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Cool Running
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Secondary Title:
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: Ghana’s Honk Horn Lorries & Por Por Music
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Filmmaker Name:
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Steven Feld, Nii Yemo Nunu, Hannah Schreckenbach
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Film Year:
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2021
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Decade:
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2020s
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Region:
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Africa
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Subject:
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Social and Cultural Life
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In Accra, Ghana, por por (pronounced paw paw) is a unique music made from squeeze-bulb honk horns. Originally a fixture on colonial-era wooden lorries, these horns were subsequently repurposed by drivers in the township of La as musical instruments for union driver funerals.
Drawing from five years of research and work with the Drivers Union, filmmaker Steven Feld and photographer/oral historian Nii Yemo Nunu take readers into the stories of the drivers, their vehicles and the invention of por por music through photographs and text, including complementary historical essays and a classic black and white photograph section by German photographer Hannah Schreckenbach. Additionally, Nunu and Feld collected, transcribed, and translated twenty-five video interviews with elder drivers. These interviews formed the basis of The Story of Por Por, one of five films in Feld’s Jazz Cosmopolitanism series. The deluxe, hardback edition of Cool Running features over two hundred captioned photographs, a CD titled Klebo! that features the La Drivers Union por por Group performing their songs, and a DVD with two documentary films: The Story of Por Por and M.V. Labadi.
“In all, this package offers a captivating introduction to por por and its cultural context of driving in Accra…On its own, it stands as a testament to the dynamic interplay of Ga drivers and musicians in La, including the ways in which foreign technologies become integrated into local cultural practice…will be a valuable resource for educators as well as scholars of Ghana, Africa, music, sound studies, technology and society, labor, and transportation.” - Paul Schauert, The Journal of African History
Praise for Jazz Cosmopolitanism:“The chapters in which Feld listens and retells the stories of these mercurial musicians are compelling, and throw up original and profound material. Feld is brilliant at articulating the multiple overlapping narratives and experiences that both obfuscate and animate diasporic dialogues, and in that process his book attains its own world-historical significance.” – Tony Herrington, The Wire
“[A] vital statement about the infinitely nuanced nature of cultural exchange between Africa and America, and how our fullest understanding of jazz history might be furthered by enquiries like this.” – Kevin Le Gendre, Jazzwise
“Jazz Cosmopolitanism is a lively and important book, one that uses the vehicles of dialogue and sound to unearth the complex cultural and political dynamics that connect a group of urban Africans to the diaspora and wider world. It is a fun, invigorating, and worthwhile read that continues to resonate when finally put down. I highly recommend picking it up.” – Nate Plageman, Journal of African History
Cool Running: The Story of Ghana’s Honk Horn Lorries & Por Por Music
Audio CD
Klebo! Honk Horn music from Ghana (2009) Features the La Drivers Union por por Group performing their songs. DVDTwo Documentary Films on one DVD Researched and produced in Accra, Ghana, 2005-2010 By Nii Yemo Nunu and Steven Feld Film 1: Por Por He Sane/ The Story of Por Por, 60 minutes, 2013 Members of the La Drivers Union tell the history of their vehicles and the invention of Por Por music. Film 2: M.V. Labadi, 20 minutes, 2013 The story of driver Ataa Anangbi Anangfio presented in family photographs by his son Nii Yemo Nunu. Audio CD Credits:Compositions, Adaptations and Arrangements by Nii Tetteh Boye La, VoxLox, BMI
Sunshine in Africa (7:08) A celebration of home, peace, justice and unity
OMANYE ➤ Good Tidings (9:35) Let good tidings come, you must respect people!
TSƆƆM MI OSUƆMƆ ➤ Show Me Your Love (6:30) Bad friendships destroy you and all who respect you!
NOVI DEKE ➤ No Sibling (Ewe Traditional) (7:08) I have no sibling; I’m finished, I tell you!
AFIEE AFI ➤ Happy New Year (8:40) We are wishing you a happy new year, be watchful!
MOKO DZƆLE ➤ Somebody’s Lover (7:04) Nobody else’s lover compares with mine who loves me like sugar cane!
MIBI OO ➤ My Child (7:55) Listen and be patient when your parents speak to you!
KLEBO! ➤ Uncle Ebo! (12:50) Vigorously pulling their nets from the ocean, the Cape Coast fisherman shout: Hey! You spat into the soup; I will not eat it or I may die! Nii Ashai Ollennu: Union Vice Chair and Group Leader, double por por, vocals Nii Tetteh Boye La: Artistic Director, antenteben flute, lead vocals Adjetey Sowah: gome bass drum, vocals, adawanu finger bell Bawa Akrofi long: por por, vocals, adawanu finger bell Daniel Nii Odoi Laryea: kpanlogo drums, vocals, adabranta double bell Emmanuel Adjei, akasha gourd shaker, vocals, adawanu finger bell Emmanuel Okpoti Kwaku: adabranta double bell, vocals Esther Tsotso Mensah: por por, vocals, adawanu finger bell Kotey Nikoi: por por, vocals, (lead vocal, 4), adabranta double bell With guests: Janet Angorkor Agoe: por por, vocals Miriam Dzama Kpobi: por por, vocals Emmanuel Adjetey Sowah: akasha shaker, vocals DVD Credits:
Interviews and photographs
Nii Yemo Nunu
Video and Sound
Steven Feld
Editing
Jeremiah Ra Richards
Ga-English translation
Nii Yemo Nunu and Kwame Assenyoh
Paintings
Nicholas Wayo
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