Rebuilding Osu Klottey School of African Music and Dance in Accra/Ghana

After the severe 2013 rainy season, the Osu Klottey School of African Music and Dance was about to collapse, and so Braunschweig educator Claas Wiechmann (founder member of the charity Ankwa Roots) and Ghanaian artist Ed Franklin Gavua launched a fundraising campaign to save this special facility in downtown Accra. Tremendous support from local supporters and donors from Germany was required to be able to take down the octagonal wooden building in 2014 and rebuilding it the following year on a new stable foundation with thick stone masonry. In April 2016, the concrete ceiling was poured, followed by the current, final construction phase: the roof.

Claas Wiechmann has been a supporter of the school for 15 years now. The large room below the roof is especially important to him, as it is intended for visitors and volunteers from Europe. This space closes a circle for him; after all, he first came to Ghana in 1997 through a volunteering programme.

The school, also known as “kwaabuette” (rainbow) thanks to the colourful design of its wooden walls, is one of the first music schools in West Africa, and it has become a true cultural fixture in Accra. It is located in the capital’s downtown area, directly by the sea, and attracts both children and teenagers from the neighbourhood and musicians from around the world. Its director, Mr Adjarh Torto, a descendant of one of Ghana’s greatest royal families, is at the same time the director of the royal dance and music troupe and as such one of the capital’s best-known musicians. Thanks to his close connections to the royal family, Osu Klottey frequently hosts traditional ceremonies which are always accompanied by music and dancing.

Osu Klottey is intended to be a space for cultural exchange where Ghanaian and European teenagers have the unique chance to meet in music and social projects. At the heart of the new building will be a not-for-profit sound studio for traditional and contemporary music. The completion of the roof construction affords us a breather, but there is still a lot to do before mid-2018. The last major step will be the work on the interior; we are already calling for donations in kind, and we’re happy to take pre-owned items.