From The Guardian

At Kokrobite, a traditional fishing village west of Accra, a party is in full swing. Crowds dressed in the red and black uniform of funeral-goers block the potholed streets, singing and swaying, enjoying what for many in Ghana is the highlight of their social calendars.

But on the other side of the rickety shacks that separate the high street from the Atlantic Ocean, a party of a different kind is being planned. In a few days the golden sand and windswept coast will throng with dance music, as Kokrobite beach plays host to what promoters claim will be Ghana’s biggest ever beach party.

“We are organising an all-day long beach party with DJs, food and partying, inspired by the kind of summer jams that are held in Miami,” said Basil Anthony, chief executive of Silky Entertainment, which is organising the Ghana Summer Beach Rave 2013.

“We are expecting partygoers in the thousands, and double the number we had last year,” said Antony. “We have been promoting it on the TV and radio as well as on social media. It’s going to be big.”

Beach parties are already attracting growing numbers of ordinary Ghanaians, with separate events like the popular Tidal Rave, which targets university students, and the upmarket Bella Roma beach party, which charges in dollars, serves champagne, and attracts ex-pats and some of the wealthiest Ghanaians.

But now figures in the music and entertainment industry want to attract tourists from around the world to their beach parties, following the model of destinations like Ibiza and Ayia Napa.

“The next Ibiza will be in Africa. It has already started,” said Andrew Tumi, aka Won, a British-Ghanaian singer also known as part of the group Supafly. “We are trying to recreate the good things about going to Ibiza, the music and the vibes. But more and more we are creating our own sound here, an Afro-house, reggae, African mashup,” he said. “It’s really blending the African rhythm into a house scene.”

Read more at theguardian.co.uk