West Africa Performing Arts Festival 2007

This November a group of 20 singers directed by Ms. Cindi Verrill traveled to Accra, Ghana in West Africa to participate in the West African Choral Festival. They arrived with suitcases filled with donations from their local community in New Hampshire for the school in the small rural village they would visit.

Not only did the choir sing and dance with local choirs, they also got some of the “flavor” of rural life in Ghana. Mrs. Verill was named honorary “Queen” of the village and then as the choir sang on stage in Suhum Cultural Center, the children flowed onto the floor to dance to the music. The choir took it all in, from the beautiful scenes with the children who warmly welcomed them at every turn to the challenges of getting used to “African Time” where everything (from concerts to church service on Sunday) starts 30 minutes later than planned

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Highlights of the adventure to Ghana included singing for the villagers, hearing wonderful Ghanaian choirs from across Ghana, and participating in workshops with Ghanaian drummers who tried to bring the rhythms of their country to their brothers and sisters from the USA.

Ghana Performing Arts Festival

(Written by Clinton)
In just over a week, I will be escorting a choir to Ghana. The last time I was in Ghana, October of 2005, it was a wonderful experience. This picture is from the Suhum school, where the choir I was escorting sang for the students. We took a short tour of the school afterward and the students performed for us. There was traditional dancing, drumming and singing. I look forward to taking a new choir to Ghana this November as I know it will be a life-changing experience for them.

West African Choral Festival

The National Commission on Culture in Ghana is hosting the annual West Africa Choral and Performing Arts Festival. Choirs and performing groups from across the globe are invited to participate in a thrilling celebration of music, art and dance. Participants will have to opportunity to meet and mingle with Ghanaians from the capital city of Accra to the oceanside towns of Cape Coast. Perform in lively community centers and local churches as a part of the festival. Your group will have once in a lifetime experiences of bargaining for kente cloth in the local markets, sharing music during Sunday worship service and perhaps even becoming a symbolic chief and queen of a local village!

Your Ghanaian Guides and Music Contact International Tour Managers will take great care of you!