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FriIn "Ghana is the Future," satirical hip-hop duo FOKN Bois raise money for the United States of America in the streets of Ghana. Their provocative motto: "Africa is on the way up, and the US are on the way down."
The two rappers compete with, against and within various growing markets in Ghana: new churches like the "Alive Chapel International", and mobile phone companies like "Glo Mobile". The duo comments on these markets with humour and parody and reaches both international and local audiences. "Ghana is the Future" comprises a part of the film and multimedia project "Sound Translations" by Peter Guyer (Recycled TV AG) and Thomas Burkhalter (Norient). On top two "Pidgin-Hip-Hop-Comedy-Musicals"made by the FOKN Bois in collaboration with King Luu will be shown.
Films:
Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an ethnomusicologist, music journalist, and cultural producer from Switzerland. He is the founder and director of Norient. He published the book Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut (Routledge) and co-edited The Arab Avant-Garde: Music, Politics, Modernity (Wesleyan University Press). He works as a researcher at the University of Basel and the University of Arts Bern, financed by the Swiss National Foundation (SNF). As the director of the Norient Musikfilm Festival, a documentary filmmaker and an audio-visual performer, he places emphasis on trans-disciplinary approaches between theory and practice.
Dubbed by Afropop Wordwide as "the cutting edge of satire in African hip-hop," FOKN Bois' bold, taboo-bashing raps have brought the Ghanaian duo to global recognition.