Spokenword Poetry as an art form in Ghana is rapidly Growing, and one of the main forces behind this is Ehalakasa a creative fraternity founded by Yibor Kojo Yibor and the Late Nii Lante Lamptey.
For over a decade, this movement has spearheaded the creative growth of this art form.
As part of their efforts to challenge artists to build up their art form, Ehalakasa organizes yearly Spokenword Slams.
The Slam gives each artist 3 rounds, 3 minutes per round and random judges are chosen from the audience and given score cards to judge the performance.
The cards carry points from 1 to 10 and the judges are allowed to give any mark they feel like giving.
Last year’s Slam was in December and was quite different from previous slams.
Artists were allowed to use props in their performance to test their creativity.
A special theme was also given dubbed “EnvironWoMental” in a bid to create and advocate on the human relation to the degradation of the environment.
The Slam was Sponsored by Sarah Güsten- Marr who donated GHS5000 to the slam.
She is one of the initiators of “Cultural crossing” an organization that enables performing artists to travel within the continent.
The event saw Creativity at its peak from all 10 Slammers.
At the end of the Day, the Team Phili-n-Dzi made up of Philipa Gyamfi and WhoIsDeydzi emerged as the Slam Champions despite the tough competition.
In addition to cash prizes, the winning team will be working hand in hand with Plastic punch and the church of Climate change as Environmental advocates and green ambassadors of Ehalakasa.
The team will also represent Ghana in the African Slam Championship in Ethiopia come November 2020.
Ehalakasa is a platform designed to push and promote Ghanaian Lyrical dexterity and in view of this, the Organization has put in place the TalkFact3 Slam, a spoken-word competition that will happen on the last Sunday of every month.
