The Maiden Edition of the SheShe Slam began at exactly 7:06pm at the Folks Place, National Theatre on 3rd March, 2022. 15 talented ladies signed up for the slam and they all made it to the show.
Nii Musick welcomed slammers and the audience with his melodious voice and strings.
The MC for the night, Miss Affumwaah, did the introductions and set the ball rolling.
To be fair and just, five volunteers were randomly chosen from the audience to serve as judges.
Judging rules were very simple – A judge should not be related to any of the slammers in any way. – Judges are to lift a number between 1-5 after each slammer’s performance. – After every vote cast, the highest and the least would be taken off and the average becomes the slammers points or score.
Rules for judges were understood. Rules for the slammers were laid out as well: 1. All slammers go two rounds 2. All pieces must be original 3. Each piece to be delivered within 3mins either recited by heart or read. 4. No props 5. No engagements with audience
Erfiyah served as the time keeper. Every slammer had 3 minutes to perform a piece. And Gadede served as the score keeper.
The rules were read and understood by all, and then the games begun — 15 well crafted ladies with $100 to be won.
She Rhyme was the first to start the slam, followed by Gyimaah, Twita lit, Noble Echep, Margical, Xorlali, Tizamaah, Nassam, She Northener, Bonkua, Grace, Korkor, Berlene, Brianna and Ohemaa the poet
It was a very tough and thrilling slam as all the slammers brought out the best of the best of their talent, they all managed to keep the fully packed Folks Place thrilled and on the edge of their seats as they went neck-to-neck, piece after piece.
At the end of round 1, the top 5 slammers were, Bonkua and Briana who secured 15 points each, Nassam with 14 points, and Twita lit, Xorlali and Korkor with 13 points each.
Nii Musick and Ayorkor refreshed the audience with their soothing voices after the first round, as the slammers rested themselves to come for the second round.
Rules remained same for the second round, but the order of slammers was changed from middle to bottom and then top to middle.
It was another round of fireworks as the slammers kept spitting fire, dropping truths, and giving the audience bars after bars.
In about 40 minutes, round 2 came to a close and there were ties at the top three positions.
In 3rd place were Noble Echep and Xorlali with 21 points each, in second place were, Nassam, Berlene, and Korkor with 27 points each, and in first place were Bonkua and Briana with 30 points each.
In order to split the tie and find the Charm for the maiden edition of the SheShe Slam, who will walk home with the $100 price. Brianna and Bonkua went neck to neck as they performed their tie-breaking pieces for the audience.
At the end of that round, Bonkua scored 12, earning her a total of 42 points whiles Brianna scored 13 earning her a total of 43 points, making her the first SheShe Slam Charm in the history of Ehalakasa and the National Theatre.
It was a power-packed event filled with chills and thrills. This only tells how grounded female poets and spokenword artistes are in the art. EHALAKASA – it lives in us!
Over the years the poetry and spoken words scene in Accra have seen many male performers than female performers and this imbalance is what Ehalakasa is hoping to adjust with the maiden SheSheSlam2022.
It is our obligation as a community to give sisters the space to tell their stories in different forms, one of such is slam. Slam is a three (3) round healthy competitive performance where poets perform their original written spoken word poetry before a live audience and are judged by 5 randomly selected audiences as judges judging on the scale of 0 -10.
Each piece or performance must be within 3 minutes at length.
This slam is a Herstoric moment in the spoken word landscape in Ghana. It’s the first of many to come, so let us take this chance to get women out there, let the landlords know that we have matters of importance we can bring onto the table.
Some kind of women parliamentarians addressing the state of the nation. “Ehalakasa, It lives in us!”
Originally Posted On April 12, 2021, By thatTonguGirl
Right from when I received the warmest embrace into the Ehalakasa Family, I’ve been bathed with memories of their events and escapades. One of such memories was their occasional trips to Haduwa Arts and Culture Institute in Apam, Ghana. Just so you know, Haduwa is a serene haven not only for the family, but also all local, national and international artists. It has become a safe space for artists to connect with nature, create artistic works, improve their spirituality and most importantly rediscover themselves.
Now would you not agree that a memory such as this one can only be lived and not told? Mm hmm…I began to wait patiently for a date to be set for the next trip. Plans were advanced for the trip to happen immediately after our “2019 Environwomental Slum” on Climate Change and Action. But lo and behold 2020 had different plans for us all.
It did not only take from us our freedom to move but also our freedom to converge. Amidst that, I had hope, loads of hope. After all, it was what we were left with. The hope that things would go back to what they used to be. But like you, the wait became exceptionally longer than I had imagined.
And so, our physical world gradually merged with the virtual world. With technology at the centre of it all, we began to develop a transformative mind towards our creative arts. This is our new normal.
Good things, they say, come to those who wait but it’s sweeter when you least expect them.
The timing I would say was right. April 2021…hmm just perfect. I love to travel a lot. But for a long while I have not been able to do so. Well, this Tongu girl just got to plan it well and make it worthwhile. A journey that would be worth reminiscing with a broad smile.
Oops…let us anti-clock to what Ehalakasa is all about.
First of all, it is an acronym composed from three Ghanaian languages – thus Ewe, Ga and Twi. Eha means Song in Ewe. La means Sing in Ga and Kasa means Speak or Talk in Twi. Now that we understand the meaning of the name Ehalakasa, let me tell you what it is.
Ehalakasa is a community of artists with diverse arts. Right from Poets to Writers, Storytellers, Spoken word performers, Acoustic musicians, Choreographers, Painters, and the list goes on. The community’s goal is to awaken, inspire, and challenge artists to utilize the different art forms to advocate and address social, economic, cultural and political issues while projecting the values of Ghana. Their projects and activities comprise but not limited to the Ehalakasa Talkparty, the Ehalakasa Annual Slum and the Ehalakasa Senior High School Workshops.
Well, let me peg it there and bring you back to where we left off.
I had my clothes well pressed and baggage all packed for the Ehalakasa weekend getaway. Like I always do, I never forgot to add to my baggage a locally-made snack called, “Akatsi Kpɔnɔ” a biscuit made from starch by the people of Akatsi – a town in the Volta Region.
The Akatsi Kpɔnɔ
Saturday morning flooded my phone with series of missed calls from fellow Ehalakasaians. At about 8:45am I found myself waiting comfortably in a Mercedes Benz Sprinter minibus set for Takoradi to get full. Little did I know I was going to be the last person to arrive at Atlantic Beach Resort in Mumford.
I know my people never disappoint. At least not when Akambo, Nii Muzick and Faiba Bernard are around. I arrived in a pool of Eha, La and Kasa. But as an adage in my local dialect says,
“Ha dɔme ɖewo sena hafi ha kuna ati wo ke”
which translates, the belly of the pig must be strong in order for it to dig the root of a tree; I made sure I stuffed my belly with a ball of Kenkey and some fried fishes in the company of Bonkua The FanteGirl.
But as nature would have it, we still could not join the welcoming creative train. Hahahahaa…we got all drowsy and weak after the meal. And bed at that moment looked like one sexually attractive being to lay on.
Poof….we thought wrong. All those creative minds alighted from that creative train and bumped into our world before we could dare dream. They cunningly knitted the idea of a quality time at the beach into our stressed brains and got us joining that escapade. One we never regretted when all was said and done.
The beach was empty and very peaceful. The basin of the water compared to that of Accra was very clean. No plastic waste, no human debris, no harm in any form to the Sea. It was really refreshing to have the waves kiss my feet in absolute admiration without a piece of polythene greeting me. Once again, she sparked ablaze the love I almost forgot I had for her. I did not know I missed her that much. This got me writing a few words in memory to the reunion.
Dear Sea,
Words are not enough to narrate that which gets brewed in my bosom whenever your gentle waves rub my invincible hairs wet.
How could I not tell of your coarsely fine bed cushioning the soles of my feet every time I firmly lay them bare?
How could I not tell of the enriching sensation that bubbles up my groin? One that transfuses molten signals of need for your piercing chill and warmth all at the same time.
Sad as it might sound, the sight of you is a constant reminder of my inability to stylishly let go of myself under your rolling sheets.
Till we meet another time, hold on to this memory of us.
Your love,
Adzovi Sika.
Did I get you drenched in the letter? Aww…sorry about that.
Anyway, the quality time promised overflowed with several memories captured in frames. When the curtains finally drew over the Sky’s giant, we had Banku with grounded pepper and fried fish to console our bellies.
But you see, it can never be the last song for Ehalakasaians under a summer hut. Soon, we engaged in a game of cards. A game filled with deceit, doubt, disappointment, truth, confidence, and hope. This we played for several hours and had the best of laughter. One we graciously did in different tones and rhythms.
A caption from Sir Black that read, “In loving and losing memory of Humankind (the artist standing) who carried the night with fame“🤭
But when the drumbeats of sleep sounded, one after the other our feet guided us to our rooms, where the breezy night handed us to a sunny Sunday. Breakfast we had in the spirit of communism.
Although we were unable to visit Haduwa due to our short stay, Sir Black aided in paving way for our artistic selves to blurt out through series of brain games. This actually got me appreciating what we had before Covid-19 made its grand debut on this theatrical stage of life.
Two different teams playing it out on names of living Presidents in the world.
A trip I so longed for came after all. And now that I’ve shared with you the memory, don’t hold back to live it yourself.
On behalf of my Team Ehalakasa, I like to invite you to join us this Friday December 25th to celebrate POETRY and to mark our last and final Online Show for 2020 dubbed “End of Year TalkPARTY PARTY”
This will be our 5th Episode in the 3rd Season. In total we’ve produced 31 weekly productions over a period of 7 months. This is what COVID19 has brought us, behold we are more connected than ever, thanks to CoronaVirus lol.
I like to assure you this show promises to be a great show, a relaxed one, chilled and smooth operation between YOU our Special Guests and our amazing moderators the Daunting King Natty & the Queen of Blackness Affumwaah lyrically luring you as we enjoy Christmas in WORD, POWER & SOUND.
We want you to come on and have fun with us.
We like to take this opportunity to say MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎁🎄 🎁🎄🎁🎄& A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL for supporting G3 CHANNELS/EHALAKASA all this years.
Kindly NOTE:
The show will start at 6:00pm / 18 hours GMT GHANA 🇬🇭 TIME.
ADMISSION FREE
I personally insist that you come into the show with a drink or a friend or both😜
The link to join us on the flyer.
Today’s TalkParty was unique. With 5 performers on bored. Hope Da Poet, Faiba Bernard, Daavi Emefa, Nii Muzik and Erfiyah from Ghana and vangile gantso from South Africa.
Nii Muzick opened the session with Let there be love shared Among is by Dave Bilbrough.
This grand opening was followed by a piece from Erfiyah titled “the road to Kwabenya”
Her piece is a poetic form of directions from Circle to her home in Kwabenya.
We also had Daavi Emefa, a poet and a nurse who blessed the mic with a piece titled “Hope”. According to her this piece was inspired by how we see ourselves to be independent although we’re not.
Vangile Gantso shared her first poem which title translates to “we became civilized” the poem is in a mixture of Xhosa and the English language. Significant to how both white and black people tell different stories on colonization. "They sold us milk from our cows Grains from our lands," she says.
We also had an amazing fiery performance from Faiba Bernard.
Erfiyah came again with a second piece titled “This grace”
“This gracious piece on grace was lyrically graceful” Natty the meeting host said after the performance.
Hope the poet also shared his piece titled “walk the talk”
“Each step I take, decides my fate so I bent the bridges so I’ll never look back and regret,” he says.
Daavi Emefa brought us a second piece titled “town crier” which she did in collaboration with a guitar. She said she was only trying her hands on the guitar but in the end, she played like a pro.
Vangile Gantso our guest performer from South Africa carried on from there till the close of the days Talkparty session. She performed three pieces Breathing underwater”, “Mama I’m burning” and “I want to speak to my children”.
From Mama Makeda AKA Sandra Hooper vangile’s poetry is like medicine and it’s good for the soul.
Our Next TalkParty, on The 3rd July 2020 will feature Frank Langmack(Denmark), Doris_Mawusi, and Chas Boat from Ghana, You Can't miss This.
TOTAL VOTES 417 (Total number at the end of voting time)
COUNTED VOTES 370 (Total number of correct voting)
MULTIPLE VOTES 34 (Total number of more than one voting)
COMMENTS 13 (Total number of comments, not votes)
