Check it out!! The first single from Wanlov the Kubolor’s new album, “Brown Card” is the vibrant “African Gypsy” which makes it clear that the three months spent in Paris were extremely productive for Aspecks’ favourite Transylvanian Ghanaian.

Wanlov The Kubolor – African Gypsy ft Keziah Jones by Wanlov

Supported by the French Embassy and l’Institut français, Wanlov is the first Ghanaian ever chosen for an artist residency programme in Paris called “Visa for Creation”. The 3-month artistic Residence at the ‘Cité des Arts’ in Paris, is where Kubolor found inspiration writing songs for the new album working with two Ghanaian musicians and accordion player Jérôme Pierre Soulas and violinist Filippo Bonini Baraldi from Paris. The album was produced in Ghana by Pidgen Music and you can check some footage of the launch party in Ghana after the jump. Below Wanlov explains to the BBC the fusion of sound and culture that came together during his time in France.

wanlov_2010 -BBC interview mp3 (418KB)
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Over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of March we filmed a music video for the “Global Citizen Campaign” theme song by Jamm Tyme featuring additional vocals by Juanita Euka. Aspecks commissioned Kaizen Star to do the beat and it was recorded in our HQ late last year. The video was shot by Tman the Hustler of Street Music UK, with friends of Aspecks, Juanita and Jamm Tyme as well as some models provided by Disk and Jockey Entz. Many thanks to all that helped make it a success. Look out for the music video coming soon, in the mean time check out these behind the scenes pictures:

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So you may have been wondering what Aspecks has been up to as the website has not been updated in a while. But rest assured we have been working hard getting our new line of tees ready for a massive photo shoot we hosted this weekend. Fans of Aspecks on Facebook have been privy to some sneak glimpses of the new line as well as some behind the scenes footage of the Global Citizen video shoot featuring Jamm Tyme and Juanita Euka. We have also been working on some more creative collaborations with other musicians, artists and social entrepreneurs. In fact our endeavours have even been featured on one of our international affiliates’ websites; big thanks to Jake from ZebraisFood who posted about the “Get Your Money Out” video we collaborated on with Jamm Tyme, Kazen Star and Street Music UK.

Also thanks have to go to Shahida and Dani at the University of East London who offered Aspecks the opportunity to give a lecture about our experiences as a social enterprise and talk about the volunteering opportunities available through the Aspecks Global Citizen Campaign. The Aspecks co-founders have also given their first interview to a new website called London Entrepreneurs, that seeks to inform and inspire the entrepreneurs of the future, who have also posted an article to go with the interview, entitled “Tees and Ideology”. So please check out the interview below which highlights how Aspecks came about, what Aspecks is and what it does, how Aspecks combines ideology within it’s business model and the importance of being in London as an entrepreneur.

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Check out the video below for a behind the scenes look at Aspecks printing a few of the designs for our forthcoming Spring Collection, which will be available in the Aspecks Shop from March 2011. There is also a couple of commercial print jobs at the start for the  MiC Boyz out in Accra and the Nu:Sense massive from Norfolk! Check our gallery for more photos of the new designs and a big shout out to Kaizen Star for making the beat with Aspecks own “pick-up” maestro!

Well we have been away a while so first of all apologies to all our regular blog readers but rest assured Aspecks has been busy over the past couple of months planning and preparing for the year to come. But we have missed a lot of global events that reflect the ever changing world in which we live, including; student protests in the UK over tuition fee increases, the Wikileaks debacle, the mass protests and uprisings in Tunisia and the continuing unrest in Egypt, the ever increasing price of staple products (including cotton), the financial meltdown of some major economies, and the vote that has helped to create South Sudan – the newest country in Africa, to name but a few. Therefore it is only appropriate at the start of the Chinese New Year that we offer a little insight into some of the things we’ve been up to so far in 2011.

We have started a process of consolidating the Aspecks network so that we can embark on a wider and more diverse range of activities. This means that we are delighted to be able to announce some new affiliates including the 4WD Foundation and Kaizen Star both of whom we have been working with for a while now, as well as artists JAMM TYME and Silas Zephania. We have also been continuing our work with social activists Paula Mendez and Aquiles Vales who have introduced to us a variety of art and cultural movements including Chilean graffiti artist Otto Schade who we will be collaborating with in the near future!

So what does this all mean? Well, for a start we will be creating an events page on the site so that we can promote everything that we and/or our affiliates are involved in. The introduction of a new strap line “Independent Social Entrepreneurs & Creatives Collective” seeks to explain all that Aspecks does in a simple sentence. Consequently, we will be again revamping the website to add further clarity to our inspirations, ideology, services and products. Those of you who are fans on facebook may have already seen our “Small World” design, however this is just a small snippet of the new creative fire we have in store for 2011!