'Ghana is the Name We Wish to Proclaim'

[Oju]

'Ghana is the Name We Wish to Proclaim'
Two Popular Caribbean Voices and the Independence of Ghana

Written by Markus Coester
Monday, 26 April 2004

Page 1 of 4

‘Ghana is the Name We Wish to Proclaim ...‘

This paper takes a look at two popular voices of the Caribbean and their comments in popular song on an event in colonial and post-colonial history that was generating hope, and was believed to inaugurate a new era. At March 6, 1957 the British colony Gold Coast gained political independence and became what today is known as Ghana.

All over the British colonies, self-government and political independence were in the making. By the early 1960s most of the British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean had become politically independent states. Ghana‘s independence in 1957 became a symbol of this wider movement tightly associated with the hope for better times to come. The post-colonial experience in many places has turned out differently.

The two Caribbean singers and their statements on Ghana‘s Independence I want to focus on here are Trinidad‘s Calypsonian Lord Kitchener and his Calypso ‘Birth of Ghana‘, the other one, the statement of one of the most popular performers and vocal artists in Jamaica at the time, Laurel Aitken. His “praise song” for Ghana‘s achievement was released under the unspectacular name ‘They got it‘. Trinidad as well as Jamaica were still British colonies at the time, gaining their independence in 1962. Both singers convey in their songs the hope I have circumscribed above. Their statements provide insights into contemporary public sentiment and reflect the euphoria that Ghana‘s political emancipation was triggering among colonials by celebrating this achievement and its architect Kwame Nkrumah. Whereas Kitch‘s appraisal carries this euphoria as an act of pride and self-fashioning, almost constructing a romantic scenario made for national mythologies, Aitken‘s recording also allows for insights into discourses and feelings of the time that the conventional narratives of independence/achievement do not necessarily consider. This, above all, refers to the Jamaican reception of things happening at the time. This paper will attempt to put the recordings, as manifestations of cultural production and artistic expression, in context with social and cultural change, the migration of Caribbean people in the post-war years, and aspects of Black Atlantic culture.

The Recordings

Kitchener recorded ‘Birth of Ghana‘ at the 23rd of November 1956 in London. Almost a decade before, Kitchener had migrated to England. He started recording Calypsos in Britain as early as 1948. ‘Birth of Ghana‘ was released as a 78 r.p.m. Record on the Melodisc label (Melodisc 1390) which had become the main outlet and major disseminator of Kitch‘s and other Caribbean artists‘ recordings to the rest of the world from the early 1950s.(1) This 1956 recording confirms Kitcheners exceptional artistic qualities, his vocal finesse and lyrical inventiveness: his unique style of rendering and presenting Calypso. ‘Birth of Ghana‘ also reveals the musical sophistication that in terms of arrangement and harmonic structure is so characteristic of many recordings done by West Indian musicians for Melodisc in the 1950s. The listening experience of Birth of Ghana‘ is enhanced by a particular ”soundscape” that Richard Noblett has termed a ”steelpan feel”.(2)

It has long been due to ask for the creative minds behind the well-known vocalists in the exceptional artistic and cultural productivity related to West Indian migration to England. This can not be done in depth here, yet, it should be pointed out that many of the West Indian recordings in London from the early 1950s were arranged by the Trinidadian musician and arranger Rupert Nurse then acting as musical director for Melodisc. Nurse, a childhood friend of Kitchener, came to England from Trinidad in 1945. He played an important role in the formation of West Indian music in Britain, for Kitch‘s recordings and the musical creation of what has been referred to as “steelpan feel”. Noblett states: ”As Kitchener embraced the modern sound, he relied on Rupert Nurse who augmented a regular Trinidadian team with other Caribbean musicians, including jazz players like the Jamaican alto saxophonist Joe Harriott.”(3)

Laurel Aitken, on the other hand, was based in Jamaica in 1957. He decided to migrate to England three years later. In 1960 his records would be amongst the most popular ones among Jamaicans at home and in Britain. His artistic comment on Ghana‘s independence evolved out of Kingston‘s popular music culture where modern recording technologies and commercial record releases were rapidly increasing from the early 1950s. ”They got it” was recorded in the studio of the Caribbean Recording Company in Kingston, owned by the Indo-Jamaican entrepreneur Dada Tawari, where Aitken recorded frequently. It was released on a 78 r.p.m. - record on the Caribou label (CRC 158.), the same company‘s record outlet. Contrary to Kitcheners tune, the precise date of Aitken's recording is not clear. Given that ”Birth of Ghana” was already recorded in November 1956 (4), and hence the world-wide dissemination of the tune in line with the time of independence, or even preparations for independence celebrations, it is possible, that Aitken‘s tune was inspired by Kitcheners record. Melodisc records were a major import product in Jamaica from the early 1950s. Melodisc-recordings of West Indians in London were quickly available in Jamaica, especially because of the large popularity of Calypso in Jamaica, and thus songs on record could enter the island‘s musical repertoire quickly.(5) It would be inadequate, however, to consider Aitken‘s tune an imitation of Kitch‘s Calypsos or the Trinidadian form in general. On the contrary, it is expressive of the Jamaican musical idiom of the time and a significant indicator of musical developments to follow, an aspect of this sound document I will return to below.

Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien - Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

[Oju]

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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

[Oju]

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Black Atlantic Culture, Migration and the ”Lovable Colonial Mother”

It needs to be emphasised that Kitchener as well as Aitken looked across the Atlantic, toward the happenings on the African continent. Aitken‘s ‘They got it‘ marks a significant moment in Black Atlantic culture especially as ”Ghana is the land that few may know”. While the song indicates the orientation of one of Jamaica‘s most popular singers at that time towards Africa, ”They got it” comes about although ”Ghana is the land that few may know”, a line by which Aitken hints at the possibility (and presumably reality) that despite intellectual and populist attempts to promote the relationship between Africa and its Diaspora in the New World, the majority of people in Jamaica lack the knowledge needed to make ‘origin‘ meaningful. They rather seem to lack any relation to the part of the world where the ancestors of over 90% of the Jamaican people came from. Yet, the appreciation of Ghana‘s independence must be a collective obligation. It‘s the self-chosen task of the popular vocalist to point to this necessity in order to heighten the awareness of an ”independence that we must share”.

‘They got it‘ stands out for more than one reason. Chapple has correctly pointed out that, as far as musical expression is concerned, the tune does not fit into accounts of the development of popular Jamaican music written so far (9). ”They got it” reveals features of the local Mento tradition (whose meaning for the evolution of later styles has not been grasped adequately yet)(10), for example the rhythm and swing of the song. The instruments typical for Mento recordings of the time - rumba box and banjo- however - are not audible on the recording. Instead, besides the vocalist, this recording features two saxophone players who produce an extraordinary ”soundscape” rarely heard in (as yet known) Jamaican recordings of this time.

The listening experience reveals, that Aitken‘s glance across the Atlantic is musically supported by the sounds of a new, diasporal Africa in Jamaica that had been in the making above all in the ghettos of Kingston for some decades. From present perspective this tune on Ghana‘s independence appears to be the first recording in Jamaican popular music that fuses popular dance/music styles with the emerging Rastafarian musical culture of the Rasta camps.(11) At hindsight, trying to assess this merger, it should not be overlooked, that the various Rastafari aggregations around Kingston were socially marginalised and shunned groups. Rastafari membership was synonymous with being social outcasts right through the 1960s. (12) According to Laurel Aitken himself, two Rasta-drummers from the Trench Town area joined the studio session and provided the particular drumming style that can be heard on the recording.(13) This musical encounter clearly indicates an early stage of the merger of two cultural realms - one only evolving at the social margins - which would change Jamaica‘s and the Black Atlantic‘s popular music culture in the next decades.

As pointed out already, it is not irrelevant to note that the history of Kitchener‘s ‘Birth of Ghana‘ is linked to the history of Caribbean migration to the ‘Mother Country‘, the centre of the former British Empire. The production of ‘Birth of Ghana‘, and more generally West Indian music in London, provides important insights into the transformation of the former imperial centre into a centre of production and dissemination of Black Atlantic culture from the 1950s. It could be argued that an emerging counterculture of a Black Atlantic was decisively energised by the help of a disintegrating centre providing on its own social and cultural margins the necessary economic and aesthetic capacities needed to push the circulation of cultural forms formerly considered as inferior/exotic ‘spaces‘ into White/European mainstream culture. Within this mechanism seems to occur a shift from a centre of English culture into a centre of African-Caribbean culture for which above all the production company and record label Melodisc mentioned above became a substantial catalyst.

Kitchener‘s ”Birth of Ghana” evokes memories of an African diasporic past. ”The national flag is a lovely scene” attracts all those who strive for the liberty associated with Ghana‘s new national flag flying in the wind, i.e. All those still dominated by colonial rule and not yet bearers of their own national fate. Kitchener‘s reference to the ”black star” in the new national symbol, ”representing the freedom of Africa”, bridges diasporic symbolism with that of the imagined African homeland. It also evokes memories of Nkrumah‘s inspiration by Garvey‘s philosophy itself. The flag bears the colours ”Red, Gold and Green”. It substantiates diasporic imagery with the (inversed) colours of the Ethiopian flag (if one counts gold for yellow), and hence (one version of) the adopted flag of the new African Caribbean movement of Jah people in Jamaica (and London). The decline of the symbolic force of the Black Star had been steady in African Caribbean popular consciousness since the decline of Garvey‘s populist UNIA, and the criminalization of repatriation associated with the alleged fraud of Garvey‘s Black Star Line. In ”Birth of Ghana” it is the black star that shines (again) on light golden skies transforming the imagery of the colonial period:

The national flag is a lovely scene with beautiful colours Red, Gold and Green and a black star in the centre, representing the freedom of Africa

If Aitkens ‘They got it‘ is taken as indicative of Jamaican popular consciousness, it deserves mention that there is no trace of a legacy related to the propagation of repatriation as coded in Jamaican Marcus Garvey and the UNIA‘s slogans ”Africa for the Africans” and ”Back to Africa”. Neither do other more symbolic devices resonate in the lyrics of Aitken‘s independence song. Somehow however, Aitken felt, he needed to connect to the ancestral homeland of African-Caribbean people. He did this non-verbally, here symbolised by the step to integrate those social outcasts of afro-centric Rastafari who were, in their own way, (re)defining a Caribbean relationship to Africa.

”They got it” seems to be a telling example of the ambiguity of the colonial psyche of this time. Aitken, who grew up in an area close to the headquarter of the UNIA in Kingston, and must have been exposed to black politics at an early age, strikes the listener with a remark that creates an almost idyllic image of the colonial past. It clearly counters today‘s expectations of approaching the struggle for liberation and ”post-colonial autonomy”. In his already quoted refrain, apart from praising Nkrumah, Aitken gives thanks for Ghana‘s independence to two of the central powers in Jamaican consciousness: the ”Almighty” and the (‘almighty‘) ”Mother Country”. While expressing the religious ubiquity in Jamaican culture, he simultaneously nourishes the image of the loving and caring ”colonial mother”, so important in legitimising the colonial enterprise and in shaping Britain‘s self-image during colonial rule.

Considering the potential impact of this trope on the collective psyche and Jamaican public consciousness (as represented by the discourse of the ‘loving colonial mother‘ running through Aitken’s tune) this concession seems to suggest that the colonial power promoted its role in the independence process as convincingly and altruistically as necessary to be considered a ”helping hand” as well as ”loveable mother”. Aitken‘s refrain also implies the futility of political efforts to create an anti-colonial, national(istic) consciousness. Compared to for instance the ”chains of ignorance” Roger Mais identified 13 years earlier as the legacy of colonial rule, in his anti-colonial and anti-British statement ”Now We Know”, Aitken‘s assessment must feel like a slap in the face.(14)

In Aitken‘s view, however, Jamaica needs to gain independence, too. For some decades a political and cultural movement associated with Jamaican ”nationalism” had been promoted, yet on the popular level it occurs to be Ghana‘s independence - the ‘Black Atlantic link‘ - not the efforts of the Manleys, Mais and others that conveys the need for freedom and liberty and deserves to be commented on in popular song (to the best of my knowledge there is no comment in popular song of this time on the ‘nationalistic‘ political and cultural efforts of Jamaica‘s elite). Five years from Aitken’s exhortation to ”an independence that we must share”, Great Britain‘s ”helping hand” would have done only the bare necessities to make independence come true - to ‘dismiss‘ its ”outside children” into the new era, how caring or not one might consider this.

End

Kitchener‘s ”Birth of Ghana” as well as Laurel Aitken‘s ”They got it” reveal in their orientation and artistic gestures significant enunciations of a Black Atlantic popular music culture in the making, at a time of substantial political and historical change. There are two more indications to be heard in the songs which I have not focused on yet, which however also seem to corroborate this view: Kitch’s consideration of Haile Selassie’s congratulations to Dr. Nkrumah, as a voice to be mentioned, and Aitken’s anticipation of a migration movement of people of African descent to Ghana in the years to come, making this a place to live. These are truly transatlantic ways of ending their respective songs.

Kitchener‘s ”Birth of Ghana” as well as Laurel Aitken‘s ”They got it” are recorded artistic statements from the time when Ghana became independent. Both songs are expressive of the contemporary euphoria and hope associated with this historic event. They link it to the Caribbean. They offer themselves as striking and important musical points of reference, and as popular Caribbean (re)presentations of Ghana’s independence they are meaningful sites of remembrance in Black Atlantic culture. As such they deserve to be revisited.

Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien - Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

[Oju]

Page 4 of 4


Footnotes

1. Melodisc started operating in 1949. It was founded by the Austrian entrepreneur Emil Shalit, based in New York at the time, who had a British partner named Jack Chilkes. Melodisc became the largest independent record label in the UK, the main outlet for Caribbean and African music in this country. Melodisc records were exported in large numbers to West Africa, where Caribbean music gained immense popularity. The company can be considered to be the first independent UK label featuring music from different parts of the world like India, the Caribbean and Western Africa, strongly anticipating developments in the music industry and the global exchange of music to come.

2. Richard Noblett, Notes to ”London is the Place for Me - Trinidadian Calypso in London1950-1956” (LP/CD) London: Honest Jons Records, 2002.

3. Noblett, 2002.

4. I‘m grateful to John Cowley and Richard Noblett for plenty discographic information over the years.

5. One telling example is Kitcheners Calypso ”Sweet Jamaica” which became an even more popular tune in the Mento-Version by the Jamaican Mento singer Lord Lebby (Kalypso RL 3) after it circulated around Jamaica on record.

6. Paul Gilroy, Against Race, 2001, 184. The transformation of ”freedom” as an issue in Black Atlantic culture which Gilroy suggests is that from a ”pursuit of freeedom”, a ”yearning for freedom” into ”a different private mode, signalled by the growing centrality of what might be called a ”racialized bodypolitics” (ibid.).

7. One telling example for this can be the song ”Black Man Redemption” by the Senegalese group Postive Black Soul on their (cassette) release Revolution 2000 (Palm Tree, 2000). Of course, it would be very convenient to argue that they have just not reached the level of self-indulgence that probably leads into what Gilroy terms the ”racialized bodypolitics”. But, is there only one possible route into the 21st century? One that gives in to the certainties of what could be called capitalist/mass-media evolutionism and its obvious cultural effects?

8. ”Singing Ghana’s Praises”, West African Review No. 352, January 1957, 24.

9. Dave Chapple, Liner Notes to Laurel Aitken - The Pioneer of Jamaican Music, Audio CD, Reggae Retro (UK) 2000.

10. In a book soon to be published (that is a revised version of my PhD-thesis) I am attempting to put the Mento tradition in Jamaica into a social and cultural context. I am also trying to emphasise the importance of recorded Mento in the 1950s and its surrounding popular culture as a vital departure point in the evolution of Jamaican popular music in the following decades.

11. As far as the African element in Rasta music is concerned, one has to acknowledge that their musical inspiration can be traced back to the older Kumina and Buru traditions which were blended into a musical style which later became known as nyabingi drumming.

12. The first Jamaican attempt to read the movement differently was made by Augier et al. Report on the Rastafari Movement in Kingston Jamaica (Kingston: ISER, 1960). This report was requested by ”some prominent members of the Ras Tafari brethren”, the foreword informs. Cf. Sheila Kitzinger’s article “The Rastafarian Brethren In Jamaica” (1963) for a telling assessment of the social role of Rastafarians in the 1950s and 1960s. For a recollection of musical life in the Rasta Camps cf. Douglas Mack: From Babylon to Rastafari - Origin and History of the Rastafarian movement, 1999. For a reading of Kumina as a major source of Rastafarian music, cf. Ken Bilby, 1995.

13. Personal Conversation with Laurel Aitken, 10. 8. 2002, Mainz/Germany.

14. Roger Mais, ”Now We Know”, Public Opinion, 11.7.1944. I leave open for discussion the role of the ”Mother Country” in the feeling Aitken seems to hint at in his line ”black and white in Jamaica we don’t care a tick about that”.

Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien - Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

[Olùkọ́ Ọbádélé]

BlackCellent info Ojú! This article does well to show us that connections amongst the Afrikans and inspiration to each other did not end with the Haitian revolution inspiring Afrikans to break ourselves out of enslavement. Have you heard these songs? I appreciate you sharing! Stay BlackNificent!

Æbádélé Kwame

Blacknificent indeed my sister Oju. This is what I am talkin bout.

[Oju]

Trinidad‘s Calypsonian Lord Kitchener and his Calypso ‘Birth of Ghana"

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Peace!

Oju'

[Oju]

Originally Posted by [ch390

kyeame Kwame]BlackCellent info Ojú! This article does well to show us that connections amongst the Afrikans and inspiration to each other did not end with the Haitian revolution inspiring Afrikans to break ourselves out of enslavement. Have you heard these songs? I appreciate you sharing! Stay BlackNificent!

Æbádélé Kwame

Yes, indeed [ch390]kyeame Kwame. There was a definite sense of inspiration and connection amongst our people. The uniting with each other says a lot and definitely must have made the Ancestors happy to see. Imagine the pride that was felt by our people. Notice the sense of joy and happiness to know an Afrikan country has gained independece from our oppressors.

Awotunde, I thought it was BlackNificent as well. I am happy to see that you and Æbádélé enjoyed it as much as I did. When I first read the document I really felt good about seeing the love shared by our people for each other. We definitely had a sense of brotherhood back then that is even lacking today. These days some our people would think that Ghana is some remote country in Afrika, and wouldn't even consider supporting. Look how the calypsonians went to Ghana to show there support.

I have heard the songs. I am still trying to get my audio link to work, so the members here can hear the songs as well.

Laur