Hip-Hop And Hiplife Stars Host German, French Stars

Hip-Hop Outernational, a project jointly initiated by Goethe Institut and the Alliance Francaise, takes off next week.

It brings together hiplifers from Ghana and hip-hop musicians from Germany and France.

The artistes will take part in a weeklong series of workshops, discussions, radio and television appearances and collaborations. All the activities will culminate in a concert at the Alliance Francaise on Saturday, May 21.

From France come the groups Section Fu and Octobre Rogue. Critically acclaimed and with numerous releases to their credit, the groups represent the best of current French underground, combining intelligent lyrics with catchy beats.

Germany's Bantu, comprising brothers Ade Bantu and Don Abi, float their pumping beats, funky instrumentals and politically charged lyrics over a European melange of rap,Afro-beat and reggae. Bantu have a number of releases to their credit including "Rudie", their collaboration with UB40 and Gentlemen which made a worldwide impact.

Ghana's Buk Bak, King Aisoba,Reggie Rockstone Kwaku T (Talking Drums), DJ Black and Panji (Pidgen Music) will be on hand to contribute their unique talents to the collaborations, discussions and free closing concert at the Alliance Francaise on May 21 at 7pm.

The organizers believe the project will strengthen ties between the individual musicians as well as the countries involved.

With hiplife artistes currently pushing hard to take their music to the international level, this project will certainly help push matters along.