9/10 – CAN 2008, Kpeve Funeral, and Akwapim-Mampong Festival

So I’m really glad Tamale didn’t work out this weekend. I saw some amazing things and went to some places I might have gotten the chance to go to other times. I think it’s fair to say the overarching theme of the weekend was cultural enrichment.

Friday afternoon I went to see my drum teacher, Mutala, and his group, the Ghana Dance Ensemble, perform at the International Conference Center in Accra. When he first told me to come, I thought it was going to be a small, arty thing that they have all the time here, but no. It was “kind of a big deal.” Ghana is going to be hosting the Cup of African Nations (soccer tournament) in 2008, and this was the official launching ceremony. It was an invite only event, and the president of Ghana, along with a bunch of ministers of state, former Ghanaian football stars, and officials in the football league were there. There were a series of performances, they unveiled the logos and mascots of the tournament, and afterwards there was a big reception with free drinks.

Straight from the performance, I got into a university bus with the Dance Ensemble to go to the Volta region. The father of one of the ensemble members passed away, and the funeral was this weekend (funerals are a multi-day thing here). I have never been packed into anything as tightly as I was on that bus. One of the dancers even had to sleep sprawled out on top of a drum that was laying across the back row. When those of us in the back wanted to get out for bathroom stops, we literally had to climb in and out the window. But yeah, that’s how they roll in Ghana. It was fun.

We got to the village of Kpeve-New Town around 1am, where there was music blaring from both of the funeral houses (the village had two this weekend). We hung out at a “spot” (kind of the Ghanaian equivalent of a bar) for about an hour, and then proceeded up the side of a hill where the family lives to go start drumming. We get to this family’s yard, and incredibly, at 2am there was a whole crowd of people hanging out, eating, drinking, dancing, whatever. We set up, start drumming, and even little grandmas come out and start dancing. It was great. I’ve never seen some of the songs we were playing performed by a group of actual drummers, or danced to by people raised with them, so it was really cool to see that. We drummed until around 4am and then went back to the spot and drank and talked until sunrise. Once the sun was totally up, we walked/took a tro-tro to the next town over to sleep at the closest thing to a hotel in the area. It was a small house with a living room and a few bedrooms, and was somehow able fit about 20 something people. I actually ended up getting a bed, which was cool, but I got woken up a few times by people trying to find somewhere to sleep. Anyways, we slept for two hours, woke up, washed, ate, and went back to the village to continue the funeral.

The actual funeral ceremony began around 10am, I think, and by time they got back from the cemetery it was around 1:00pm. The funeral itself was unlike any I’ve ever seen before. For much of the time, it was definitely more light-hearted then I would ever expect a funeral to be, but there were a few times where it was as sad as any other funeral. It almost seemed as if there were orchestrated points where people who wanted to grieve could do so, and that crying or other outward signs mourning were to be, for lack of a better word, confined to these times. The proceedings basically alternated between speakers and dancing. At the end, before they carried the casket to the cemetery, there was a long bout of dancing, drumming, and singing that would look like the celebration of a happy occasion were it not for the fact that most people were wearing black and red and that there was a casket in the middle of the dance circle.

After they went to the cemetery, we went back up the family’s house to drum again for a few hours. Again, there was a lot of dancing and singing and what would appear to be merry-making if you didn’t already know it was a funeral. We ate, drank, drummed, and then left around 3pm. Even though the seat I had on the way back was better, I there was one more person fit onto the bench then there had been before, so it was a mind-bogglingly tight fit. I’m now completely proficient at boarding and getting off a bus through a window. I got back from the Volta around 7pm, and was sleeping like a baby by 8.

That alone would have been enough cultural fun for one weekend, but wait, there’s more. Going to church on Sunday seems to be a given in Ghana unless you are Muslim or follow traditional religion, and even for those who aren’t THAT religious (it seems that all Ghanaians are somewhat religious) it’s a social activity. Steven, one of my student guides, finally convinced me to go this weekend. It was interesting to say the least, and the service was nice, although a belief in Jesus Christ as the lord savior might have made it a little better for me. And they had amazing pineapple juice and chocolate muffins. Not a bad way to spend Sunday morning, but, it’s OK Mom, I don’t think I’ll be making a habit of it.

Sunday afternoon I went to the village of one of my porters because they were having one of their festivals. The village is called Akwapim-Mampong, and was about an hour-ish ride away from campus by tro-tro. The way there was quite an adventure, because even though I asked a few people AND the tro-tro mate if I could catch another tro-tro to Mampong from his route, and was told yes, more than once, and by more then a few people, I ended up having to get a taxi back to the other route to catch the right tro-tro. Grrr. It was cool though, I got there in time to see a lot of cool stuff. When I first got there, there was a huge crowd standing in a courtyard outside gathered around the chief and his court, and there was a lot of noise and commotion but I don’t really have any idea what was going on because they were yelling in Twi. Afterwards, the whole crowd moved towards this room, and the chief and his people set up again in there. On the front “stage” the chief sat with his advisors(?) in front of him, his wife (or wives, I don’t know) and the queen mother on one side, and the villagers along the other side of the room and the back. I was somehow placed in one of the chairs in the royal women section and I’m not quite sure why, but I had a great view of everything that went on, so that was cool. One by one, people got up and did what appeared to be interpretive dances in the chief’s direction and usually finished with a bow and extended hands towards the chief. This part was really cool, and the drumming was amazing. There was this little kid who didn’t look much older then 10 who was just wailing on his drum. I can’t imagine how good he’s gonna be when he’s older.

Once that was over, I went back with my porter and some of his cousins to their house/compound and hung out with his family for a little. They tested my Twi, gave me fufu (pounded cassava), and as it was a festival day, we had to have some libation as well, which involved me doing about 4 shots of gin in rapid succession. But I think fufu automatically neutralizes any alcohol that might find its way into your stomach at the same time. I’ll probably be going back to the village for the funeral of a recently deceased chief. That should be awesome.

So yeah, I definitely had an amazing weekend, and it looks like the next two will be awesome as well. I’m probably going to a drum performance on Wednesday night with some drummers that hang around the Performing Arts department, and Thursday is my first Twi test. Maybe I’ll make it off my butt and get over to the embassy this week to get my visa changed. Then Friday it’s back to the Dagbe center in the Volta region.