<<Print>>

Speaking in an interview he once granted GTV, Kiki Gyan, the keyboard maestro of Osibisa, sounded very nostalgic. �Luxury is leisure and it is pleasure. It is not about sitting down with your dame around two bottles of beer in tartly surroundings.� Then he cooed, �Man, hire a boat in New York. Have a new bird in tow and head for the Caribbean sun and sandy beaches. Get lost for two weeks.� He boasted � and justifiably so � �I have indeed seen the good life.� The interviewer asked him, �Would you do it again?� Longing for an era past, Kiki felt wistful and responded in a low voice, �If I have that sort of money, yes, because leisure that luxury affords reduces stress and recharges your batteries.� The definitions of luxury offered by a source such as Britannica Online Encyclopaedia are as many as the stars on a bright night. To any ordinary person, luxury connotes a lifestyle of expensive items considered to be of best quality. Of what? Is it about the furnishing of your house, the model of your car or clothes? Is it about food or your circle of friends? Whatever it is, it gives leisure and a sense of achievement that would make many people aspire to enjoy it. Pick and choose what you wish. But be aware that luxury is neither lust nor lasciviousness. It is not worthless form of self-pity either. With modern concepts of branding, uniqueness and customization have become part of luxury. Therefore, luxury is no longer about� things� only. As Abelow Public Relations of New York puts it, �Luxury is not a handbag or labels, but the perception that backs it; it�s an attitude towards life.� In that sense, the quality of your vacation travel, for example, is a luxury. The brief Kiki interview sums up an upper class, if slightly erotic definition of luxury. Here was a man who was once as rich as any successful musician during his heyday in the 1970s and 1980s. He led his life to the fullest and did all the exclusive things that successful musicians were noted for. Unfortunately, his career took a nosedive and he could no longer indulge in his leisure pursuits. The take home lesson is that luxury is not for free. You indulge in what you can afford with your means. There was this Foreman who used to work for me in the early 1980s. He hardly had any time or the means for leisure. On retirement, he set up his own motor repair workshop, became reasonably well-to-do and took to golfing. His son became his caddy and they now have an invigorating game once a week. And how they both love it! So are poor people excluded from luxury? I know a night guard who spends a considerable part of his off-duty hours hanging out with his friends. They would go for �quarter� of akpeteshie, after which they would play several rounds of draught accompanied with banter. For his financial circumstance, that was the luxury he could afford. There is no argument about luxury being class-related. However, the assertion that with the current state of Africa, where poverty is rampant and many people earn less than the equivalent of $2.00 per day, people are excluded from any notion of leisure is not correct. The stories about Kiki, the Foreman, his son and the night guard illustrate a good background for any discussion of leisure. Truly, it is said that each class has its luxury or leisure dictated by financial circumstances. Thus, it does not matter whether a man is dripping with cash or eking out a living on $2.00 per day. He has his own class of luxury. In an attempt to marry the concept of leisure to poverty. R.B. Lee did a study, Men, Women and Work in Foraging Society (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press) and concluded that work should be defined and time spent gathering enough food for �THE VALUE OF ANYTHING DEPENDS ON ITS RELATIVE SCARCITY.� THE PEOPLE IN THE LUXURY BUSINESS PROJECT SNOB VALUE AND EXCLUSIVITY. YOU CANNOT EXPECT A ROLLS ROYCE ON DISPLAY IN EVERY MOTOR SHOWROOM OR A DELUXE WINE SERVED IN AN AKPETESHIE BAR. subsistence, and that in a hunter-gatherer society, people needed to work only 20 hours per week and may devote the rest of their time to leisure. What did they do for leisure? Theirs was an extremely simple society full of its peculiar leisure. I suspect they slept, wove their own garments, paraded in the fineries of the time and went on courtships. They must have sung and danced a lot. The world is now more complex than that. Most of modern men are likely employed. They work a stipulated 40-hour week and are paid accordingly. The money is used to pay for food, healthcare, education for the children, housing and for settling the utility bills. If they are able to save some money and can afford the time, they think of leisure. Not all leisure pursuits are expensive, though. Home-based activities such as watching television, playing ludo, card games or working Cross Word Puzzles are cheap. To some stay-at-homes, an absorbing Agatha Christie or James Bond thriller is all they need. The effect on a tired or bored mind is therapeutic. Some ladies may prefer trying their hands on new recipes in the kitchen and showing the products off to their husbands. They may also try knitting a design from a fashion magazine. Many outdoor activities are not necessarily expensive. A Sunday morning kick-about with friends at the neighbourhood school park can be exhilarating. Or, you may walk to the nearest beach. Don your sunshade and simply drape yourself on the sands and listen to the squealing of the bathers above the humming of the surf. You lift yourself up and take a stroll along the shoreline with the surf gently lapping your feet. How much would that cost you? Nevertheless, we must not pretend that Africa is one huge, homogenous class creeping with beggars. Much as there are poor people, there are also moneybags with considerable loot and taste. They travel overseas for shopping in exclusive shops stocked with exclusive brands. They visit the spa or the health farm and get spoilt with care. Yes, luxury can be expensive, because for maximum profit, the providers of luxury products work on the simple economic dictum, �The value of anything depends on its relative scarcity.� The people in the luxury business project snob value and exclusivity. You cannot expect a Rolls Royce on display in every motor showroom or a deluxe wine served in an akpeteshie bar. Great tastes come with a price. You wear a Gucci or an original Rolex if you can pay for it and not worry the next morning about the housekeeping money. Are you in a fix as to what you can choose for your luxury? There are a number of marketers whose magazines advertise luxuries. I mean professional, glossy and cutting edge magazines one of which I have before me. It is called, The Canoe. It is a quarterly published by Canoe Africa and marketed in a number of African countries. The roll call of the ports of sail and disembarkation is long and getting longer: Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. Kenya and Egypt are waiting with open arms. There are impressive subscription bases in Canada, USA, UK and other parts of Europe. The December Edition is titled, �Cutting Edge� and features the best of the best of Africa, Africans in Africa and Africans in the Diaspora. It portrays the culture and successful individuals in all their richness. Where does the Canoe fit? The roll call is long: Airport Departure Lounges, Hotel Lobbies, The Travel Tourists� Ticketing Office, The Beauty Salon, The Health Farms and the Spas, The Dentist�s Waiting Room, Individual Homes�Oh yes. It is a must for everywhere. It is certainly not for the Aketeshie Bar. Grab a copy for your home and for your business. Happy new year to all readers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!