NEWS MAGAZINE MARCH 1999

AFRIQUE staff writer

Ghanaian reggae artist Kwame Bediako says reggae, for him, is a religion. That is why he has embraced it over a particular form of music that Ghana is well known for – highlife music. On his first CD, just released in Chicago, Kwame preaches a spiritual reconnection of people of African descent around the world – Africans, African- Americans, Afro-Cubans, Afro-Latinos, Afro-Caribbean – with Africa, the land of their common ancestral heritage. ‘How Sweet It Is’ is the title of the CD. How Sweet it is for the reconnecting to take root!

(Editors Note: These are excerpts from a two-part interview.)

Q: How Sweet It Is. What does that mean?

A: For a while there we realized that we, as Africans, feel ashamed even to identify with Africa. So we are just trying to tell people it’s really sweet to have some connection to Africa. We just like to get people to see the sweetness of Africa.

Q: And is that message more important now than at any point in time in the past?

A: Well, I couldn’t say. We are just doing the work. That’s how we feel. We have the opportunity to say it. It’s nothing new. It’s been said before. So we are just continuing it.

Q: One of your songs talks about freeing Africa. Why isn’t Africa free? What needs to be done to free Africa? What is freedom for Africa?

A: When we say free Africa, we say there is another freedom known only to the freed. Basically, to have the will to say I will do something and be able to go through with doing it. Even though we are free.

Q: What remains to be done?

A: Just knowledge of who we are. Being here (in America), there are just so many things that make you want to love America, and that’s good. Can the same be done for Africa? That comes from knowing who we really are. When you know who you are, there’s a certain freedom that goes along with it.