Weekend of Oct 27-30:The Funeral Itself Part 1: Friday; And going to the Nunya Music Academy
To acquaint you, this is me, Delali's cousin, Delali (aka Dela), and her driver, Mr. Ekow (said like echo) taking a pic on the Volta River
This past weekend my awesome friend and sister Delali invited me to go to the funeral of a chief (Togbe Kwasinyi Agyeman IV) in the town of Adidome in the Volta region, which is where her family is from. Dela explained to me that each family in a town is connected to a chief in that town. So there are lots of chiefs in any one town. And people go to them when they need things like counseling for family or personal situations, disputes with other people, or things like that. So this chief (Togbe) is not Dela's family chief, but she became really close with him and his family over the years. I think that is the abridged version, and I think I have that right. Anyway, royal funerals here are a weeklong celebration/mourning event (non-royal funerals are several days long). We were there Thursday and we left Sunday; the events ended on Sunday but we didn’t go to those. The main funeral was Saturday. The chief passed around June 2021, but the funeral was held now. The funeral of a chief also involves the royal transition from the chief who passed to the new chief, his eldest son. I don’t even know where to start. So much happened this weekend! I will just give some highlights. Thursday night we got there and we just kind of sat around at the Palace (this is where most of the funeral activities took place) and talked to the incoming chief who is the oldest son of the chief who died. I was really humbled to be able to sit down and speak with the incoming chief. That was pretty cool. The youngest daughter was there with us as well, and I think Dela is pretty close with her. She is maybe in her late 20s-early 30s. I was so tired though, and there was so much white noise in the room and everyone was talking, mostly in English but also in Ewe (the language in Volta). I could barely understand what people were saying, even in English. I did a lot of nodding along and catching what I could hear. But it’s one of those situations where you don’t ask a million times, “What did you say?” It’s just better to show interest and catch what you can.
Friday morning, we got up super early because we were running an errand that I specifically wanted to run. This was the main reason why I wanted to come to the Volta region. We were able to go to the Nunya Music Academy, which is something like an after-school or weekend music program where local students come and learn all different types of music. It is also the place where I plan to bring several music teachers who want to come to a 3-week Ghanaian drumming workshop in summer 2024. I wanted to check everything out so I could have more of an understanding of what the place looks like, and where we would stay and such. It was so great to be able to do that!
It actually took us quite a while to get there. It’s supposed to be an hour to the town of Ddodze, where the Nunya Academy and the White Dove hotel are, from Adidome, where the funeral was happening. But it ended up being more like two or 2 1/2 hours because we had stop and get our brakes fixed on the way (which, by the way, was the quickest I’ve ever seen anyone change out brakes on a car!).
This is the car shop. My friend's car is the blue one with yellow on it. It's her car she has converted into a taxi so she can make money...very savvy business move on her part!
We drove to the actual school, and of course no one was there. There was a construction worker who was working on the school so Delali, who speaks Ewe, asked him if he could call someone to come meet us. So 5 minutes later, the guy who works there, was there to meet us! He was so nice! It seems he just dropped what he was doing and came to meet us. We sat down and I got to ask him questions about the workshop. I mentioned that I knew Kofi Gbolonyo (the founder and director of the Nunya Academy) and that is why I was there. Kofi is Ghanaian but currently lives in Canada. The guy's face lit up when I told him I knew Kofi, and he had a much better understanding of why I was there. He explained to me that the workshop doesn’t actually happen at the Nunya Academy; it happens at the White Dove Hotel, which is down the road. So I asked him if we could go there, so we did! That gave me an entire experience and understanding of what this workshop is. This hotel is huge and has really nice rooms. Every room has a hot water heater and air conditioning – two key things Westerners will need in Ghana, though many Ghanaians don’t have hot water, and most don’t have A/C. This huge hotel, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, is really set up well for tourists. We sat down to chat with the manager who also knew Kofi. He was very nice and welcoming, and set up for us to tour the hotel. Once I told him I knew Kofi, it’s like the hospitality went up a notch. Clearly Kofi is respected and liked here. We got a really thorough tour. The owner of the hotel showed us the different rooms available, which are all very nice, by the way. The Nunya Academy guy showed us where we will have practice sessions and performances. It’s all right there at the hotel, and a really great space for this type of workshop! I’m excited to bring teachers here!
The hotel manager also had the kitchen staff prepare a complimentary breakfast for us, since we had traveled all that way (at least I think that’s why they did it). How nice! It was a full breakfast with an omelet, sausage, salad, bread, and coffee. After finishing our breakfast and some final greetings to the hotel staff, we were off back to Adidome to partake in the funeral events. I kept thanking Delali and her driver Mr. Ekow so much for helping me get there, because without them I would’ve not been able to go see this place. And that was a huge checkmark off of my to-do list for me while I’m here in Ghana. So, huge accomplishment managed today!
This is the Nunya Academy (the sign obviously had fallen down and they have not put it up yet, but I still wanted to get a pic of it.) The grounds are quite nice.
This is the White Dove Hotel where the music workshop takes place
Once we got back to Adidome, we went back to the hotel try to figure out our rooming situation because we didn’t have enough rooms for Friday night. But we got two rooms so Friday and Saturday night Delali and I roomed together, and Mr. Ekow had his own room (Thurs night we each got our own rooms). Once we got that figured out, we went back to the Palace; we watched a bit of dancing and processionals of people coming in. I didn’t fully understand what was going on but it was interesting, and always lots of activity. After the dancing and some drumming, this guy who was at the funeral became possessed – I’m not kidding when I tell you this, and now, I believe it. Delali was telling me about it as it was happening and I couldn’t believe it! But you could tell there was something about his eyes…he was not there. He was possessed by something. He kept walking around with this very intense walk and seeming mission to do something, but it was unclear what it was. But he kept walking around the whole grounds sort of in circles with his hand out like he was holding something, but he wasn’t. We really got freaked out. Delali wanted to leave (as did I, sort of…but I also sort of wanted to stay and see how he was going to become un-possessed, if that was going to happen). We were going to get up to go, but the people around us told us to just sit down. So we did. And literally at that moment this guy (unrelated to the commotion with the possessed guy) came up to me with a microphone and started interviewing me about my time and Ghana. I was so not in the right mindset for this! I was worried that the possessed man would up to us (though he never did), so I had one eye on him the whole time. So while that is all happening, this announcer guy is talking to me and asking me questions and I’m having to formulate thoughts about what I have enjoyed about Ghana and everything like that, but wow…it was hard to focus. All the while I’m paying attention to what’s going on around us. I didn’t know where this was being broadcast because there was not a camera so I knew I wasn’t being videotaped. But suffice it to say it was quite an unsettling time! I just wanted him to stop asking me questions so I could pay close attention to the possessed guy. Once my interview was over we figured out that we could get away without the possessed guy being near us. I was specifically concerned because I didn’t want to be more singled out than I already was because I was, of course, the only white person there. But we got out of there without any interaction with him. Truly, he wasn’t actually interacting with people very much but I just wasn’t sure. So, wow, what an experience! And yes, I think there is something real to what just happened. Delali said she doubted it being real before too, but she has decided over time that it actually is. And other people have said the same to her. So, I really believe there is something to that. (A related note: when we got back to Cape Coast, I was showing the video I took of the drummers and dancers who played before the possessed guy came out, to my drum teacher Antoinette. She said something like, “This is the drum they use to call up the ancestors of the dead, and the women behind the drummer are also dancing to call up the spirits.” I was like, “Seriously?! Because right after that was when a man got possessed!” She said yes, it was likely related because that is a ritual thing that they do at funerals and it happens like that. So…just wow.)
Once we left the Palace, we drove around and did some errands Delali needed to do. We went to see her family home where a lot of people from her family grew up, though none of her family is living there now. It was close to the Volta River so we went and just looked out at it. It’s a huge lake with apparently a large island in the middle of it that is only accessible by boat. So we didn’t go on the island. After that, we went to see Delali’s aunt. She’s a retired headmistress of a school and spoke pretty good English – I could tell she is a fierce and strong woman (and Delali told me that too). She told me she heard me on the radio being interviewed! That answered my question as to who was listening to that. Lol… But it was great to meet her because it’s clear she means a lot to my friend. I took some pics while we were sitting on the porch visiting. They are below, along with some of the other pics from that afternoon.
We then made our way back into town where D’s cousin took us to get some dinner – rice and chicken – at this place that was barely even noticeable from the street. But she knew where it was because she eats there a lot. It was quite a very understated place, you could say, but the food was very good! Those are the food pics above.
From there, we took her cousin back to her shop (she owns a kitchen utensils type of shop on the main road) then Dela and I went back to the palace to be part of more of the festivities. When we went back, there was a brass military band from Accra that was playing tunes. So we sat there and listened. I don’t recall that there was much more going on. Whenever we would go to the palace Dela would talk to family members of the chief or other people that she knew. So a lot of the times I sat there and watched what was happening while she visited with people. Sometimes I would go with her to visit with whoever. But I learned the important lesson that you always greet the elders, and you always start from the right, and move to the left. It's tradition and a sign of respect.
I think it was during this trip to the Palace that we were invited in to see the Chief's body. There was a special room where they had his body for people to come and view it. It felt much like a wake in an American funeral, but also different. So one of the Chief's sons led us back to the room to pay our initial respects to him. Dela was sort of nervous to go see him because, well, with anyone, you don't know how you will react. And keep in mind that it has been a while since he's passed, and the last time she interacted with him before he passed was around March of 2021. We went into the room, and his body was in a seated position on a throne, in a very stately manner. I did not expect to see that, since in the US, the body is always laid down in a casket. But here it's different. Dela told me that the body is positioned in a few different positions throughout the week for people to view before burial. Today was the last day he would be seated, and tomorrow, they would lay him down on a bed in the center of the room. I was humbled and grateful for the opportunity to observe this and see the Chief before burial.
We left the Palace around probably eight or so. It wasn’t super late, but it was a long, full day, and there was a lot that was gonna happen on Saturday so we went to the hotel and got ready for bed.
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