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Bukom Square is a place, associated with the "Ga" people, located in
Bukom Square is a place, associated with the "Ga" people, located in Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
, in the heart of Accra
Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
, the capital.
Bukom is known for its output of successful boxers to America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. A large proportion of these boxers settle in the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, primarily because of its high Ghanaian population.
Some notable boxers to come out of Bukom include Azumah Nelson
Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC super-featherweight title twice ...
, Bukom Banku, Ike Quartey
Isufu "Ike" Quartey (born 27 November 1969) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2006. He held the WBA welterweight title from 1994 to 1998, and challenged once for IBF junior-middleweight title in 2000.
Early year ...
and Kwame Asante, as well as welterweight Joshua Clottey
Joshua Clottey (born October 6, 1977) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2019, and held the IBF welterweight title from 2008 to 2009. As an amateur, he competed at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. At the peak of his car ...
, who won the IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
title by defeating Zab Judah
Zabdiel Judah (born October 27, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2019. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the IBF and WBO junior welterweight titles between 2000 and 2004 ...
in August 2008. He eventually lost the title in his mandatory defense against Miguel Cotto
Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez (born October 29, 1980) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the first Puerto Rican boxer to win world titles in four weight classes, ...
.
Kpanlogo
''Kpanlogo'' is a recreational dance and music form originating from the 1960s among urban youth in Accra, Ghana.
Origin
It was first played by the Ga ethnic group, most of whom live in and around the capital city, Accra, but is now performed an ...
, Gome, Kolomashie and now the famous Azonto
Azonto is a dance and music genre from Ghana. Ghana News Agency cites their study which found out the dance is connected to the traditional Ga dance Kpanlogo, associated with the coastal towns in the country such as Chorkor, James Town, Tes ...
among other notable dances peculiar to the Ga's can be found here. Due to its location (near the coast), inhabitants of Bukom are mainly fishermen
A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...
and fishmongers
A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, fillet (cut), filleting, d ...
, with kenkey and fried fish with fried pepper and spices normally called black pepper or shito.
Bukom is also the hub of cultural activities and has many cultural troupes scattered around. Youths whose hobbies include dancing pride themselves in belonging to one cultural troupe or another. Bukom is also a hive of activities at weekends. Many become involved in Ghanaian traditional drumming and dancing full-time. You can see youth scattered across drinking spots or attending funerals or weddings on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
References