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Envisioning History and Pan-African Freedom
Kitchener as well as Laurel Aitken in their respective songs claim historical value for the particular date of March 6, 1957. At the very beginning of both songs the singers announce that this day will be one to remember as far as those are concerned who formerly were subordinated to colonial rule. Aitken starts ”They got it” with the following lines :
”1957 the 6th of March when everybody give a start, its a great day to remember, independence day of Ghana”. Kitchener puts more emphasis on the symbolic meaning of the 6th of March as a day that is to last in memory and history:
”This day will never be forgotten, the 6th of March 1957 when the Gold Coast successfully, get their independence officially”.
It is the wish for (political) freedom that is reflected by pan-African popular culture, as Kitch puts it:
”Dr Nkrumah went out his way to make the Gold Coast what it is today, he endeavoured continually to bring us freedom and liberty”. Kitchener leaves no doubt that Nkrumah‘s struggle was for the benefit of all ”Africans” under colonial rule, be it in Africa or elsewhere, or be it only as a means of creating pan-African solidarity. He does not hesitate to emphasise his identification with those who benefit from Nkrumah‘s achievement - independence.
As minor as his “us” appears to be, it shows that he is willing to promote a collective solidarity of all people of African descent in search of ”freedom and liberty”. By this he enhances the ties of the pan-African community. The popularity of his records in the Caribbean and especially in Western Africa make it readily imaginable how strong the cohesive force of his affirmation and solidarity could have been and how well it must have been received on the African continent (also heightening his sales, one can assume.) The pursuit of freedom and its articulation so evident in Kitchener’s and Aitken’s statements (no matter that the occasion they comment on is a major one in post-colonial history that might have stimulated and facilitated such comments), has been ”steadily disappearing from the political language of blacks in the West” and ”will be even more remote from their consciousness now that the liberation of South Africa has officially been accomplished”, wrote Gilroy in the 1990s. (6) Here are indications of a major shift as capitalist and mass-media pregnant societies and cultures seem to have changed the mainstream ”needs” of people of African descent outside of Africa (suggesting that there is no need to yearn for freedom anymore?). This pursuit of freedom has not, however, disappeared from the language of artists in African popular music culture who actively reconstruct the pan-African solidarity pinpointed the other way around by Kitch and Aitken in the second half of the 1950s.(7)
Praise Culture
Kitch and Aitken take on the role of praise singers. This can be gathered from content and style of their presentations. The heading of the West African Review-feature on Kitch’s recording, ”Singing Ghana’s Praises”, seems to relate the Trinidadian Calypsonian’s ”praise gesture” to the tradition of praise singing so widespread and important in West African culture(s).(8) This tradition and its diasporic reinvention can provide a frame of reference for the singers political language used to reflect on this important occasion. Their language becomes expressive of celebrating ‘freedom’. Ghana’s independence enables them to transform their yearn for collective (pan-African) freedom into an artistic celebration of it that can be called praise song.
Praise is directed towards the architect of Ghana‘s independence: Kwame Nkrumah. Krumah‘s efforts and his political action are presented as the decisive factor on the road to Ghana‘s liberation/independence. Yet, both singers create different images of this ‘road‘. Kitchener‘s Calypso evokes one of an even track and hence of ”smooth action”. Krumah‘s political agitation was one in which he ”endeavoured continually” alright, but, as the quoted passage above already suggests, he did not face much resistance achieving his goal of ”freedom and liberty” - a ”smooth achievement” as the following lines confirms: ”The Doctor began as agitator, then he became popular leader, he continued to go further and now he is Ghana‘s prime minister.” Aitken evokes a different image of liberation politics: struggling and personal suffering become a precondition of liberation and freedom in Black Atlantic culture. A road that resonates in Jamaican Revival songs as a ”hard road to travel”. Aitken‘s image of ”bitter grief and tears” seems to reflect Jamaican concerns in an increasingly violent and suffering society. They would become major themes in Jamaican popular song in the future:
And give praise to her prime minister, who is the great Dr. Nkrumah, for he fought for eight long years through bitter grief and tears.
Keeping in line with the mechanisms of popular history, Kitch limits his praise efforts in song to that of “Great Man”, to the ”prime minister who is the great Dr. Nkrumah.” Aitken, on the other hand, in his refrain hints at other sources of achievement:
Ghana is a place we all must love with a blessing that comes from above and give thanks to Great Britain for her love and helping hand
That Britain was facilitating the ”move” of its West African colonies to independence is one of the little discussed issues in the history of anti-colonialism, but has become kind of a truism. The exorbitant cost of WW II and rising expenses for administrating the colonies – coupled with the British Empire’s steady disintegration and decline as a world power - forced Britain to give in to its colonies’efforts to gain self-government and political autonomy. It is not clear however to what extent this was common knowledge at the time especially because anti-colonial, national movements were intra-societally countered by the colonial authorities with persecution, conviction and imprisonment of many a anti-colonial political activists. Contrary to Kitchner, Aitken realises that Britain must have played a seminal role in Ghana’s Independence and finds it important to point this out. Considering that he is in the Caribbean – albeit within the ”Empire of colonies”, thousands of miles away from Ghana - this assessment hints at a remarkable political sensitivity of the popular vocalist that even seems to be suitable to counter the argument that he imitated Kitch’s song. Pinpointing to the ”helping hand”, and thus offering an alternative reading of liberation politics, Aitken provides us with the opportunity to rethink this issue with respect to the 1950s; his song adds at least one dimension to it that (in the meantime) has been made out as part of this ”liberation’s” reality.
Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien - Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz