When much of America last heard of Aphrodesia, the explosive 11-piece afrobeat-inspired band from San Francisco, the band was fueling their bus with recycled vegetable oil and driving cross-country on their self-proclaimed ìJust Vote Tourî. The group visited swing states to register voters in advance of the 2004 presidential elections, and to preach the virtues of alternative fuel. Apparently, the group hasn't learned to think small since.
This February, Aphrodesia will once again take their high-energy show on the road in a bus that runs on bio-diesel. But itís not a road that they (or indeed any other American afrobeat or West African-inspired band) have before traveled: Aphrodesia will be touring Ghana and parts of West Africa for one month. The tour kicks off with the band performing as part of the Africa Unite Festival in Accra, Ghana, on February 5th- a celebration of Bob Marley's 61st birthday that will also feature Rita Marley, Damien, Ziggy and Stephen Marley, Culture, Morgan Heritage and many more performers. Aphrodesia's tour will be booked by Alliance Francais, and will include tour dates throughout the rest of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. What's more, the band will be traveling in a bus donated by the Ghanaian Ministry of the Environment and demonstrating how to make biodiesel from local resources. The Ministry is eager to use Aphrodesia's visit to promote this method of alternative fuel.
For much of the tour, Aphrodesia will co-bill with the African Showboyz, a group of five brothers from Ghana who Aphrodesia met last summer in the United States. Both groups participated in the High Sierra Music Festival, the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, and the Joshua Tree Music Festival. By the end of the summer, the two groups had formed such a close friendship that they performed a joint set together at the Earthdance Festival, an ambitious cross-cultural performance that laid the groundwork for Aphodesiaís West African tour.
"We had been talking about visiting Ghana as a band for a while--since we started the band, actually.." says Ezra Gale, the 34-year old co-founder and bassist. But it wasn't until we met the Showboyz this summer and performed with them at Earthdance that we started thinking that this could really happen. Aphrodesia isnt a complete stranger to Ghana. Lara Maykovich, the band's lead singer and co-founder, lived in Ghana in 1997 and 1998. Indeed, much of the band's first album, the acclaimed Shackrobeat Vol. 1, contains traditional Ghanaian melodies arranged by Maykovich, with original music composed by the group.
Aphrodesia's involvement with bio-diesel and alternative fuel came about when guitarist David Sartore, 26, joined the group in 2004. Sartore, a co-founder of the Clean Fuel Caravan Coalition, a Bay Area-based collective of bio-diesel mechanics and resources, introduced the band to the wonders of traveling on vegetable oil and bio-diesel fuel. Sartore notes that helping promote alternative fuel in West Africa fits with the bandís vision of a healthier, more independent and sustainable future. This part of the world has been devastated environmentally by the effects of the oil industry. We felt that if we were going over there we had to at least try to bring attention to an alternative, he says.