LESSONS FROM OKOMFO NANA KWAKU BONSAM'S GOSPEL MUSIC

In the wake of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, the world's attention has been conveniently shifted to that part of the world to find ways of helping a distress nation. The after effect of a tragedy that has taken the lives of more than 200,000 people, is that everyone is so shocked and grieving for the people of Haiti to the extend that many equally important issues,events and programs have taken secondary significance. Since it is almost two weeks after the tragedy and the mobilization of global efforts to help Haiti and it's people is still in progress, we at PREKESE Media Inc wants to send our deepest condolence to all Haitians. We want the people to have strong faith, to believe that things will be okay one day. Having said that, we want to take the opportunity to conclude the final part of our article on Okomfo Nana Kwaku Bonsam composing,singing and executive producing a gospel album in Ghana.

In the first part of the article we wrote about how Okomfo Nana Kwaku Bonsam was interviewed on Ghana's number one investigative radio presenter, Nyansaboakwa Wisdom's NSEM PII programme on HOT FM 99.3FM in Accra. In our discussion we raised certain fundamental questions that needed answers for us to arrive at logical and constructive conclusion. The questions were as follows: " What is supposed to be Gospel music? Who can play gospel music? Is gospel music to be played by by a preserved of only christians? Who is this Nana Kweku Bonsam? How did he become a priest? What is his background? Why did he decide to play gospel music? Who are his target audience? What?" This concluding part will attempt to answer the questions above in an effort to give readers a benchmark to draw their own conclusions.

To define what gospel music is, we consulted many sources to have a varied perspective on the subject.

Dictionary.Com, an online authority dictionary describes Gospel Music as a Noun and defines it as:

" A kind of Christian music based on American folk music, marked by strong rhythms and elaborated refrains, and incorporating elements of spirituals, blues, and jazz.

Wikipedia, another online live encyclopeadea defines Gospel music as:

" Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as (in terms of the varying music styles) to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music."

The WiseGeek.com describes Gospel Music as:
The term "gospel music" actually encompasses a number of subgenres, from the original Negro spirituals to the most contemporary Christian "Praise and Worship" songs used in modern worship services. Gospel music in general deals with religious (largely Christian) themes based on sacred texts and traditions.

To give a clearer picture to our readers we are also quoting WISEGEEK.com's write up on the history and development of Gospel music from the Western world's perspective.

Music has always been an integral part of Christian worship since the foundation of the first churches. Much of this early Christian music was not intended for commoners to perform, however, since it was in the form of chants or musical liturgy during the Mass ceremony. When the Protestant movement gained popularity, the concept of composing hymns for congregational singing also became more accepted. When Europeans began to colonize America, many of them used these hymns during often lengthy worship services. This importation of sacred church music formed the basis of "white" gospel music, as composers used the musical styles of their times to create new hymns.

Meanwhile, the slave trade introduced native Africans to a foreign and often hostile land. Many of these slaves brought with them a rich tradition of spiritual songs, and they would use these songs to communicate or commiserate with others in the fields. Christian worship became a central part of the African-American community, and these spirituals formed the basis of their emotional and impassioned worship style. Negro spirituals provided a sense of comfort during times of hardship, and many of these songs were combined with secular musical genres such as the blues or ragtime to form the earliest "black" gospel music.

The two paths of gospel music appear to have collided in the South during the early 20th century. White country performers often exchanged musical ideas with their black counterparts, including the use of religious themes in secular music. White musicians were quite familiar with the harmonies and upbeat qualities of modern hymns, leading some to form vocal quartets backed by the instruments commonly found in country bands. This branch of gospel music, with white singers using many of the vocal techniques of their black counterparts, became known as Southern gospel.

While white performers were enjoying success in the Southern gospel music gospel, black gospel music performers were having a more difficult time finding a general audience for their music. Many black performers found it easier to break into secular musical genres such as boogie-woogie, jazz or blues than gospel music. Only a handful of black performers before the 1950s succeeded in bringing their form of black gospel music to a national audience. Early rock and roll performers such as Little Richard and Ray Charles did manage to incorporate the soulful sounds of black gospel music, but their music remained firmly in the secular realm.

Gospel music perhaps got its best introduction to the general public through the efforts of a young white singer named Elvis Presley. Presley had grown up listening to black gospel music, and had unsuccessfully auditioned for a Southern gospel quartet before finding success in the secular music world. Presley's rendition of a black spiritual called "Peace in the Valley" demonstrated that gospel music could be marketed to the general listening audience. Subsequent gospel music recordings by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley many other famous singers helped to establish gospel music as commercially viable.

By the 1970s, Southern gospel music had evolved into a more polished, modern sound. With the rise of alternative churches and youth-oriented worship centers, a form of modern gospel music called "Praise and Worship" also became very popular. Meanwhile, a number of black gospel music artists adapted a new style based on grittier urban sounds and a strong R&B influence. This subgenre is generally known as contemporary urban gospel music."

We have intentionally quoted all the above sources for readers to know about how other communities define gospel music. A careful analysis of the above write up shows some sort of prejudice about how gospel music was supposedly made popular by a particular race, almost an attempt to dispossess Black America of an original creation and branding? Isn't it time for us to stop referencing outside sources as authorities in subjects we seem to have our own definitions? We will attempt to define gospel music from Ghanaian perspective.

To us, Ghanaians, Gospel Music literary comes from two words, Gospel and Music. Gospel according to our way of understanding is the word of almighty God, who we believe strongly that He is the creator of everything (living and non-living) in the universe. Music to us is any beat,melody and rhythms that are consciously created to express oneself, praise,castigate wrong does( Songs of protest, insinuating songs),educate,inspire or entertain listeners. We are therefore, challenged in our converstaion with readers to brainstorm what is Gospel Music to Ghanaians. The truth is that for any Ghanaian whether literate or illiterate, on the street or in the highest office of the nation,domiciled in Ghana or abroad, our defintion is about any good melodic music that is composed by any christian that talks about the founder of christianity, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's holy book,the Holy Bible, the problems, challenges and the success of the lives of christians.

From the above defination, where does Okomfo Nana Kwaku Bonsam stands since we all "KNOW" that he is not a christian? Before we start drawing our hasty conclusion, can we attempt to answer the question whether all people who play gospel music in Ghana are all christians? What is your answer to this?

There are many behind the scenes people who help an artiste or a gospel group/band to come out with their albums. One particular set of people are the bandsmen, they are mostly the trained musicians with many years of experience. Most of these highly skilled musicians who play in church bands or at studios do so for economic reasons. Like many of the singers, they are career musicians. Many of the singers supposedly become born-again and keep telling the world that they are music evangelists. Is this the truth? We cannot judge anybody but sometimes we are tempted to question the religiousity of many of these so-called Gospel musicians of questionable character. As you read now,if you are a christian affiliated with some of the new charismatic churches, you might know of a church bandsman who is a career musician. In the Diaspora Ghana in the cities where there are large African communities, such musicians are easy to find. They are from guitar, keyboard,drummers and brass instruments players.

Now back to who is Okomfo Nana Kwaku Bonsam? Okomfo Nana Kwaku Bonsam according to his biography which was posted on his previous website, was originally a christian of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) faith. His account of how he became a fetish priest was that of how his goodness to a stranger translated into a reward he received one day for taking care of a sick man on his way to church. Instead of going to church, he chose to help a dying man and missed church that day. How many Ghanaian christians would have done that? Not many we believe, but does'nt the Bible teaches us how to do good? Think about this.

When the man regained his health at the hospital he gave his address in the northern Ghana and invited Kwaku Bonsam to pay him a visit for his thank you gift. According to him, it took many years of struggle in life before he decided to visit the man in Tamale vicinity when life became unbearable for him as a hustler. Now informed as we know of the SDA's faith excellent skills in gospel music compositions and productions, is it any news to us to hear of a former member's ability to compose,sing and executive produce a gospel music for Ghanaian to do self-examination of our relationship with the Almighty God?

In his music, Nana kwaku Bonsam explained why he is called Bonsam. he said that every Ghanaian male born on wednesday is known as Kwaku and all Day Names in Ghana come with appellation. For example, every Kwame has an appellation as Atoapem, Kobina as Ebow and Kwaku as Bonsam. At a time that the study of our own Ghanaian language has been relegated to the background only for great Universities such as Howard University in Washington DC and NorthernWestern University to offer them as Graduate Study programme, is it strange that many of our own people do not know much about our own NAMES? Isn't the study of our own language very paramount to our development? Do you know the spiritual meaning of your Ghanaian name?

This is the reason why we need to do a form of go back and fetch it (SANKOFA) to embrace relevant, important and good aspects of our cultural practices to help in our development as a people and to progress as a nation.

Nana Kwaku Bonsam during his interview also told his listeners that his has founded a church at his headquarters at Akumadan-Afancho. The church known as the Ultimate Power Church International. He said, services are held every sunday and Nana is the ultimate preacher and is very knowledgeable in the Holy words of God,the Bible.

In concluding this article, we have been able to look at the western defination of what gospel music is, and we have also defined it from Ghanaian perspective. We have also examined the background of Nana Kwaku Bonsam, explained what and how he is known as Bonsam according to Akan traditions, and on how he became a priest and why he is coming out with the gospel album. We want to leave readers to draw your own conclusions as you debate about the significance of a traditional priest producing and singing gospel music. Long live Ghana. God bless our dear nation.