J. C. Abbey, Ghana’s Puppeteer

Synopsis

This film presents an exceptional fifty-year artistic career, from Accra’s streets to Ghana’s villages to international TV. In fifteen delightful puppet shows, Mr. Abbey chronicles Ghana’s music since independence in 1957. The marionettes perform ethnic songs, dances and stories, but equally the sounds of highlife, Afro-jazz, Afro-rock, reggae, and contemporary hiplife. This fifth feature in Steven Feld’s “Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra” series mixes the styles of historical documentary and contemporary music video.