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12.08.2008 Social News

Goodbye Issaka...And Well Done, China

12.08.2008 LISTEN
By Cameron Duodu - newtimesonline.com

The Author Isaac Hayes, or "Issaka", as one of my friends used to call him — who has just died in East Memphis, Tennesee, in the USA — was one of the artists who can take a man's soul out of him with music, and display it for all to see.

I found out one afternoon in Accra, when I was listening to an Isaac Hayes LP and the needle picked up a track entitled "The Look of Love" .

I didn't pay too much attention to the lyrics, as Issaka's twang of an accent often left me unaware of what exactly he was saying.

BARITONE

I could catch a few words, however, and they said a lot: "my arms around you"; "don't go"; "the look in your eyes say more than you could ever say".

But it wasn't the words — even those I could pick — that slew me. It was the sensual manner in which he manipulated his voice to convey their message sex is beautiful. That lazy, deep, almost baleful baritone, could not help stirring things inside a man.

But if the voice was a stimulant, the instrumental arrangement appeared to be a source of life renewal, no less; after Issaka had sung for a while, every voice vanished to be replaced by a long guitar solo that went on and on and on.

Its controlled, wah-wah effect, more restrained than the bit in the theme song of Shaft, is employed here in a more muted and echoic fashion. It draws you in, then pushes you out and without waiting for you to exhale, stretches you back out flat in an exudation of pure bliss: wa-ohh, wa-ohh! "Ah, Issaka! You will kill me!" you exclaim.

Isaac Hayes had a particular affinity with Ghana. He first visited Africa in 1991 when he and the late Barry White travelled to the Ivory Coast to shoot a video for White's come-back album , "Dark & Lovely (you over there)".

The following year, Hayes and another favourite singer of mine, Dionne Warwick of Valley of the Dolls fame, accepted an invitation by the Cultural Minister of Ghana to visit the Cape Coast and Elmina castles.

Hayes' biography on his website recalls: "Walking through the dungeons, listening to the horrifying stories told by the guide, Hayes was overwhelmed with emotion. 'It was almost like I heard the voices of my ancestors saying, 'We've come back home through you. The circle is complete. Now, you know what you must do',' he later told a journalist.

"When the weeping was done, Hayes realized it was not enough to help finance the renovation of the castles, there was bigger work to be done in Africa: he asked how much it would cost to build a school."

On his return to America, Hayes took his energy on the road, speaking to African-American audiences around the country. He encouraged everyone he met to visit Africa if they could, to interact with the people, or at the very least to support Africa's economic development. One speaking engagement in Queens, New York, was attended by a princess from Ada, Naa Asie Ocansey of Ghana, who phoned a week later to ask Hayes whether he would like to be a chief in Ghana. She had told her father, Nene Kubi III, a king-maker of Ada, about Hayes' commitment and he said, 'We need to honour this man.'

Hayes' elevation to chiefdom took place in December 1992. The spectacle was attended by the popular band, Public Enemy, who did concerts with Hayes at Cape Coast Castle and in Accra. Hayes was given the royal name, Nene Katey Ocansey I.

Soon after, he started The Isaac Hayes Foundation (IHF, based on Wall Street, New York), which promotes literacy, music education, nutritional education, and innovative programs that raise self-esteem among the underprivileged. Hayes was able to return to Ghana in 1998 and officiate at the ground-breaking ceremony for a school called "NekoTech" at Ada, as part of the Asafotufiam Cultural festival in Ada. The 8,000 square foot facility, enjoyed its ribbon-cutting two years later.

According to the Hayes website, "Today, it not only delivers literacy, education, computer technology and Internet access, and health education, but also houses a chapter of the World Literacy Crusade. Johnson & Johnson, a major donor, also shipped 400 bicycles over, which are used for races around the school to promote HIV awareness to children and adults."

I would have mourned Isaac Hayes just for his exquisite music. What he did for the people of Ada doubles my affection for him. Yaa wo dzogbaa oo: [Rest in peace] Nene Katey Ocansey.

AND WELL DONE, CHINA

What a lovely spectacle the opening of the Olympic Games in Peking was. Not a single thing went wrong.

The Chinese people have to be proud of the hard work and discipline that enabled this huge and complex exhibition of their history, culture and artistry to be conveyed to the world by television.

It was as if one were standing on the very ground where it was all taking place. Simply amazing.

When I first visited China in 1958, they had only, one brand of toothpaste, whose taste, to a former Gold Coaster (independence had been achieved only the previous year) who was used to several top-notch Western brands, was disappointing. They had only Russian Moskvitch and Zim cars, and for special guests, a few Mercedes saloons surreptitiously imported from Hong Kong.

But their sagacious Prime Minister, Chou en-Lai, said to us: "We Chinese think not about today, or even a few years time, but of thousands of years time."

At that time, the US had imposed a trade embargo on China. There was tension between the two countries over Quemoy and Taiwan. Chou en-Lai, however, worked to change all this and lived to welcome Kissinger and Nixon to China. He was criticised and almost denounced, but gradually thins began to change, and today, China is reaping the benefits of his foresight. He realised that a county has permanent interests but not permanent enemies. So, G W Bush was at the Olympics. So was his father.

Hong Kong and Taiwan were at the Olympic Games.

China's economic prosperity was on show for all to see. What was not seen was the fact that China owns over one trillion dollars of US treasury bonds and that if China were to cash them in, the dollar would be parachuted downwards. It is an amazing achievement for a country that once could not produce good toothpaste. And it should be an inspiration to us in Africa.

We should realise that with hard work and discipline, and quite a few sacrifices, everything will be possible for us, too.

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