Colouring the map of Ghana on its birthday, amongst shots & songs

Ahead of March 6th, I told my wife Tracy that I was going to an event which was about Karaoke, Sip, & Paint. I mentioned that I was not as keen about the painting, but the karaoke? Count me there. Sipping is just a bonus. Babe said that why would you go to a painting thing and not paint? She's a painter. Literally in more than one way and figuratively too. She's painted some pieces, and she can draw well to boot. I have always wanted to go with her to some of the painting things, whether at the Republic Bar, Eleven15, anywhere we can access. Ghana's Independence Day Holiday brought an opportunity for me and I took it. Today is March 23, as in 23-3, which has 233 in it. I took another opportunity to expand the painting, especially of a Ghana map on Ghana's birthday.

The venue was in Labone - the Brown Sugar Lounge. I arrived at Brown Sugar Lounge and sought out Efe Keyz. She's a musician, an entrepreneur running El's Foods Ghana and an AccraKonnect member. I wanted to support the event as well. It cost 150 Ghanaian cedis. I cannot tell if it is the high-side, I knew it was not a problem for me. Besides, this is around Ghana's birthday. A day I once used to take blessings at a Catholic Church hehe. Ellen and I spent some time getting to know each other more. I learnt that she was a KNUST Alumni & spent many years in Kumasi. We talked about Kumasi's development especially from a lifestyle and economic point of view. Brown Sugar. Yes, there are painting events like this in Oseikrom too, it is not only Sunday fufu & Kumawood movies. Kumerica has grown so far as the lifestyle and entertainment scenes. Kejetia vs Makola is from Kumasi, not Accra. It was led by a #bcksi mentor - Louis Lamis. If you know, you know. That growth is important for Ghana as it gets older anyway. 

Brown Sugar Lounge is cool, they have nice paintings & inscriptions to excite any Pan-African. It's just sad that some of the things on the menu I would have bought were not available. Anyway, the paintings there are most black & white. Makes me think of black & white television in Ghana's early years. We are 67 now. We like colour. You can see it in our dresses and attires, we finally really wear Ghana. Not just in Wear Ghana gigis, but in what we wear to work, weddings, etc. Efe was wearing something very colorful, true to Ghana's form and true to our culture. 

I proceeded to the top floor of the Lounge to get started on the painting. Before starting to paint, I ordered my cocktail  - the Sip part. I was told that I could choose what would be in my complimentary cocktail. I asked for a #MadeInGhana cocktail, with Ghanaian made alcohol in it. I figured that could be Carnival Strawberry from Kasapreko. 

Ellen Ayensuaa Gyapong & Brown Sugar Lounge had not done anything like that and wanted to do something new. It was a collaboration. "It's lively, relaxing and helps unleash creativity👍🏼". Efe sent me 3 images for me to choose one to draw and paint. I am not sure why I was surprised that the images were Ghanaian maps and the flag. "Oh snap! It is Ghana's birthday. It is March 6th". As I write this, today is March 23rd (23-3). I chose this Ghana map image (of our 16 regions) to draw & paint. You did not know we have 16 regions in Ghana? Are you living under a rock in the Upper East region of Ghana?

A few minutes later.

I realised I had totally underestimated the level of work involved in drawing and painting this Ghana map. There was an artist on hand to help me, Kingsley of Okasa Arts. Chale! It took more than 23.3 minutes to finish drawing the map o! I had to do the outline of the map, while paying attention to detail. Kingsley gave me some tips. I had to do some mapping and calculation too, to ensure I was drawing this close to 100%. I had to ensure I did not reduce the land size area on the canvas for the various regions. You don't think it is a big deal? Do you know why we have 16 regions now, instead of 10? Traditional authorities and ethinic groups want territory o. Besides, how can I be sharing & caring so much about Ghana and not drawing the Ghana map well? The North East region drawing was the hardest lol. And I used to be a top artist in primary school - KNUST Primary). 

If the drawing was hard, the painting would be cool blue chop right? "Not so fast Ato. You are about to be late for your next appointment". Kingsley advised me to start with the red. The red in the Ghanaian flag. Eyered.  The blood of our forefathers and foremothers. We are in Women's Month o people. Herh. This thing no be easy. The difficulty in painting was the colour mixing and ensuring the colours had a good enough hue (yes, I know about colours my guy) for the painting to come out nicely. 

Put some respect on the names of artists and painters, including Tracy. Purple Red. Purple Blue. Wifey ❤️ is an artist during my free time 🤣. Some type of green. Some type of yellow. I asked Kingsley, "what about the colour ruby?" 
Ruby colour is for the 40 year-olds, like me. I had told Efe about my mum. #CelebratingMummy. She was a fashion designer, a fashion lecturer, a woman of colour. She made me love African print because she made us wear batik, tie & dye attires. 

I kept mixing colours with the paintbrushes and washing the brushes in water that the colour of the water became the same as the cocktail I had ordered from Brown Sugar Lounge. It looked like a pinkish, yellowish colour. It was the same colour as the #MadeInGhana cocktail I ordered. The waitress did not seem to understand what I wanted. So I eventually had to buy a shot of Carnival o! 

The drawing and painting took me past 6:30pm. It was getting late and dark. Efe wanted to get the karaoke started. No, I did not choose to draw & paint a Ghana map because of the Heritage Caravan. This was the first time I was seeing Efe Keyz sing live. What a voice! Even if if I swallowed whole eggs more than 23 times a year for 2.33 years, I still would not have a voice like that. While the karaoke was going, I finally finished my painting, with Kingsley applying some finishing touches for the edges. He also took some shots - not alcoholic shots, but photo and video shots throughout the day. Check out the video he made on his TikTok page - @Okasa_Arts.

But when I have drank one Orijin and I decide to sing in karaoke, I am a great singer o! It is not the alcohol that makes me sing well. The alcohol does not give me more vim to sing. I can act all crazy without drinking any alcohol. Those who have partied with me enough through the years know this as fact. Especially when it comes to singing along to songs like My Name by Stonebwoy, Kiss Your Hand Remix by R2Bees & Wande Coal, or Hold Me Down by Akwaboah, TXT & Efya. 

I did justice to the lyrics, with lots of backing vocalists. No, I did not kiss any hands of any ladies around. I also sang Slow Down by R2Bees & Wizkid and dedicated it to my wife. "See that sexy girl from Ghana. She too fine, one of a kind, I call her Sexy Nana. Yeah, ah! She killing me inside, I can't deny her, yah-yah. Killbeatz, drop the instrumentals straight from Ghana, yah-yah". 

I convinced Efe that we should only sing Ghanaian songs since it was Ghana's Independence Day. Yeap, Ghanaian #MusicWeDeyFeel. She agreed hehe. The Brown Sugar Lounge waitresses and waiters were in on the action, and gradually got into it. 

But seriously, we should have karaoke nights on every Friday in every regional capital in Ghana. It should not take that much effort. And if we do not have enough people in Ghana to patronize karaoke nights that often, then it should be the first Friday of every month. 

At around 7:30pm, I bid Efe goodbye to make one more stop on the day I was drawing and painting. I showed my painting to my Togolese friend who I met later. I was very proud of my work. Earlier this month, someone asked me to draw the Ghana map at a meeting we were having at Kosmos Innovation Center. An organization that is finally covering all 16 regions of Ghana in a major way. I am excited about that and the work we are doing at KIC. On March 6th, I drew, and painted the Ghana map. There's a lot more I have to say about places in Ghana. Stay tuned.