This animated ode to jollof rice is poetry in motion

Poetry meets animation in Jollof Rice: More than a Dish. Canadian poet Ian Keteku spent part of his summer creating the animated short, adapting a poem he normally performs live into a digestible two-minute short film.

The inspiration? A bowl of rice. Or, rather, many bowls of rice.

"Many West Africans have a relationship with jollof rice, but mine is particularly unique as my mom is a retired chef," Keteku says. "When we lived in Ghana in the '90s, she had her own cooking segment on a TV show called Frytol Women's Digest. I have never heard anyone claim they have tasted a better jollof than hers."

But jollof is not a dish without controversy, as Keteku's video points out.

"The countries of Nigeria and Ghana have engaged in a proverbial battle of whose jollof is better — happily known as 'jollof wars,'" he explains.

It's the first of three animated shorts Keteku is creating to explore parts of his West African heritage.

For this one, he even learned to play highlife chords, a sound that originated in Ghana.

"I wanted to honour Ghanaian tradition within the soundtrack of the piece," said Keteku. "It was difficult as my piano skills are rudimentary."

The result is a quick-paced, upbeat look at what Keteku describes as a friendly rivalry over rice, with a few family lessons.

The whole thing took only four weeks to make, working with animator Greg Doble.

"Transcribing the poem to a digital space took editing as some of the elements work best in person," Keteku said. "Some of the original jokes and references are common to African populations but not a general public. I thought about making the piece more accessible." This meant adding context and history about jollof. 

"Jollof rice is a staple in Ghanaian households," he said. "I wanted to explore the importance of the meal to West Africans through a story based on real events."

And what exactly were those real-life events? Keteku had tried to improve on his mother's jollof rice — an endeavour that was predictably unsuccessful.

Not only was this a departure from live performance for Keteku, but also in source material. He rarely draws from his own experience or childhood for storytelling.

Instead, he often pulls inspiration from others to "challenge system structures and address the injustice minority groups face." 

For those eager for more animated shorts from the Canadian poet, the next two instalments are expected by the end of this year and in early 2021.

À lire en français sur le site de Radio-Canada.

This story is part of Digital Originals, an initiative of the Canada Council for the Arts. Artists were offered a $5,000 micro-grant to either adapt their existing work or create new work for the digital world during the COVID-19 pandemic. CBC Arts has partnered with Canada Council to feature a selection of these projects. You can see more of these projects here.