Okaidja hopes to preserve traditional African music and dance and to promote cross-cultural understanding by sharing his culture with diverse groups of people. He creates music and dance programs that are educational, innovative, and entertaining. His work incorporates the essential elements and spirit of West Africa and influences from the cultures of the African Diaspora.

Okaidja has worked extensively throughout America's rural towns, spreading his culture to people in very homogenous parts of the United States. The small towns that he visits are extremely touched and enriched by his unique presence. Many of the children in rural schools have never touched a drum before or sang a song in a different language. It is an awesome opportunity for him to bring Africa into their schools, homes, and hearts, profoundly impacting their worldview.

He has also done tremendous work in connecting the music and dance forms of the African Diaspora back to their roots in Africa. For the past several years he has been studying the origins of African Diaspora arts and tracing them back to the Gold Coase of Africa. Through his studies, he has created a unique form of music and dance that blends traditional Ghanaian music and dance with rhythms and movements of the African Diaspora, including Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Peruvian, American Blues, Jazz and Tap.

Discography

Okaidja: Obutu Apla

Available to listen, preview and to purchase at cdbaby.com and itunes.com.