CULTURAL NEWS

Monday, January 15, 2007

 

Choral Festival ushers in Ghana @50

 

The first activity of note to be organized as part of the year-long Ghana@50 celebrations came off successfully last Saturday at the forecourt of the State House in Accra.

 

The event was also organized in the regional capitals.

 

The Ghanaian Religious Choral Festival, organized by the Salt and Light Ministries, featured about 1,200 singers from 15 church society choirs whose voices rang through the open-air sunset setting with melodious hymns, patriotic songs and choruses.

 

It was chaired by Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, the Chief Executive of the Ghana@ 50 Secretariat.

 

Although the well-produced programme suffered low patronage as a result of inadequate publicity, the spirit of the occasion was not lost, as performance after performance drew considerable “hallelujah” responses and participation from the audience and other choir members.

 

Especially whenever the song being performed was a familiar chorus, many people joined in, with some of them dancing in single file across the open space in front of the main stage.

 

The all-Ghanaian repertoire of songs which were sung included very popular ones such as Adkanfo Mo by Ephraim Amu, Blow your Trumpet by James Amaah, Enyigyesem Kese by Sekyi Baidoo, Mebo Me Sanku by D. A. Nkum, Aseda Ye Onyamae Dea by Joshua Amuah and Dzin No Ye Nwanwa by Tsemafo Arthur.

 

“The programme has been a good opportunity for Ghanaians to make a joyful noise unto the Lord as our country turns 50,” Ms. Joyce Aryee, the Founder and Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministries, told the Daily Graphic after the festival.

 

She said she was touched by the manner in which people sang and danced their hearts out without inhibition.

 

Some participants, she said, requested that the event be repeated.

 

“I think we should do it again,” she said.

 

In the Brong Ahafo Region, the all-night musical session was held at the forecourt of the Veterans Association of Ghana (VAG) hall in Sunyani as part of activities marking the Golden Jubilee of the country, reports Samuel Doudu.

The musical show was attended by a cross-section of the public in Sunyani municipality and other parts of the region.

The Brong Ahafo Regional Police Band, known as “The Action Six”, dished out some popular highlife tunes to the admiration of the audience, while some choral groups, such as the Adehyeman Sacred Choral group, All Saints, the Nkwabeng Methodist Choir, the Methodist Cathedral Choir, the Presby Choir and the Methodist Diocesan Choir, Sang inspiring songs.

Among the dignitaries who graced the occasion were the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr. Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, the Government Spokesman on Governance, Mr. Frank Agyekum, the Chief Director of the Brong Ahafo Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), Mr. F. O. Boateng, and the Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Kwame Twumasi-Awuah.

The Minister of Health, Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd), has called on Ghanaians to anchor hope of the nation’s development in the future, instead of creating a needless conflict between the past and the present, reports Victor Kwakukume.

“If you create a conflict between the past and the present, you lose the future,” he said.

He stressed that the nation at 50 was still grappling with fundamental development issues as a result of undermining and the protracted tendency of revisiting the past instead of forging ahead in unity and purposefulness.

“There is so much space in this world but we have narrowed our path and stepping on one another. We are undermining one another too much,” he pointed out.

Major Quashigah, who was delivering an address at a choral festival as part of activities to commemorate the nation’s Jubilee celebration in Ho Yesterday, said Ghanaians had not played their roles well and that had affected the growth of the country.

He was of the view that the Jubilee celebrations should be used in thanking God for bringing the nation this far, adding that in terms of achievement there was nothing to write home about.

Drawing a comparison between Ghana and other countries, such as Malaysia, Cuba, Singapore and others which had their independence at the same time as Ghana, lamented that they had taken giant leaps I their developmental agenda while Ghana was still lagging behind.

The Volta Regional Minster, Mr. Kofi Dzamesi, advised all that the Jubilee celebrations must not be perceived as a political exercise, adding that the occasion was one which must bind the entire nation as one family.

The Synod Clerk of the Evangelical Presbyterian (E. P) Church, Reverend F. K. Anku, in a welcoming address, said the nation had made strides in its socio-economic journey which called for celebrations.

Benjamin Glover reports from Bolgatanga that poor planning and low patronage characterized the celebration of Ghanaian Religious and Choral Music held at the Catholic Social Centre in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.

The Choral festival, which forms part of the activities heralding the 50^th anniversary, was organized by the Salt and Light Ministries, in collaboration with the Regional Anniversary Planning Committee.

Apart from the poor attendance, only two out of the six choirs billed to perform turned up. They were the St. Cecilia Choir of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Choir and the Ebenezer Methodist Church Choir.

The programme took off at 6:40 p.m. and halfway into it the entire venue was plunged into darkness as a result of the ongoing load shedding exercise.

The organizers had to rely on an electric generator belonging to the Information Services Department in order to continue with the programme.

Despite those setbacks, the two choirs managed to treat the sparse audience to some melodious Ghanaian choral songs.

In a welcoming address, the Regional Coordinator of the Ghana @50 Choral Festival, Mr. Kwesi Mensah, noted that the country’s forefathers, by dint of hard work and selflessness, fought for independence.

“They are selfless because they did not think of self gain and material wealth as we see in today’s Ghanaian, “he stressed, adding that it behoved on all Ghanaians to reflect on the past and reorganize themselves as the country celebrated its Golden Jubilee to reflect on the past and reorganize themselves as the country celebrated its Golden Jubilee to make Ghana a country worth living in.

The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Awudu Yiremiah, in an address, enumerated a number of programmes and projects to be undertaken in the region, including a Jubilee Durbar Grounds and the a visitors’ information complex, as part of the celebration and called on members of the celebration and called on members of the public to lend their support.  

 
  Source :

 Daily Graphic -              15^th January, 2007                Page:  34