About
After electric horns arrived in West Africa, honk horns virtually disappeared. But a union of bus and truck drivers in the Accra township of La kept the por por horns and invented a jazzy honking music adding bells, drums, and voices. The La drivers only perform this Por Por at funerals of their fellow union transport workers.
This film documents the origins and performance of this music and features the testimonies of twenty-five senior drivers and transport industry workers who are centrally involved in its history
EXTRA FEATURE: M.V. Ladabi (20 min, 2013)
The story of legendary La pioneer driver Ataa Anangbi Anangfio, presented through family photographs by his son, photographer Nii Yemo Nunu.
This film is part of the Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra series. Alone or joined by the companion book and CD series of the same title, the films convey a sense of diasporic intimacy and musical cosmopolitanism in Ghana.
The series includes the following titles:
Hallelujah! (60 min, 2009)
Accra Trane Station: The Music and Art of Nii Noi Nortey (60 min, 2009)
Includes the short film From Accra to Santa Fe (18 min, 2009)
A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie (60 min, 2009)
The Story of Por-Por (60 min, 2013)
Includes the short film M.V. Labadi (20 min, 2013)
J.C. Abbey, Ghana's Puppeteer (55 min, 2016)