The Ghana Effect
On Ghana's 50th anniversary, London-based Ghanaian writer and performance poet Nii Parkes reflects on why so many Ghanaians play a leading role in the UK's arts scene.
If you turned the clocks back 500 years or more, and you walked into the Asantehene or Ga Mantse's palace, you would address the king through a person known as a linguist – one of the most respected functions in the royal entourage. What was interesting about the position was that it was one of the few that did not require royal birth; just a skill at oratory, diplomacy and languages – anybody could be a linguist as long as they were good enough.
In a sense, the role of the linguist is a mirror of the Ghanaian psyche. Often, in the euphoria of Independence celebrations, we forget that 50 years of Ghana also marks the union of what were, for many years, independent kingdoms, all with a history or art and endeavour, which we inherited with our borders. We inherited the spirit of Ndewura Jakpa , the Gonja king, and Okomfo Anokye , the Ashanti mystic, who, with great pomp and ceremony, created kingdoms out of nothing.
As Atukwei Okai , one of our leading poets says in his poem, 'Midstream' , "let us choose to remember not to forget in the coming year, these things which we forgot to remember the buried year," for these are the things that define us. A capacity for endeavour, and sense, a belief, that we can do anything. It is thus not surprising that Ghanaian artists or artists of Ghanaian origin have had a huge role to play wherever they have settled, and particularly in the UK, but to put it down to just endeavour and belief doesn't satisfy me. I put it down to our hard-to-impress families, bearers of the 'linguist question' – are you good enough? Somehow, our families think that to write, draw, sing or dance is natural, so if you say you are choosing to do anything related to these arts as a profession, well, you must be something else!
To compensate, we push the limits. We generate Ozwald Boatengs , Elsie Owusus and Adjoa Andohs ; people who are widely recognised in their fields as being not only exceptionally hard workers, but cutting-edge, boundary pushers. If we do anything, we must have influence before we get the recognition we crave from our communities: not for us the quick, overwhelming fame of a mediocre boy/girl band; we must own the record company, so to speak. So we have Margaret Busby , Kwame Kwaten , David Adjaye , Peter Adarkwah , and Sway .
Apparently, the Ghanaian/Ghanaian-origin population in the UK is just over 60,000 – one-thousandth of the national population – yet, all across the UK, a significant number of Ghanaians are recognised in broadcasting ( Cameron Duodo , Lisa I'anson , Ras Kwame , June Sarpong etc.), art/architecture ( Godfried Donkor , Felicity Atekpe , Neequaye Dreph etc.), music ( Dizzee Rascal , Elisabeth Troy , Rhian Benson , Finley Quaye , Tricky etc.), drama ( Freema Agyeman , Hugh Quarshie , Joseph Kpobi , Christopher Asante etc.) and writing. This list is by no means exhaustive, and I am not suggesting that all of these artists had the same pressures, expectations, or families looking over their shoulders – but there must be something in the water. I, for one, am happy to be 'that writer from Ghana;' a nobody trying to become a linguist.