The unique pleasures of the Year of Return and Detty December highlight the evolving relationship between Africa and its global diaspora and the need to sustain this growing bond.
On December 27, 2019, a party flourished on a beach in Accra. It had started, nominally, at 7 p.m., but the first patrons arrived long after. Ivory sand, red cups, an agreeable breeze. Skilfully sculpted afros and serpentine locs. And, most essentially, music. From the platform at the centre of Laboma Beach, musicians, in a marvellous circuit, gave marvellous performances. Ye. Slow Down. Fall.
The crowd, not to be outdone, offered its own concert. Dialect danced with dialect, colloquialisms flirted and fused, creating a creole from Jamestown, Texas, Lisbon. East London and Senegal. The sound of a diaspora unbridled and unbothered. The sound of a people who, if only momentarily, had returned home...
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