Azonto: A Dance Craze from Ghana Taking Over the World

Ghanaian comedian, Fanny Face Benson doing the Azonto. (Photo: thisisafrica.me)

It is called “Azonto” and calls for dancers to sort of act out their occupation. It has spread out of Ghana and has become a rage in Ghanaian communities in the US and Britain.

Anchor Marco Werman talks to the BBC’s Alex Jakana, who recently returned to London from experiencing the Azonto craze.

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Marco Werman: I wonder how scientists of any gender would do with this new dance out of Ghana that I’m about to tell you about. The dance is called Azonto and it calls for dancers to sort of act out their occupation. It’s all the rage in the Ghanaian communities in the U.S. and Britain. The BBC’s Alex Jakana just recently returned to London from the Ghanaian capital of Accra. Alex, tell me how and when Azonto started in Ghana.

Alex Jakana: Roughly 12 months, about a year ago is when people really began to talk about this dance called Azonto within Ghana, and that’s just me. The guys who started the dance would probably say otherwise, but when I went to Ghana and met this guy called Gasmilla, one of the pioneers of the dance, he took me to the actual place where it sort of begun it’s evolution and it had many names before it became Azonto. The most recent name was Apa , which means to work. Basically the dancer uses it to tell people who are watching or with whom he is socializing or she is socializing, what they do for a living, so incorporating into the body movements a hammer if you are a carpenter, or in your case, Marco, I guess it would be sort of a hand motion of a microphone from your mouth to the interviewees.

Werman: I don’t know how I would do that, but we’ll think of a way.

Jakana: Exactly, and so they took it on from there and incorporated these moves and then they called it Azonto, this dynamic contemporary form of the dance, and it comes from the street and fishing community in Jamestown, a suburb of Accra, and it’s from there that it sprung and [??] communities were so captivated by it, they made this great music video, the music that you’re hearing right now in the background, and that is what really flung it across the world.

Werman: Tell me about the song that we’re hearing. Was there one song that triggered Azonto?

Jakana: Well, you see that’s the thing with the internet. You can never really know, but the one song that I know many people hear and quickly associate with Azonto is this very one that we’re hearing which is Azonto done by a U.K. based artist called Fuse, featuring Ghanaian rapper, Tiffany.

[music excerpt]

Werman: Since this dance started in fishing communities, I mean those jobs there are pretty visual, nets and rods, you know, those motions are very dance friendly, but I might imagine like accountants would have a tough time doing their Azonto dance. What profession seems to offer the best version of Azonto that you’ve seen so far in Ghana?

Jakana: I’ve got to say the guy who was teaching me did a pretty convincing move of a camera man and the carpenter, I guess that one’s easy. You can sort of imagine him moving back and forth swinging that hammer.

Werman: Saw or hammer.

Jakana: Exactly, saw or hammer or something like that, and so those were two professions that I thought were pretty cool.

Werman: I’ve got to say the last 20 years or so, from Ivory Coast to Congo and including Ghana, dance crazes seem to revolve around sex and the simulation of sex. Why a dance about your profession? Does it say something about the importance of jobs and work these days?

Jakana: I guess what makes it what it is, is when you trace the roots, given that it didn’t start off as Azonto, but rather it was a communicative dance. Young men and women in these communities just decided to have fun with it and to change it because you know, what they’re doing now is they incorporate other tasks into the moves, so this guy showed me how to do, there’s a move they call wash and wear which is basically, it goes through the motions of doing his laundry, hand washing it and then wringing the water out and then ironing it with a flat iron, pressing it and then putting it on, buttoning the buttons, and the whole move is just incredible to watch, so that’s the wash and wear.

Werman: Right, I guess it’s best to not over think Azonto. It’s just so much fun to watch and we’ll have a sampling of Azonto moves on Theworld.org including, Alex, your BBC video report on Azonto, and a few of my World colleagues showing their fancy footwork, what they do for a living. The BBC’s Alex Jakana, just back from Accra, speaking with us from London. Thank you so much.

Jakana: My pleasure Marco, thank you. I hope you’ll be in that video as well.

Werman: I plead the Fifth.

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