African American Studies Commons^™

Kontihene, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Kontihene

Interviewer: Dr. Jane Edward, Kojo Ampa, Kareem Salifu, Dr. Mark Niason

Summarized by Sheina Ledesma

Kontihene is a Ghanaian Hip Hop musician who has lived in the Bronx since 2004. Kontihene describes his own music as being Afro-Pop or Hip-Life because it combines lively beats with traditional Ashanti folk music from Ghana. Kontihene grew up in Ghanaian town called Kumasi with his parents and two sisters. His love for music developed at a very young age. By age ten he was already writing poems and songs that discussed his family life. Encouraged and mentored by a local musician …

Ceesay, Yandeh, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewee: Yandeh Ceesay

Interviewer: Dr. Jane K. Edward

Date of Interview: February 10, 2009

Summarized by Sheina Ledesma

Yandeh Ceesay is an undergraduate student at Fordham University. She was born in 1989 in the West African nation of Gambia. When she was a year old her father left the family and moved to the Bronx. A year later, in 1991, her father was able to send for Yandeh and her mother, and they both moved from Gambia to the Bronx as well. When Yandeh first arrived she lived with her parents in an eight-floor apartment building on Fordham Road. She …