...Independence Day with Cultural Undertone

Cultural drumming and dancing formed the highlight of an evening reception hosted by the embassy of Ghana in Washington, DC March 6, in celebration of Ghana’s 45th independence day.

Ghana’s Ambassador HE Alan Kyerematen and his senior staff accompanied by their wives welcomed over 200 invited guests to the embassy with the customary Ghanaian handshake. The senior staff members included Deputy Head of Mission, Francis Tsegah and Col. Okyere of the military wing of the embassy.

When this reporter made a mistake about Col. Okyere’s rank, he was promptly corrected that the Colonel’s next rank will be a Brigadier. Ambassador Kyerematen and his non-military staff and their wives were resplendent in gorgeous kente cloth.

Besides pure cultural drumming and dancing, guests at the embassy had plentiful supply of food and drinks of every kind. The food was not just the standard fare at Washington social events. Rather, the menu was authentic Ghanaian cuisine, complete with kenkey and shito, shishkebab, jollof rice and waakye.

Amb. Kyerematen did his best not to take time away from guests who were deeply into eating and drinking; his speech for the evening was short and apropos. He reminded the guests that although 45 years is a relatively short time in the life of a country, Ghana has made the most of it since gaining independence in 1957. He invited friends of Ghana to stay with her into the future.

Guests at the reception were a mix bag of Washington personalities across the board. A managing director of IMF was present as well as ambassadors from Zimbabwe and Senegal. There were Ghanaians who had traveled out of state for the event. They included a medical doctor and his wife from Richmond, Virginia and a couple from Georgia.

Two University of Ghana-trained female culturalists, accompanied by traditional drumming, entertained guests with a medley of dancing including adowa, agbadza and kete. A group of young girls danced all night to adowa drumming provided by an orchestra troupe led by Mr. Charles Asante, a first cousin of the well-known percussionist, Okyerema Asante who also was present at the event. However, most guests were amazed with the energy level of a young boy who did the adowa dance non-stop to both live drumming and recorded music.

When asked to comment on the Independence Day celebration reception, Ms. Sandra Harvey said, “The food was really good.” She remarked also that had Ghana’s independence day come in a warm season the event should have been held outside and opened to all Ghanaians instead of by invitation only.

Some guests were disappointed with the formality of being served half a glass of wine when they needed a full one or a single shot of liquor when more shots or a full glass could have done the trick. True to form, some gusts made their dissatisfaction known to the appointed servers in a jovial mood. Well, the disappointed guests explained that they did not want to return to the serving table repeatedly when a single appearance could have been enough.