Wiyaala builds African village for ‘Tuma’ video

The ever resourceful Wiyaala has only gone and built a village for her new video which drops today!

Stills from the set reveal that the Upper West singer, Wiyaala personally supervised the construction of an African village set at Djimba World Film Studios in Wa.

We have already seen the video and once again the super star songstress confirms her team is finding new and intriguing ways of promoting Ghanaian and African culture at home and abroad. The video also features performances by children of The Tender Care Proprietary School in Wa.

Wiyaala said: “I loved working with the kids and they responded to the challenge with some great acting performances. This confirms yet again there is huge undiscovered talent in our country and we must do more to encourage it.” The singer added, “this work also aims to dispel some of the negative images of children in Africa. Although I grew up in a village which had its problems, we were also happy, resourceful and optimistic.”

“Tuma” which translates to “No food for the lazy man”, is a song Wiyaala originally wrote and recorded in 2009 at Echo Soundz Studio in Wa and then re-recorded in South Africa for her debut album, the self-titled “Wiyaala”, which is now enjoying positive reviews in the international press.

“Tuma” director Charlotte Appleton also directed the award winning Rock My Body and the critically acclaimed Leno and Sun & Moon videos and is currently working on future projects for Wiyaala.

Charlotte commented: “The Tuma music video project took a huge amount of work and the final result is an absolute credit to Wiyaala, the children, the production team and in particular, the construction team in Wa. We wanted to create a microcosm of Ghanaian society, reflecting the traditional work ethic of the people. I believe we have achieved this and I want to say a huge thank you to all the hard working people who helped bring the concept to life'.

Released during Wiyaala's European Tour and just after her performance at The Queens Birthday Celebrations, 'Tuma' shows off Wiyaala's Northern Ghanaian heritage