Primary Class Clips - Primary Creative Arts Around the World - Episode 1

This film explores art, music and dance in Ghana. The West African country of Ghana is alive with music, dance and art. In the small town of Tegbi, primary school children sing and dance in the school playground. Their teacher Rebecca is giving an English lesson, but after school she likes to dance, performing with a local group. Her favourite dance is the Misago - which tells the story of the tribe's escape from a wicked chief many hundreds of years ago. Performing the dance keeps the history of the people alive. Today they are heading off to perform at a funeral. On the coast, amongst the fishing boats and palm trees, Mr Zachary sews a flag. By day he works in his tailor's shop with his son making clothes, but as the sun goes down, he goes home to sew a flag for a local Asafo group. Once the flag is sewn, Mr Zachary hands it over at the Asafo shrine where the group sing in honour of their ancestors, before heading off for the parade. The flags are waved with drumming and singing in the streets of Cape Coast. In Ghana's crowded capital city Accra, musician Dela Botri rehearses with his drumming group Hewale Sounds. Then he goes to meet the drum makers at the market, who used wood and skins to make the traditional drums. At the end of the day, the drummers meet and sing together again - keeping the sounds of Ghana alive as the sun goes down.