Author: Charles Dunlevy

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Post Pandemic: West Africa

Dotun55, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Since I have a lot of free time on my hands when I am not working or studying, I have been planning my post-pandemic excursions. My planned return to my second home in East Asia is no secret. My plan to visit West Africa may come as a surprise to some. Those who know me are not surprised in the least.

West Africa is home to a large part of my ancestry. In fact, I have estimated 2/3s of my ancestry is from West Africa. As a child of Jamaican parents, I truly understand the meaning of the Jamaican motto, “Out of Many, One People”. The African side of Jamaican ancestry can be traced primarily to West Africa, mainly present-day Nigeria and Ghana.

As Jamaican dancehall, reggae, and Nigerian Afrobeats continue to tear up the charts worldwide, it is high time for me to go “home.” I have built quite the connection to my ancestral homeland and they are calling me to come home.

I look forward to visiting the land of Hi Life music, Afrobeats, Afrobeat (plural, a different genre made famous by the late Fela Kuti in Nigeria), Jolloff rice… originating in Senegal, West Africa, and spread throughout the region… nowadays we have a friendly rivalry between Ghana and Nigeria over who makes the best Jollof rice.

I cannot wait to explore the mountains in West Africa, enjoy the music and BBQ on the beaches, and the hustle and bustle of shopping in the markets. The incredible Nollywood film industry has me dreaming of visiting my ancestral lands.

West Africa, a region comprising of the ECOWAS economic block, is a future world powerhouse economically. It’s citizens are very industrious and entrepreneurial. West African students can be found all around the world excelling at the most prestigious universities.

The West African region consists of 15 nations totalling well over 360 million people. Nigeria is the most-populated nation in the region with over 200-million inhabitants. Nigerians are known to own some of the most prestigious real estate in London, UK.

The most well-known tribes in West Africa are the Yoruba, Akan, Igbo, Hausa, Wollof, and Mandingo. Studies have shown that the majority of slaves brought to Jamaica during the maafa (African Holocaust, aka Atlantic Slave Trade), were from the Akan peoples from present-day Ghana, and the Igbo people from present-day Nigeria. There were also Mandingo, Yoruba, Hausa, and others.

If one examines the Jamaican patios language, you will find Igbo, Akan, and Yoruba words. Jamaica truly is a melting pot of cultures.

After the pandemic, I will be touring West Africa and for business and leisure. I may have been born in Canada, but my roots are also Jamaican, West African, Iberian, and Middle Eastern.

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The Beginning of the End

Train Simulator: North London & Goblin Lines by DoveTail Games
© 2020 Charles Dunlevy

The beginning of the end of the pandemic is here. Finally there is a light at the end of this long tunnel.

As human beings, we are social by nature. We need contact and interaction with others. Being cooped up alone or with your immediate family is not a natural state for human beings. Prolonged isolation leads to a wide variety of side-effects.

I hate the term, “we are all in this together” because some of us have it better than others, but the statement rings true in terms of mental health. Some people are suffering the effects from being alone. Some are suffering the effects of being around the same people every day. Families are struggling. Couples are struggling. Single people are struggling. From this viewpoint, we really are all in this together, except for the covidiots.

For me, the second lockdown does not feel as bad as the first because this time around there is an end in sight to the pandemic. I am quite confident that by this time next year, the pandemic will be talked about in the past tense.

Post-pandemic, I expect most of us to have an increased appreciation for the things we missed. Going out to live theatre, live classical music at a music hall, rock concerts, house music festivals, or just hanging out at a coffee shop will all feel so much better once we are able to do so again. Watching the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, and Blue Jays in-person or at a local bar will be incredible. Attending Toronto’s many incredible cultural festivals will feel like a dream. True joy will return when we are able to participate in Caribbana, Taste of the Danforth, Taste of Little Italy, Beaches Jazz Festival, Little India Bazaar, Taste of Lawrence, Pride, and the Santa Claus Parade… plus the several others I may have forgot to mention.

As human beings, we tend to adapt to our immediate circumstances over time. At first, I was really struggling with the first lockdown. This time around, I am feeling much better due to optimism about the end of the pandemic. I have grown used to my time at home enjoying good food, movies, music, exercise, gaming, and computer coding.

I do look forward to getting out and enjoying this wonderful city again. I also look forward to going around the world to enjoy life as it was meant to be enjoyed. I am looking forward to Saturday nights in Seoul, Busan, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Lagos, Abuja, London, Paris, Halifax, Berlin, Nairobi, and Toronto.

Let us all make the best of this time to plan for our post-pandemic lives. I am using this extra home time to study various computer programming disciplines. I have learned more about programming during the past 9 months than I did in the preceding two years.

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International Music Saturday

Okay, we are in lockdown part II. I am home, better safe than sorry. I chose to make the best of the situation by enjoying some good food and music. Tonight, yours truly cooked up some delicious hamburgers. After stuffing myself, I went out to the balcony to enjoy a cold beer while reading and plane spotting.

Did I say I went outside for a cold beer? Cold was not the adjective… more like freezing! It was so cold out there I could hardly hold my beer for too long. Eventually holding the table became a chore so I went inside.

Before cooking the burgers, I started my evening listening to old school hip hop from King Tee. I discovered that he had recently released a new album, so I started to listen…I could only get through two songs before giving up. It turns out that one of my favourite rappers from the old days has adopted the current style of hip hop which I have no use for.

I switched to Hall and Oats… a duo from the olden days famous for blue-eyed soul and adult contemporary music… music our parents listened to… and I always loved as a child. This fantastic duo also released a new album for 2020 which I had just stumbled upon. A few songs in and I realized, although the music was good, it could not live up to their classics from the 1970s and 1980s.

I switched genres to house… my go-to. I just love soulful house, garage house, African house, tech house, etc. I let this play while I cooked the delicious hamburgers. Yes, those hamburgers were delicious. I also realized that I had not eaten a restaurant burger in close to a year. Why bother when I make such good burgers at home?

After eating, I went to relax on the balcony while reading, drinking beer, and listening to house music. Remember I said it was too cold outside? Yeah it was. I went back inside and set up a laptop by the living room window.

I started listening to Korean ballads, then Korean trot, then Afrobeats, then songs by Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti (his son), and others in the Afrobeat genre. Yes, there is a difference between Afrobeats, and Afrobeat. Afrobeat is the original jazz-fusion-African sound made famous by Fela Kuti during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Afrobeats (plural) refers to the new hip-hop/reggae/African-inspired sound by artists such as Tiwa Savage, Wiz Kid, and Davido.

I really do love music from around the world. So far this week I have listened to Salsa, rock, house, Afrobeats, Afrobeat, traditional Yoruba music, blue-eyed soul, dance hall reggae, Korean trot, Korean ballads, and hip hop.

I just love music and I am sure that music loves me.

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