Min He Mon Egbé
Music video direction for Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble. A visual exploration of rhythm and trance.
"The One Who Sees Today."
Min He Mon Egbé is a phrase in Fon (a language spoken in Benin) meaning "The One Who Sees Today"-a figure who understands the present moment with clarity. It's a fitting title for a music video about presence, rhythm, and cross-cultural fusion.
I had the honor of directing this video for the Helsinki-Cotonou Ensemble, a band that embodies the sonic bridge between Finland and Benin-fusing hypnotic West African polyrhythms with Nordic minimalism and electronic textures.
This wasn't just a music video gig. It was a personal statement: proof that I could move fluently between code and camera, between systems architecture and visual storytelling.
The Creative Brief
The track itself is a trance-inducing 6-minute journey-layers of talking drums, electric bass, synthesizers, and chanted vocals building to ecstatic crescendos. The challenge was to create visuals that matched this intensity without overwhelming it.
Aesthetic Goals:
- Raw, documentary-style intimacy (no studio setups, no artificial lighting)
- Dual-location narrative: performances in Helsinki (studio, snow) and Cotonou (streets, ocean)
- Movement-focused cinematography: dancing bodies, swaying crowds, rhythmic camera work
- Natural light only-golden hour in Cotonou, diffused winter light in Helsinki
The directive: Let the rhythm lead the edit. Don't impose a narrative; let the music create its own logic.
Production Challenges
Coordinating a two-continent shoot with zero budget is... character-building:
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Location Logistics: Filming permits in Cotonou are unofficial. You negotiate with neighborhood chiefs and pray the police don't show up mid-shoot. In Helsinki, we had proper studio access but freezing outdoor conditions (the drummer's fingers went numb between takes).
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Equipment Constraints: No professional crew. No grip truck. We shot handheld with mirrorless cameras (Sony Alpha) and a single drone for aerial shots. The "cinematic look" came from aggressive color grading in post, not expensive glass.
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Language Barriers: Directing a multicultural cast in three languages (French, Finnish, English) while maintaining creative flow required constant cultural translation. What reads as "energetic" in Cotonou might read as "chaotic" in Helsinki. Calibration was everything.
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Post-Production Grind: I co-edited the final cut with Yanick Aklamavo (Beninese cinematographer). We spent 80+ hours in Premiere Pro syncing footage, matching color temperatures between tropical and Nordic environments, and cutting to the rhythm's mathematical precision.
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Rights Complexity: Music video rights are messy-who owns what when it's a collaborative project spanning multiple countries? We used Creative Commons licensing (BY-NC-SA) to keep it accessible while protecting the artists.
Technical Stack
- Cameras: Sony Alpha series (a7S II for low light), DJI Mavic drone
- Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve for color grading
- Audio Sync: Pluraleyes for multi-camera synchronization
- Distribution: YouTube (primary), Vimeo (archival)
The Creative Outcome
The final video is 6 minutes of hypnotic cross-continental rhythm. It's been screened at small film festivals, used in the band's live performances, and quietly accumulated 50k+ views organically (no paid promotion).
Critics describe it as "documentation that transcends into ritual"-which is exactly the vibe we chased.
For me, this project proved something important: technical skill and artistic vision are not opposites. The same discipline required to debug Python code is required to sync edits to polyrhythmic percussion. Both demand patience, precision, and surrendering ego to the work.
Current Status: Complete & Archived
The project is complete and publicly accessible on YouTube. It exists as a permanent artifact of a specific creative moment (2021, mid-pandemic, cross-border collaboration against all odds).
Unlike my software projects that require perpetual maintenance, this one is frozen in time-exactly as it should be.
Code fades away here. Pure rhythm remains.
Video Credits:
Directed by: Komy AGBOGUIN
Cotonou Camera Operator: Komy AGBOGUIN, Yanick AKLAMAVO, Jean-Jacques Hermoz GBENAHOU
Helsinki Camera Operator: Lauri Hämäläinen
Stylist: Jenni Williamson
Drone Operator: Wura +
Director of Photography: Komy AGBOGUIN
Edition and Color Grading: Yanick AKLAMAVO, Komy AGBOGUIN
Executive Producer: Janne Halonen
Copyright: No Problem! Music 2021