Interkultur Ruhr Network Meetingr
Serge Ananou
Interkultur Ruhr Network Meeting – "Netzwerktreffen Interkultur Ruhr"
Networks and visibility of intercultural work in the Ruhr area
The Interkultur Ruhr Network Meeting, which takes place several times a year, offers a forum for an exchange between various key players from the Ruhr area. It offers an opportunity to connect and find effective ways of cooperation, as well as promoting a critical dialogue with different initiatives and institutions of intercultural work. The Network Meeting provides an opportunity to collectively discuss cultural policy and current issues.
On the 3 July 2021 at 3:00 pm the network members are going to present and offer a more detailed view on their recommendations for cultural action, which were presented in September 2020. Following discussions about the infrastructure of a diverse commemorative culture
and how to promote intercultural activities in the future will be the topic of visibility of intercultural work in the Ruhr area. For this purpose, we have invited cultural as well as political initiators. All topics will be elaborated and worked on in workshop groups.
The following concert is a result of the cooperation between Interkultur Ruhr and Teranga Bochum e.V. whose members have worked together last year within the context of the intercultural calendar. Due to restrictions regarding the Covid-19 pandemic this event, as well as the Taranga Afrika Festival Bochum, had to be cancelled. Now Ruhr International provides an opportunity to revive this cooperation by means of an Serge Ananou concert.
Registration for the network meeting ends 16 June 2021:
https://interkultur.ruhr/kalender/netzwerktreffen-interkultur-ruhr-bochum
Network Interkultur Ruhr: https://interkultur.ruhr/netzwerk
Recommendations for cultural action: https://interkultur.ruhr/notiz/interkulturelle-arbeit-im-ruhrgebiet-kulturpolitische-handlungsempfehlungen
Photo: Netzwerktreffen Interkultur Ruhr / Credit: RVR/Diermann
Between tradition and modernity
Serge Ananou's music bears the traces of the tension between the city and the countryside. It retains character traits of traditional music from Benin, whilst combining them with elements of jazz, blues and funk.
Serge Ananou was born in Benin in the 1970s. He grew up in a working- class district of Contonou, where he discovered the rhythm and culture of Voodoo. At the age of 13, the boy from Cotonou started out as a percussionist before discovering his talent as a guitarist.
The autodidact and music enthusiast has met many musicians in the following years and has played gigs with them in various West African countries. In 2002 he joined the "Fifawa Band". Together they went on his first tour through Europe and performed in Switzerland, France and
Italy. In 2006, Serge decided to move to France, where he studied music and jazz for four years. He did so at CFPM (Center de Formation Professionelle Musique) and the American School of Modern Music (IMEP).
In early 2017 he released his first album called "Bonou". All songs deal with his origins, fate and love but also deal with social issues such as minorities in Africa and Europe, albinism, and violence against women. Each piece has been written and composed by Serge himself.
This concert is a result of a cooperation between Interkultur Ruhr and Teranga Bochum e.V. whose members have worked together last year within the context of the intercultural calendar.
Website Serge Ananou: http://sergeananou.com
Facebook Serge Ananou: https://www.facebook.com/Ananou.Serge/
Website Teranga Bochum e.V.: http://www.teranga-afrika-festival.de/
Podcast on Senegalese fast-breaking: https://interkultur.ruhr/notiz/podcast-interkultureller-kalender-senegalesisches-fastenbrechen
Photo: Serge Ananou / Credit: Kader Alassane