The Tech Art and Soul podcast won’t solve Africa’s problems.

Dear Jiji,

Once upon a time, in the most beautiful city in Ghana- Ho-I was a young boy with big dreams. At around age six, I was already convinced I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. But here’s the twist: I didn’t want to be a doctor, engineer, or even a bank manager. Nope, I was all set on becoming Africa’s Picasso.

I was obsessed with drawing. I drew anything and everything that caught my eye or sparked my imagination. Tables, walls, books, sand-you name it, I probably left my artistic mark there. I even won an art award and got paid by my sisters’ friends to draw their biology assignments. My dream was in full swing!

But then, life threw me a curveball. We had to move to a different city, and I switched schools. My new school didn’t even have art on the timetable! It was a much bigger school, with a heavy focus on math and science, so I had to put my art dreams on the shelf and fit in. After all, Dzansi’s “don’t chop last.” And so, my Picasso dreams morphed into something else entirely – I became an engineer.

So, what’s the connection between this story and the title of this piece? Hold on tight, Jiji, I’m getting there.

Earlier this year, during one of our casual chats about how to make Ghana great again, Michael, Nii, and I wondered: what kind of innovations could emerge if we brought the tech and art communities together for a conversation over a calabash of palm wine and some suya? Nii brought Meli and the creative minds at CW Studios into the mix, and before we knew it, we had sparked something magical—the Tech, Art & Soul podcast was born!” 

I’ll share the full story for the podcast in a future post, but here’s an undisclosed gist the team didn’t know—I’m the walking, talking embodiment of this podcast. Why? Because one part of me is still the artist I always aspired to be, while the other has fully embraced the techie I’ve become. It’s like Picasso and Tim Berners-Lee had a creative mashup inside me!

I envision Tech Art and Soul as a community of people who are enthusiastic about technology, creativity, culture, and making a meaningful difference in their communities. Through our podcast/vidcast, and live events, the Tech Art and Soul community will come together to explore the latest tech and creative trends, examine how they’re reshaping the way we live, work, and express ourselves. We know this podcast won’t single-handedly solve Africa’s challenges, but we hope it will ignite a sense of drive and development purpose in our listeners. 

The podcast is out now! We’ve recorded 10 episodes, but we’ll be releasing them one at a time, every other Friday. If we dropped them all at once, what would we have left to share next week? (Yes, I’m channelling my inner Vice President there 😄.) [for my non-Ghanaian audience, watch this video to understand this context]

In our first episode, we dive into a topic close to my heart: reading in the traditional and digital eras. We asked the big question—does technology make us read more or less?

Listen on Spotify, Deezer, Apple Podcast and watch on YouTube.

This is our first shot at a podcast, and while we had a great time hosting conversations on XSpaces, being on video is a whole new challenge. I’m eager to hear what our audience thinks about how we did. I hope they’ll share valuable feedback on what we can improve and what they enjoyed in the discussions.

I mostly stayed behind the scenes as the producer, making sure the hosts asked the right questions, and everything flowed smoothly. But I couldn’t resist jumping in on a few episodes to share my Picasso- Berners-Lee insights.

Jiji, I hope you learn something new from this podcast, find inspiration, and feel challenged to become whatever you dream of being in the future. 

And that, my dear is my story for the week. Now, let’s see where yours takes you.

Love,
Dzidefo
Node Eight