stage because people started pushing and stampeding, and I was worried about being trampled. But, once we were out, enjoying the show from behind the crowd was much easier.

Overall, it was very cool to see a concert, and organizing a free concert anywhere is so difficult. Not only that but there were also many food carts around and new people to meet. It was more like a festival than a concert. It was eye-opening to see how similar the college students were to the ones back home, showing how our cultures are so similar in many ways, even across continents.

It was also fascinating how many booths and stands there were at the university festival. I saw people playing FIFA on the Xbox One. I even ate some fantastic shawarma there, too. A kind guy named James also led my friends and me to the bathrooms in their university dorms. I could see the prices of dorms there, which were much cheaper than they were back home!

Two weeks ago, I also enjoyed another festival at the Accra Mall called the Young Life Festival. This one was so fun because it had multiple activities. They had beach volleyball, which we played, and toy archery.

I was not the biggest fan of the music because it was primarily DJs and people emceeing over it. But! There were some incredible performances from local hip-hop dance crews.

Aside from DJs and concerts, there are plenty of live music & band events and things to appreciate during the nighttime. Much to my surprise, many restaurants casually have live music on certain nights. At Zen Garden, a woman with the most fantastic singing voice led this unique jazz band. They did so many encores even after they were done because people were begging them to keep going.

At the Mood Jazz Club, we saw a fantastic singer singing “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley and many other reggae classics. I particularly liked the food at this venue because I had one of the best burgers of my life.

Then, for my birthday, I went to the Chez Afrique, where there was also live music. They played “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers and “What You Won’t Do for Love” by Bobby Caldwell.

Seeing all this live music, especially one focused on mixing genres, was fantastic. Although I recognized many of the songs, they had an interesting Ghanaian twist to each of them. You could hear the influence of Afro beats and other styles of Caribbean music, creating a unique sound that I had never heard in the U.S.