GANDAWI traditional music & dance troupe from northern Ghana

Lasajang Community Project (LCP) Scottish Charity Number SC037448

Gandawi Cultural Troupe Visit Scotland 2007

Gandawi troupe from northern Ghana arrive in Scotland

During 2007 the Lasajang Community Project was awarded a special Lottery Awards For All grant of £9,800 to bring a troupe of traditional drummers, xylophonists and dancers from the Sissala tribe in northern Ghana to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. The Gandawi Troupe came to Scotland in the summer and took part in the Kilsyth International Carnival, performed for two weeks in a marquee in Meadow Park, Edinburgh during the Fringe and visited 15 schools throughout Scotland. Their visit raised awareness of the impact of the slave trade in Ghana.

It has been estimated that between the 15th and 19th Centuries up to 12 million Africans were forced onto European slave ships and taken across the Atlantic. Ghana lost most of its able-bodied men, women and even children and without these strong people the agricultural production of Ghana was devastated which in turn prevented an industrial revolution. The effects of slavery are still strongly felt today in Ghana, if you travel to the Sissala district the houses are still largely mud huts with thatch roofs and water is fetched from wells and nearby rivers and dams. The village of Gwollo still has the remains of a defence wall built around the village to protect the people from being kidnapped and sold as slaves (Gwollu Slave-Trader Defence Wall).

Gandawi rehearsing at home in the Sissala district of northern Ghana

Cape Coast Castle in Ghana

Chief Suleman Chebe and his Gandawi tribal musicians from northern Ghana

Press Reception at Buchanan Bus Station, Glasgow

Gandawi performance in marquee in Meadow Park, Edinburgh

Sonora La Calle of Havana Rumba performed with Gandawi in Meadow Park, Edinburgh