M.anifest explains “wani aba” video

Recording artist M.anifest recently released his latest music video, the visual treatment to his song featuring 4-time 2016 VGMA winner Bisa K’dei. The song, titled W’ani Aba, was originally released in November 2015, and has since been enjoying steady play on radio stations across the country.

The video is set to make the song a staple in many households. In the video, M.anifest can be seen walking through the streets of Jamestown and Madina in Accra, peddling sets of futuristic glasses to bystanders.

The glasses were created by Accra-based artist Serge Attukwei Clottey, a founder of the “afrogallonism” artistic movement. When the wearer puts them on, he sees a different view of whatever he was looking at in real life, where everything that was normal has become extraordinary. Using Ghanaians from all walks of life, the concept of “afrofuturism” is introduced.

The term w’ani aba itself means “to see with envious eyes”, which brings to mind the theme of jealousy, should you listen to the audio alone. However, in the video, the director (with the idea of the afrofuturistic glasses) twisted around the concept to mean to see beyond your reality, and envision things how you want to see them, and not how they are. The glasses become the portal to the future, giving you the power to “see beyond”. _OB_4940

The video details the individual experiences of all those who decide(or are persuaded by M.anifest) to put on the glasses, and what each of them sees in their own alternate reality. You can’t help but notice the ear-to-ear grins on their faces when they do. M.anifest and Bisa K’dei deliver their performances along the way, and everything fuses together to become the video of the future, W’ani Aba. See beyond.

M.anifest, real name Kwame Tsikata, is an established rapper and songwriter, active in the music industry since 2005. He has an incredible international portfolio of collaborations including work with Damon Albarn, Erykah Badu, and South African rappers Proverb and HHP, just to name a few. He is currently in the top tier of Ghanaian rappers and musicians as a whole, and he stands out for his creativity, originality, and his unapologetically African brand.

Bisa K’dei has cemented his own position in the music industry, with hits such as Baba, Brother Brother, and Mansa and this was a dream collaboration. Directed by Garth von Glehn who shot the popular ‘No Shortcut to Heaven’ video, this music video’s creative and unique nature gave rise to the question, “what is it actually about?”