Beautiful Music and the Beautiful Game

SATURDAY: There was a giant free anti-poverty concert held in Independence Square in downtown Accra. It was to feature the biggest names in Ghanaian music and stars from around the continent (although none of us would know them!). So all of us Canadians went down to check it out. For an anti-poverty event, there sure was a lack of groups out there raising awareness - only one, Actionaid, had a stand and was distributing information on African debt relief, AIDS info and promoting women's rights.

Regardless, the music was pretty good. Ghanaian highlife music (and its rap cousin hiplife, which I'll try to upload some examples when I find them) is pretty catchy Afrobeat and there were possibly 10,000 in attendance at it's peak. My favourite was Mac Tontoh, who seemed like Carlos Santana with a Trumpet. We had to leave at 10PM, before the international artists came on (it went on until 4AM, I'm told) and so we missed the taped messages from Kofi Annan and Nelson Mandela, but we had bigger fish to fry for the morning...

SUNDAY:

Finally, the big football match between Ghana and Uganda. For the Ghanaians, this was a golden opportunity: to win this qualifier would virtually assure that their team earned a spot in next years World Cup in Germany, something that had never happened before to the tiny African nation. When we heard about the game in Kumasi, we knew we had to be a part of it.

After about 2 1/2 hours of sleep, I was awoken before 4AM and we hopped a taxi to the bus station. Our specially-chartered luxury bus (which wasn't really that great due to the frigid AC and terrible Nigerian movies blaring on the screens) left an hour later and arrived at 9 at the stadium in Kumasi. We moved quickly to get some tickets, some swag (hand-made flags and football jerseys, mine of Chelsea star Michael Essien) and then to the bar for libations. That's right, we were drinking at 10AM while most people were just getting out of church. Jon, Adrienne and Meghan danced with some adorable children and it was a total Kodak moment. (Festus, Meghan and Priscilla)

We got some seats at about noon (they were almost gone) even though the game didn't start until 4:30. When it started, Ghana came out guns blazing. Ten minutes in, star midfielder Michael Essien knocked in a goal from a corner kick. Five minutes later, they scored again! After that blitz, Uganda woke up and started fighting back, but it was no use; the Black Stars were outpassing and outmaneuvering their players, looking like they deserved to play in the World Cup. While I was standing, cheering next to 40-year old Ghanaians who were going nuts, waiting for each kick to hit the net, rejoicing when they did, I think I finally got a glimpse into what football looks like to the rest of the world: not, as Robin Williams put it, "a strange sport played by damaged peoples", but rather as "the beautiful game".

When the final whistle was blown, the crowd went insane. Thousands ran onto the field in celebration and there was nothing the police could do about it. (Imagine what would happen if they lost!) However, our bus was waiting for us, so we got out of there as soon as we could, but when we got outside to the front, everyone was dancing and cheering, so until our bus took off, we joined the party. People were thrilled to see obrunis wearing the Ghanaian national colours and kept yelling "Ghana! Ghana!" or "Essien! Essien!"

One man even yelled, "Are you Ghanaian?"

I laughed and replied, "Today, I am!"

Next mission: somehow get to Germany for next summer? I wish.