There’s something quietly powerful about hearing a name from the past and realising it belongs to you. Next week, an online event hosted by The National Archives invites participants to step into that moment—offering a guided journey into the lives of their 20th-century ancestors.

Titled Researching Your 20th Century Ancestors, the webinar forms part of a broader genealogy series designed to help people trace their family roots with clarity and confidence.

Led by family history specialist Jessamy Carlson, the session explores key historical records including the 1911 and 1921 censuses and the 1939 register—documents that capture everyday lives in remarkable detail.

Though rooted in British archives, the event resonates far beyond the UK, especially for audiences in places like Ghana, where questions of lineage, migration, and identity remain deeply meaningful.

For many Ghanaians—whether at home or in the diaspora—family history is not just about names on paper. It lives in oral traditions, clan systems, and the stories passed down at gatherings.

This webinar offers a complementary perspective: a structured, archival approach that can enrich those inherited narratives with dates, occupations, addresses, and personal histories that might otherwise be lost to time.

Participants can expect more than a lecture. The session begins with a pre-recorded presentation that breaks down how to navigate these historical sources effectively, followed by a live Q&A where attendees can pose their own questions. It’s an interactive experience, designed for beginners and seasoned researchers alike. The digital format—accessible via a simple browser—means that whether you’re in Accra, Kumasi, London, or New York, the journey into your past is only a click away.

What makes this event particularly compelling is its ability to bridge worlds. For international visitors curious about African heritage, it highlights the universal human desire to understand where we come from.

For locals, it offers tools to document and preserve family stories in ways that future generations can revisit and trust.

In a time when identities are constantly evolving, reconnecting with one’s roots can feel grounding, even transformative.

This webinar doesn’t just teach research techniques—it opens a door to rediscovery.

As the date approaches, those with even the faintest curiosity about their ancestry may find this an opportunity worth taking. After all, the past has a way of waiting patiently—until someone decides to look.

As the golden hour settles over the skyline on Sunday, April 19, a different kind of energy will begin to pulse through the air.

For those seeking more than just a typical weekend outing, the “Before His Throne” live recording offers a profound immersion into the heart of Ghana’s contemporary spiritual landscape.

This isn’t merely a concert; it is a high-voltage encounter where music, faith, and communal identity collide in a five-hour journey of transcendence.

In Ghana, the “Live Recording” has evolved into a significant cultural phenomenon. It is the modern-day intersection of ancient oral traditions and cutting-edge production.

Historically, Ghanaian worship has always been a communal affair—a “call and response” that dates back centuries. Today, events like “Before His Throne” carry that torch, professionalizing sacred music while maintaining the raw, improvisational heat that defines the local sound.

Culturally, these gatherings serve as a pulse check for the nation’s creative spirit, showcasing the world-class caliber of Ghanaian instrumentalists and vocalists.

Attendees can expect an atmosphere that is both intimate and electric. From 4 PM to 9 PM, the venue transforms into a sanctuary of sound. The “vibe” mentioned by organizers is a unique blend of polished Gospel artistry and spontaneous worship.

Visitors will witness the seamless fusion of traditional African rhythms with contemporary soulful arrangements, creating a wall of sound that is as technically impressive as it is emotionally stirring. There are no spectators here—only participants.

For the international traveler, this event provides an authentic window into the Ghanaian soul, far beyond the typical tourist trails.

It offers a chance to see how modern Ghanaians express their deepest convictions through art.

For locals, it is a moment to reconnect, to shed the weight of the work week, and to be part of a legacy of praise that feels both ancient and brand new.

Whether you are drawn by the music or the message, “Before His Throne” promises a memory that lingers.

It is an invitation to step out of the mundane and into a space where every note is a bridge to something higher.

In the dim, hallowed silence of the Maison des Arts et du Social, the air didn’t just carry the scent of the stage—it carried the weight of a geometric haunting.

As the performance Racine Carrée began, thin digital lines of light sketched a rigid, neon architecture across the darkness.

Into this grid stepped Tréma Michaël Rakotonjatovo, a dancer whose body appeared not just to perform, but to negotiate a truce between the binary code of the future and the ancestral breath of Madagascar.

The brilliance of Rakotonjatovo’s solo lies in its refusal to treat technology and heritage as warring factions. Instead, he presents a “root” that is also a “square.”

We often frame African tradition as something static, a museum piece to be preserved in amber. But on this stage, as part of the OFF Biennial 2026, tradition was seen as a living, breathing software.

The most arresting moment occurred when the rigid, digital geometry began to dissolve. In its place, Zafimaniry-inspired motifs—the intricate, UNESCO-recognized woodcraft patterns of Madagascar—began to bloom across Rakotonjatovo’s skin through projection mapping.

It was a digital skin-graft of memory. His movements shifted from the sharp, mechanical resistance of a body trapped in a system to the fluid, liberated grace of a man who has found his rhythm within it.

For the Ghanaian observer, there is a familiar resonance here. Much like our own efforts to digitize Adinkra symbols or preserve highlife through electronic fusion, Racine Carrée argues that identity isn’t a choice between the village and the motherboard. It is a synchronization of both.

Rakotonjatovo didn’t just dance; he proved that our roots are deep enough to anchor us, even when the world around us is made of light and pixels.