Sunday, 27 November 2011

Azonto 4 life

 2011 shall definitely be remembered for so many things in the entertainment industry - both locally and internationally - but as the year draws to an end, one thing that many Ghanaians are very likely to enter the New Year with is the AZONTO dance.

Ah!!! Is AZONTO a description or a dance? It could be either of them depending on who is using the word but it certainly has gained recognition as a dance more than a description.

Amazingly it has become a craze and almost everybody; I mean everybody is fascinated by it. There are those who are bent on learning it so that at least they can ‘belong’.

Although the history of the dance is sketchy, it is believed to have started somewhere in the southern part of the country and has several suburbs in Accra including Dansoman, Tema and Nima claiming ownership.


The dance moved from second cycle institutions through the streets, into night clubs and parties and has now ended up in church.

You will be amazed the number of people in church and of all ages who dance to any rhythm with a slight azonto twist. There are some so-called ‘big men’ who attempt doing the dance in churches but are careful not to be seen as ‘unholy’ because the dance requires some very free-minded movements and comes with an attitude of its own.


Some of the movements in the dance include washing, making a phone call, driving, boxing, making-up amongst others. It requires a lot of flexibility to be executed professionally.

There are those who have made a total mess of themselves in an attempt to do the dance but are hell bent on being pros before the year ends. More grease to your elbows and knees because they would need them to accomplish this task.

 If you YouTube azonto, you will get an avalanche of video results of people doing the dance and that is where people who are shy to ask for proper tutelage in doing the dance have resorted learning the moves. We wish them well. I strongly believe the dance has come to stay and we would be better off taking advantage of its popularity and making some ‘azonto’ capital out of it.

 Our musicians who have fuelled the popularity of the dance through their songs are cashing in on it big time and are releasing songs with rhythms that go with the dance.

Big ups to the likes of Sarkodie, Eduwodzie, Stay J, 5five, Castro and of course Ghana’s ace striker Asamoah Gyan for propelling the dance at the international level.

Asamoah Gyan might as well be the ‘azonto’ ambassador.

No comments:

Post a Comment