#driversunion

“The busy streets of Accra are filled with a harsh discordant mixture of sounds. Among these sounds are the daily unceasing mundane horn honking from the Trotro and taxis. For most people in Accra, these unending daily honking from the drivers are unnecessary noise, but some Trotro & taxi drivers found it interesting enough to create harmonious music out of them. In 1968, a group of drivers from the La Drivers Union came together create music from the horn honking with self made instruments like the honk horns that have a rubber squeeze bulb at one end and are either straight or curved, bells and drums. Drivers used to hang them off their side mirrors. They called this new genre of music “Por Por.” “ Now the membership of the La Lorry Drivers Por Por group includes people from other professions. This Trotro Life had the privilege to watch the group rehearse on Wednesday night in the office of the La Drivers Union. . . #la #accra #ghana #africa #transportation #trotro #thistrotrolife #ladriversunion #porpor #porpormusic #music #genre #feld #professor #research #ghanaat50 #funeral #drivers #driversunion #ashantiimmigrant #jenniferhart #everydayafrica #visiterlafrique #dynamicafrica #streetstyle #streetphotography #documentary #colterharper (at Accra, Ghana) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5aDw69pR_Y/?igshid=5i4vgxidf8li

Ata Okoe... the funkiest septuagenarian you’ll ever meet in Accra. He’s a member La Drivers Union Por Por Group. Ata Okoe is also an artist who makes one of a kind hippieish headgears like the one he’s wearing in this photo. In addition to his creative ingenuity, Ata Okoe’s positive vibes and infectious smiles are what draws people closer to him more. . . 📷: Nana Osei - 2019 . . . #la #accra #ghana #africa #transportation #trotro #thistrotrolife #ladriversunion #porpor #porpormusic #music #genre #feld #professor #research #drivers #driversunion #ashantiimmigrant #jenniferhart #everydayafrica #visiterlafrique #dynamicafrica #streetstyle #streetphotography #documentary #ataokoe #septuagenarian #headgear #artist #hippiestyle (at Accra, Ghana) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5wks1lJ2Lq/?igshid=1h9yr9stu5d9i

The busy street of Accra are filled with a harsh discordant mixture of sounds. Among these sounds are the daily unceasing mundane horn honking from the Trotro and taxis. For most people in Accra, these unending daily honking from the drivers are unnecessary noise, but some Trotro & taxi drivers found it interesting enough to create harmonious music out of them. In 1968, a group of drivers from the La Drivers Union came together create music from the horn honking with self made instruments like the honk horns that have a rubber squeeze bulb at one end and are either straight or curved, bells and drums. Drivers used to hang them off their side mirrors. They called this new genre of music “Por Por.” The Por Por became popular somewhere around 2007 when an album “Por Por: The Honk Horn Music of Ghana” was produced by Professor Steven Feld (an “anthropologist of sound”) to celebrate Ghana at 50. Before that, Por Por was usually performed at occasions like weddings and funerals of drivers. Professor Steven Feld in an interview published by npr in March 2007 said "The idea is kind of like a New Orleans jazz funeral: a real rejoice-when-you-die kind of party, where you are sent up by a honking of horns.” On their performance at the funerals, he stated that “The drivers' road to heaven paved with car horns and a whole lot of honking.” . . References . https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9115707 Smithsonian Folkways, Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana https://www.slacker.com/artist/the-la-drivers-union-por-por-group . . #la #accra #ghana #africa #transportation #trotro #thistrotrolife #ladriversunion #porpor #porpormusic #music #genre #feld #professor #research #ghanaat50 #funeral #drivers #driversunion #ashantiimmigrant #jenniferhart #everydayafrica #visiterlafrique #dynamicafrica #streetstyle #streetphotography #documentary (at Accra, Ghana) https://www.instagram.com/p/By5S7iyJuzC/?igshid=tjhmzxvhang2

The busy streets of Accra are filled with a harsh discordant mixture of sounds. Among these sounds are the daily unceasing mundane horn honking from the Trotro and taxis. For most people in Accra, these unending daily honking from the drivers are unnecessary noise, but some Trotro & taxi drivers found it interesting enough to create harmonious music out of them. In 1968, a group of drivers from the La Drivers Union came together create music from the horn honking with self made instruments like the honk horns that have a rubber squeeze bulb at one end and are either straight or curved, bells and drums. Drivers used to hang them off their side mirrors. They called this new genre of music “Por Por.” The Por Por became popular somewhere around 2007 when an album “Por Por: The Honk Horn Music of Ghana” was produced by Professor Steven Feld (an “anthropologist of sound”) to celebrate Ghana at 50. Before that, Por Por was usually performed at occasions like weddings and funerals of drivers. Professor Steven Feld in an interview published by npr in March 2007 said "The idea is kind of like a New Orleans jazz funeral: a real rejoice-when-you-die kind of party, where you are sent up by a honking of horns.” On their performance at the funerals, he stated that “The drivers' road to heaven paved with car horns and a whole lot of honking.” . . References . https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9115707 Smithsonian Folkways, Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana https://www.slacker.com/artist/the-la-drivers-union-por-por-group . . #la #accra #ghana #africa #transportation #trotro #thistrotrolife #ladriversunion #porpor #porpormusic #music #genre #feld #professor #research #ghanaat50 #funeral #drivers #driversunion #ashantiimmigrant #jenniferhart #everydayafrica #visiterlafrique #dynamicafrica #streetstyle #streetphotography #documentary (at Accra, Ghana) https://www.instagram.com/p/By7h_RlpOhs/?igshid=ax6xvwtddrqh

“The secret of a driver’s success lay in his shuttling back and forth. At home, he was surrounded by an aura of seething atmosphere of the city. His urbanity was evident in his manners and in the commodities he had at his disposal: clothes, electronic goods, alcoholic drinks and cigarettes. On the other hand, in the city he represented ‘the good country life’ about which city people continued to muse nostalgically...” Sjaak van der Geest states in the essay “‘Anyway!’ Lorry Inscriptions in Ghana. The economic and social status drivers enjoyed in the 20th century was a good reason why many young people wanted to go into the profession. Geest observed that people who drove cars were admired and envied, and young people in the neighborhood where she stayed during the research dreamt of becoming drivers one day. They particularly want to be respected and equally live the envious ‘rural - urban high class life.’ This is a good enough economic reason for anyone to venture into any profession. The story now comes to what is left of them when they go into retirement. Some of them are able to save some money through unions but because of the lifestyle they couldn’t save enough. Some of the drivers rely on their families to take care of them now. The chairman of the 37 - Ashaiman station drivers union, Mr. Hanson Blay noticed the economic hardships among his retired senior colleagues who he sometimes goes to their aid. He together with his union executives are now putting certain measures in place to get the drivers in his union a secured pension scheme. . . Ref: Geest van der S., “‘Anyway!’ Lorry Inscriptions in Ghana. (Brill, Leiden), 2009. . . . 📷: Nana Osei - 2018 Text: @thistrotrolife . . . #accra #ghana #africa #motortransport #transportation #thistrotrolife #sjaakvandergeest #essay #union #economic #social #retirement #driversunion #drivers #union #everydayafrica #dynamicafrica #jenniferhart #ashantiimmigrant #streetstyle #streetphotography https://www.instagram.com/p/BphE1_JlMHs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=hopzi8bq1gj0