The Golden Tulip, Mamma Mia and the Alliance Français

By Saturday I was in need of some rest so decided to spend the day at a pool where I could swim safely (La Beach is not recommended for swimming owing to strong currents and rip tides). Most of Accra’s hotel swimming pools are open for day use for a fee. I headed to the Golden Tulip, not far from 37 tro-tro station.

The Golden Tulip’s pool is calm, uncrowded and very clean, and the changing rooms are immaculate. At 40 cedis (£8) for day use, it is a bit on the pricey side but worth it if you are spending the whole day there. There is a menu with plenty of choice of food and drink for those who spend all day (prices range from 20 – 70 cedis). There are also sunloungers to relax in with a book, and towels are available free of charge.

Next I headed into Osu to meet some colleagues for dinner. Needing a break from red red and plantain, we headed to Mamma Mia, Accra’s best Italian restaurant, for delicious thin-crust pizza (around 30 cedis / £6) and mouth watering fresh lobster, prawns and calamari (70 cedis / £14).

Afterwards, as the Alliance Français had been such a success on Friday night (see previous post), we headed back there for a hip-hop concert, featuring artists from all over Africa. It blew away all expectations.

Friday night’s entertainment had been upbeat and fun, but pretty mellow and not too crowded. I had been expecting the same thing on Saturday, but was hugely mistaken. The place was packed out. You could barely move for people bouncing up and down with excitement. We had been expecting a showcase of relatively little known artists. It turned out that the line up featured some of Ghana’s, and indeed Africa’s, biggest contemporary rappers. Everyone knew the words. Girls were screaming with excitement.

We could soon see why. The quality of the hip-hop on offer was great. I will definitely be looking up some of the artists on Spotify when I get home. E.L., Gemini, Shaker, M.anifest, Sarkodie, Sargo, Kojo Cue, PK and C-Real are a few names I will definitely be taking away with me.

Alliance Français

This weekend I sought out more live music, this time heading to the Alliance Français on Friday night. AF Accra hosts occasional music performances which, being carefully selected, don’t disappoint.

The AF is both a restaurant and a concert venue, with amphitheatre style seating arranged around a reasonably sized stage. Friday’s cover, at 10 cedi (£2) was a bargain, and the music was great.

Two bands were playing, Akablay and Zohzoh. Akablay, a guitarist, is a Highlife musician who blends west Ghanaian music with east African rhythms. He was great, but it was Zohzoh who stole the show. Zohzoh’s up-tempo grooves, complete with dancers, filled the place with energy. The music was a blend of Fela Kuti inspired Afrobeat and James Brown style funk. In no time at all everyone was dancing – including myself, broken ankle and all. 

+233 Jazz Club

It was my second Friday night in Ghana and after a week of working on reports in to LGBT rights, disability in Ghana, and the Ghanaian Constitutional Review, it was time to relax and try and find some live music to enjoy.

We succeeded.

A few colleagues and I headed to +233 Jazz Bar and Grill (named for some reason after Ghana’s international dialling code) in the North Ridge neighbourhood of Ghana. We had called in advance to check what was on and how much entry was, but didn’t manage to get through. So we chanced it.

+233 is not cheap by local standards, with a cover of 20 cedis (around £4), but is a very pleasant place to spend an evening. It’s entirely outdoors - so avoid when it’s raining and bring mosquito repellent – which means that it’s a great place to enjoy the warm evening breeze. The tables and chairs are arranged around a large stage area, with some space for dancing in the front (although no one got up to dance until around 11pm – primarily this is a place to listen).

+233’s food, though not likely to win any Michelin stars any time soon, provides a break from fufu, kenkey and rice, and my vegetarian pizza wasn’t at all bad. Mains range from around 20 – 55 cedis (£4 – 11) and options range from pizza to burgers to lobster. There is also an extensive cocktail menu (be warned, they are strong).

Friday night’s music, which kicked off around 20.30 wasn’t really jazz – more a selection of old Motown hits and some newer R n B. The band and singers, though, couldn’t be faulted.

All and all, the atmosphere at +233 reminded me of being at a wedding – such was the style of band, arrangement of tables, and awkward shy dancing. Not a jazz club par excellence, but an enjoyable way to spend an evening.