Written before 2016 and produced between 2017-2022, MEGBORNA – The Journey, is the coming-of-age project of Ghanaian Spoken Word Artist and Musician, Megborna, during the break of dawn of his journey of conscious awakening of self.
Stretched over eleven tracks with a listen time of 46 minutes the artist’s Sophomore Album, which bears same name as the artist as well as the lead single on the album, MEGBORNA, is a cohesive message of Afro Consciousness, Afro Identity and Culture, and a walk down the dreaded corridors of African History, the kind never taught in Schools.
Starting off with Knock Knock, which is a bidding message highlighting the need to wake in one’s identity, the massage is further reinforced in the lead piece, MEGBORNA. The Afro Spiritual Groove which features, Iver, is a mission of Afro Consciousness and a call to reclaiming one’s African Stories by reclaiming indigenous narratives.
Talk of Identity, the album cohesively weaves into ALKEBULAN, a time of ancient beauty and glory, of long-forgotten powerful civilization and a people.
It is a world of vivid re-imagination of Africa in the time it was referred to as ALKEBULAN, drawing connections and looking through the timelines from long before Hanibal of ancient Carthage through Scipio Africanus of Rome’s war crusades in what is present-day North Africa.
It looks at Ancient Kemet in all its grandeur, old works of Ile Ife, and the empires that existed long before what is now Africa. It recounts this land long before its contact with the Western worlds and Europe, tracing it through colonialism down to the present day.
In Freedom, We Came A long Way, the artist explores the effects of the Western world on Africa from slavery, through colonialism and the fight for African Freedom and The New African Identity pronounced by Kwame Nkrumah on eve of Ghana’s Independence.
A message explored from the perspective of an African back home in Africa and from an African American viewpoint, featuring IMAYAA.
In Miawoe (We are the Ones) and WOAWOE (They are the ones) featuring Nyamekye, the artist examines the roles we each played and are playing in our current realities as a people.
In Broken Pots featuring Jamaica’s Ras Takura, the message comes home, talking about the politics of the home, betrayals and survivals and Afro Caribbean Identities which extends into Stolen Love, a sequel to Lorlornye from the artist’s 2017 debut spoken word album, AGOO – Silver Words.
Like water wets a chocked throat, the entire album is cooled and made to settle in your mind with an Afro Spiritually intense and reflective Groove, The Sound of Freedom. The album comes to spin-off halt in, A Billion Voices.
Available on release day mid-day is the official video of A Billion Voices.
MEGBORNA – The Album is a walk down the ancient history of what is now Africa and the surfing current tides of today.
A Spoken Word Album of intense Afro Spiritual Groove. The go-to Afro Conscious, Afro History, Afro Spiritual and Afro Identity message. This is not just an album, this is education.
ARTIST PROFILE
Chris Parker Edzordzi Sefogah (born December 24, 1992) is a Ghanaian Spoken Word Artist and Poet, Musician and Practicing Artist exploring the medium of the sound and spoken word. Known professionally as Megborna, he works extensively with sound projections and techniques unique to Ghana, yet; you will always feel a dynamic twist of sound elements not so different from all sounds worldwide. Megborna has since the 2010’s navigated the waters of Spoken word, Rap and Beatbox, harnessing his lyrical skills and developing a traditional ear to his approach to Spoken Word and Sounds. His experimental approach to spoken word and music or sound is born from the belief that his spoken words and songs are one, a practice influenced by HAKPANYA among the Ewes of Ghana. His debut Spoken Word album, AGOO – Silver Words, was released in 2017. It is the first Ghanaian Spoken Word Album released across all streaming platforms and major stores worldwide on release day.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Megborna spent his formative years in the home of his grandfather, Kwawuvi Adegbo, a founding member of one of Anloga’s most prominent drumming and dance ensembles, Victoria, where he was exhumed in the rich musical culture and traditions of the Anlos. He had my primary and junior high school education in Amazing Love School, where he graduated in 2009. Megborna studied Visual Arts in Senior High School at Odorgonno Senior high School graduating in 2013. He obtained the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture, in 2020, from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, based on my thesis paper,
In Search Of A Purpose, which looks at Spoken Word as an artistic tool of self-awareness, self-consciousness, and an instrument of activism that informs his creative practice as a spoken word artist.
CAREER
Since the early 2010s, Megborna has explored performances in spoken word, rap, beatbox and music. He has shared many stages, from the National Theatre of Ghana, many pubs, shows and campuses in the mid-2010s in Accra and across Ghana, through to the stages of TEDxAccra 2016, TEDxAfariwa 2016, TEDxKNUST 2018 and the last four years in KNUST and Kumasi. He has developed a unique approach to my spoken words and sound, heavily influenced by Ghanaian mannerisms and cultural, traditional and spiritual beliefs. His spoken word employs chants, meditations, incantations, whispers, expressions and projections inspired by Ghanaian Culture.
In 2019, Megborna collaborated with Darlington Games to launch an android supported mobile game, Alkebulan, developed based on his spoken word, ALKEBULAN, on gis sophomore album available November 36, 2022… With support from Genesis Foundation, Inventory Platform and Perfocraze International Artist Residency (PIAR), Megborna conceptualized and created twenty-one minutes spoken word performance video for the 2021 edition of “Where I’m Coming From ii”.
ARTISTRY
Megborna’s practice as an artist exploring the medium of spoken word and sound is to explore beyond the limits of what is Spoken Word and Music and at what point one is or not the other. Ghanaians heavily influenced Megborna’s works, especially Ewe’s mannerisms, daily life, and cultural, traditional and spiritual beliefs. Drawing inspiration from Hakpanya, an all-encompassing word in the Ewe language for lyrics and poetry. It employs chants, meditations, incantations, whispers, expressions and projections familiar to the people of Ghana.
Megborna calls his genre, Afro Spiritual Groove.
Megborna’s Sophomore Spoken word Album, MEGBORNA – The Journey is scheduled to be released in November 2022.
SHOWS, EXHIBITION AND AWARDS
Megborna has organized four in-house (Internally funded) spoken word shows.
Megborna Album Listening – 2018
180 Minutes of Poetry or Something Like – 2019
The Megborna Concert – 1st Kingx Edition – 2020
Intimate Sessions – 2022
We Know Within – 2018 (Group exhibition)
Megborna is also a two-time recipient of The Kofi Anyidoho Spoken Word Award at the 2018 and 2019 Ghana Literary Awards by the Ghana Association of Writers.
RESIDENCY:
Perfocraze International Artist Residency – pIAR – 2022
DISCOGRAPHY
Megborna – The Journey – an 11 track Spoken Word Album – November 26, 2022
CURATED PLAYLIST FOR PRESENTATION/INTERVIEW INTERLUDE PURPOSES
Audiomack:
https://audiomack.com/megborna/playlist/megborna-invasion
YouTube:
Email Address: megborna@gmail.com
