B-Boying & The Breakdance Project Uganda (Information & Videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides general information about b-boying (breakdancing) and provides information and comments about Breakdance Project Uganda. Five Breakdance Project Uganda videos are also showcased in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Abramz and all those involved in Breakdance Project Uganda. Thanks also to all those who are featured in this post, thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT B-BOYING (BREAKDANCING)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-boying
"B-boying or breaking, also called breakdancing, is a style of street dance that originated primarily among African American and Puerto Rican youth, many former members of the Black Spades, the Young Spades, and the Baby Spades, during the mid 1970s.[1] The dance spread worldwide due to popularity in the media, especially in regions such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Russia, and South Korea. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four kinds of movement: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop, funk music, and especially breakbeats, although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns.

A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term "breakdance" is frequently used to refer to the dance in popular culture and in the mainstream entertainment industry, "b-boying" and "breaking" are the original terms. These terms are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners.[2][3]"...

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INFORMATION ABOUT BREAKDANCE PROJECT UGANDA AND THE BOUNCING CATS DOCUMENTARY
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouncing_Cats
"Bouncing Cats is a 2010 documentary film written and directed by Australian director and photographer Nabil Elderkin. The film follows the efforts of Abraham "Abramz" Tekya and Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) to use dance to empower youth in war-torn Uganda. The film is a testimony of Crazy Legs of Rock Steady Crew and his experiences in the BPU program. The film features narration by Common and additional interviews with Mos Def, will.i.am and K'Naan. Also appearing in the film is Okot Jolly Grace, whose guidance enabled the filmmakers to see and understand the plight of children in northern Uganda. [1]

Synopsis

Bouncing Cats is the story of one man's attempt to create a better life for the children of Uganda using the unlikely tool of hip-hop with a focus on b-boy culture and breakdance. Abraham "Abramz" Tekya, a Ugandan b-boy and an AIDS orphan creates a free workshop teaching youth b-boy culture to 300 disenfranchised kids living in precarious conditions in Kampala in 2006, and in Gulu in North Uganda. …

Crazy Legs receives an invitation from Abramz to teach b-boy classes in Uganda. He accepts to join the program and is inspired by the passion for hip-hop by the kids enrolled in it. Bouncing Cats follows Abramz, Crazy Legs, and Breakdance Project Uganda on a journey to use hip-hop culture for positive social change.

In terms of the title, Bouncing Cats "is the sound made by the kids in Uganda when they have no access to a boombox,” according to the film's director, Nabil Elderkin, “Using 'bouncing cats, baboons and cats' in repetition, they create their own beat.” [3]

Breakdance Project Uganda

Breakdance Project Uganda started in February 2006 by Abramz out of his belief that hip hop can be used as a tool to engage and empower disadvantaged youth. Its mission is to involve young people in hip hop culture in order to build leadership skills and promote social responsibility for positive change. From the initial three students who turned up at the first session, the Project has grown through word of mouth, regular showcase performances, and exposure on the World Wide Web to become a thriving organization with over 1,000 members nationally in Uganda and many more supporters around the world....

"Proceeds from the film benefit Breakdance Project Uganda".
-snip-
A clip of the Bouncing Cat documentary is given below as Example #5. The full Bouncing Cats documentary can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99OIJk6zoc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L99OIJk6zoc. Hopefully, having the documentary on YouTube helps advertise it so that people can still purchase it.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
These videos are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube with the oldest dated video given first.

Example #1: kids teaching kids how to breakdance, Uganda (BPU)



Abramz, Uploaded on Nov 9, 2007

Breakdance project Uganda (BPU) is grooming teachers right from the tender age.
In Breakdance project Uganda, everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student.
You learn something free of charge, you teach somebody else free of charge.

All the members of this project are directly involved in expanding and sustaining it since everyone plays a role of passing on skills to others.

You don't have to know a lot to teach, you can share the little you have with those who don't have it.

BREAKDANCE PROJECT UGANDA
'breakdance for positive social change'
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread:
imagedance, 2009
"Man this is dope. My Dad is from Uganda and I was born in Kenya. Dance professionally and this is what I had in mind for Africa. Glad to see someone has started something BIG for the Mother/home-land. Much love and respect and I shall be there soon!"
-snip-
"Dope" is an African American Vernacular English word that means "very good".

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Danwlsns, 2010
"This should be Sharing centre in Kampala Uganda. This place groomed me from 1987-1996. I am very grateful to Father Fleskens (deceased) who set up the place for the less priviledged young people of Nsambya, Kibuli, Katwe etc. I now live and work in the Netherlands.
-snip-
The word "should" may be a typo for "could".

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Example #2: Breakdance Project Uganda kids at 2009 Brave Festival, Poland. Pt 1



Abramz, Uploaded on Jul 19, 2009

Breakdance Project Uganda kids performing at Brave Festival at Rynek in Wroclaw, Poland in july 2009.

BREAKDANCE PROJECT UGANDA
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread:
43470anbetsi, 2009
"Thanks to Salesians the children could come to Poland."

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CRYKIT , 2010
"LOVE IT! I teach breaking at after school programs in San Francisco and I must say it is such an amazing opportunity to showcase in another country!!!! I respect and appreciate the work you have done for your community!!! ONE LOVE!
-Crykit..aka Bgirl Crix"

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liluprawk, 2010
"very dope i love that my people from the motherland is doing hiphop MIKEYICE
ZULU NATION united states..1 LOVE

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sltruong3, 2010
"Thanks to the SIFF for showing 'Imani', the Uganda film that exposed me to this project. It's awesome!"

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Example #3: Breakdance Project Uganda

.

jonsmithman, Uploaded on Nov 4, 2009

Breakdance Project Uganda is an organization teaching the kids of Uganda how to, well, breakdance. It's friggin' awesome. We were lucky enough to sit in on one of their sessions.

matteoT100, 2010
"dope bboys in africa, bboys everywhere"

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Kristabelle1, 2010
"Heeeeeeeeey I remember this spot!! I danced right here with you guys, a wonderful experience, again so uplifting Abramz, all the best to you and all the crews you dance with :)"

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bboymcKick, 2011
"great energy and flow! Keep it breakin' :-)"

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Jean-Gustave Nsabiyera, 2011
"Respect for Ugandan bboy and all african Bboys. Keep breakin'

JazzyTem, 2014
"Its like bronx hip hop in early 80th.Hip hop as it is. Big props from Russia.Keep ROCKING"
-snip-
"Props", an African American English clip of the word "proper", means to give someone his or her proper respect, acknowledgement, praise. "Big props" means a lot of props. Read the comment below and the explanation for "Big up".

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Realtalk MyBrother, 2015
"Big Up My African Brothers..... EXCELLENT"
-snip-
"Big Up" is a Jamaican colloquial expression of respect, acknowledgement, praise, and/or encouragement.

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Example #4: ROCK STEADY CREW IN UGANDA, AFRICA



Abramz, Uploaded on Feb 7, 2010

The legendary Rock Steady Crew (Crazy Legs, Ynot and Servin Irvin) at Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU) Community show in Kisenyi slum, Kampala, Uganda in march 2008 when they came to visit BPU and to teach in some of the communities where they have activities running.

BPU is an organization which uses Breaking and other elements of Hiphop to promote positive social change and social responsibility among young people.

Breakdance Project Uganda
"Breaking (breakdance) for positive social change"

breakdanceuganda@yahoo.com

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Example #5: Bouncing Cats - Break Dance Project Uganda



Infinit3 Records, Uploaded on Jan 24, 2011

tobiasstelter, 2011
"Can hip-hop show the way towards liberty of a nation? In Uganda it can: The “Breakdance Project Uganda” is becoming movement for youngsters, who suffered from war and tyranny for years. Music gives them power and autonomy. Our author visited the kids – find his story in our new Red Bull lifestyle mag “Red Bulletin”. Take a glance online on our website. Or grab it at the kiosk if you go for it."

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tschecker002, 2011
"So great film...want to look it - Can anyone tell me whats the music at 0:30 and 1:40 ?"

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Reply
tschecker002, 2011
"@ALL Guys: the song at 1:40-end is K'naan - Take A Minute.
Know anybody the other one at 0:30 ?"

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AndieWorldFlava, 2011
in reply to tschecker002
"@tschecker002 It's Road To Zion by Damian Marley & Nas"

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Castro (Ghanaian HipLife Artist) - "Toffee", "African Girls" & “Odo Pa”

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases three videos of the Ghanaian Hiplife musician Castro: "Toffee", "African Girls", and "Odo Pa". Information about Hiplife is also provided in this post. In addition, this post provides information about Castro.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Castro for his musical legacy. RIP. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT HIPLIFE
Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style which fuses highlife and hip hop.[1] It is also influenced by dancehall and reggae. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian language Akan, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Germany....

The origins of Ghanaian hip hop goes back to the 1980s, when performers such as K.K. Kabobo and Gyedu Blay Ambolley as early as 1973 with Ambolley's release of his first record, The SIMIGWADO ...a "semi-rap in [fante language] style hi-life" to a small audience which showed him performing highlife variations with fast spoken, poetic lyrics. Ambolley would go on to be held the "father of rap" not only in Ghana but in the world. With time, Ghanaians became influenced by American hip hop, reggae, dance hall. There was an emerging underground hip hop collective in the capital Accra...

Hiplife's history dates back to the early 1990s Jeff Tennyson Quaye better known around the world as Jay Q is one of the pioneers of Hiplife (in the mid 90s) and back bone of Ghana music as a whole and his own variation and introduction of Jama/kpanlogo to hiplife

Hiplife can cover a broad range of musical styles fused together. ...The majority of hiplife is recorded in a studio environment with heavy emphasis on computer-aided composition, arrangements and production. At this moment, hiplife artist are not known to use live instruments in their performances in front of audiences. Most performances are based on voicing over instrumentals and dubs on Compact Disc."...

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INFORMATION ABOUT CASTRO
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_(musician)
"Theophilus Tagoe, popularly known as Castro, or "Castro de Destroyer" (ca. 1982, is a Ghanaian Hiplife artiste.

Early life and career
He was born in Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana around 1982 to Lydia Tagoe a trader and Mr Cofie an accountant. He attended Anglican Primary and Junior High School in Takoradi.[1] Castro started singing at the tender age of 10. He launched his debut album 2003. He had featured Hiplife group 4x4 on their hit song "sradinam".

Castro was a friend of Ghana national football team's captain, Asamoah Gyan. The duo recorded three different albums together.[2] He had another hit with "African Girls".[3]

Death In July 2014
Tagoe died after a tragic jet ski accident.

Discography and Awards
2014 VGMAs award winner for Highlife Song of the Year for the song “Odo Pa” "

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FEATURED VIDEOS
These videos are presented in chronological order based on their posting date on YouTube, with the oldest videos given first.

Example #1: Castro - Toffee



deshar, Uploaded on Feb 24, 2009

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Example #2: Castro Ft. Asamoah Gyan (Baby Jet) Perf. "African Girls" LIVE @ O2 Arena, London



YouniLifeTV, Uploaded on Mar 15, 2011

The Ghanaian Sensation Castro & Asamoah Gyan Perform "African Girls" Live On Stage @ the Indigo O2, For Ghana's 54th Independence!!

Check The Skanks!! Great Performance..

WATCH OUT FOR MORE FOOTAGE HIGHLIGHTS!!

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Example #3: Castro - Odo Pa ft. (Asamoah Gyan) & Kofi Kinaata | GhanaMusic.com Video



Ghana Music.com, Published on Oct 6, 2013
-snip-
Here's information about Asamoah Gyan and the song "Odo Pa"
From http://www.modernghana.com/sports/475484/2/black-stars-captain-gyan-drops-new-song-odo-pa.html Sports News | 16 July 2013 Last updated at 16:30 CET
"Ghana Black stars captain Asamoah Gyan has released his latest song with Castro titled 'Odo Pa' which means good love.

The AL Ain striker had waited for over two years to come out with his new musical work after releasing two successive hit songs; 'African Girls' and 'Do The Dance' in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Unlike his previous hit tracks where the Al Ain ace was doing rap, Gyan did actual singing this time around in the song categorised as highlife.

The song had hiplife artiste Castro killing the sound with his silky voice and a new artiste Kofi Kinaata doing a rap.

Gyan, nicknamed 'Baby Jet' came in last surprisingly singing"....
-snip-
The Black Stars is Ghana national football [soccer] team.

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For My People - Balele (Nigerian Rap with French & English lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a YouTube video of a song by the Nigerian (Fulani) Hip-Hop Group "For My People" that encourages African peace and unity.

This video includes sub-titles in French for most of the song. I used Google translate to convert those lines to English, and sometimes added my corrections of that translation into Standard American English.

Unfortunately, there are no comments on this video's viewer comment thread to date, except my comment about this post. I'd love to know more about this group. Additions and corrections to my correction of the Google Translate lines are very welcome.

The content of this post is posted for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, motivational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the featured rappers, dancers, and musicians. Thanks also to this video's publisher.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Balele (For my people)

)

qwxcf, Published on Jul 13, 2012

For my people est un groupe de RAP nigérien de la ville de Maradi qui s'est reconvertit en moderno-traditionnel. Ils chantent ici la paix en Afrique en langue fulbe (peulh)

Google translate from French to English* : For my people is a group of Nigerian RAP city of Maradi which converts into moderno-traditional. They sing here peace in Africa Fulani language (Fulani)

[Converted to Standard American English:
"For My People" is a Nigerian Hip-Hop (Rap) group from the city of Maradi. The group's style is modern-traditional. In this video they rap and sing in the African Fulani (Fulbe, Peul) language.
-snip-
*The publisher's summary says that the song [rap and singing] is in Fulani, but the words in the sub-titles are French.

I'm not sure if "Balele" means "For My People" in Fulani, or if that is the name of the group and the title of this song. From its use in this song, I think that "Balele" (given in this post without accent marks) means "For My People". However, I'm not sure about that: in f

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LYRICS FROM THE VIDEO'S SUB-TITLES

FRENCH [words given without accent marks)

(chorus- Balele)

Je lance un appel a tous les citoyens:
Ill es temps qu’on s’unisse
Seule le’union est source du
developpment de toutes nos nations
On est contre la guerre
Notre devise est la’amour, la joie, l’unite
Telle est la voie du development de toutes nos nations

(chorus – Balele)

(a portion of rapping whose words aren’t given in subtitles)

(chorus – Balele)

Tous le africains duinvent prendre le bon example
Sachez que la guerre detruit un people
Raison pour laquelle toute l’Africains
dout s’unir pour combattre ce fleur
Paix pour une Afrique unie
Venez cher africains
Nous jeunes, unissons-nou!-
Et nous nations se developperont
L’avenir nous appartient

(chorus Balele)

(instrumental and singing)

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ENGLISH (FROM GOOGLE TRANSLATE (GT), including in brackets my "translations" of some of the Google Translation results into Standard American English
(chorus-Balele)

I appeal to all citizens:
Ill es time we unite [It's time we unite]
Le'union is only source of [Unity is the only way]
developpment of all our nations [our nation will flourish]
It is against the war [Otherwise is war]
Our motto is la'amour, joy, unity [Our motto is love, joy, and unity]
Such is the way of the development of all our nations [That is the way all our nations will flourish

(chorus –Balele)

(a portion of rapping whose words aren’t given in subtitles)

(chorus –Balele)

All the African duinvent take good example [All Africans who (are alert and aware)? take heed to all the good examples (that you can easily think of]
Know that the war destroyed people [Know that wars destroy people]
Why all Africans dout unite to fight this flower [Why don’t all Africans unite to fight this virus? (unhealthy growth (of hatred)
Peace for a united Africa
Come dear African We young, Unite new! - [Come young Africans- Unite anew!
Nations and we shall develop [to strengthen our nations]
The future is ours

(chorus Balele)

(instrumental and singing)
-snip-
Note that I'm not sure if the group is talking about African nations (plural) or nation(singular, meaning "Nigeria".)

Corrections and additions are welcome.

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