When Philip
Gbeho wrote the Ghana National Anthem, he had no idea how much it would suffer
at the ‘mouth’ of Ghanaians: students, politicians and sportsmen. This
nationalistic and patriotic song has been so mutilated by us that one would
think that it was not sang by the
average Ghanaian almost every day of their early school years. We sang the
anthem throughout primary and junior high school and when we didn’t know some
of the lines we improvised by making up our own.
There are
several exercise and notebooks at stationery stores with the lyrics of this
solemn composition that is pregnant with the history and essence of our beloved
country. One could very easily learn the words to the anthem reading off of the
back of these books. The national anthem is the embodiment of the spirit of our
beloved country and it behooves us as citizens of this country to know it by
heart.
It is ironic
that we pride ourselves on excellence and yet cannot sing correctly the single
song that unites us as a nation. Maybe we just enjoy mocking people when they
trip on words like “economy” and “racism”-we miss you, John Mensah. We are so
obsessed with propriety and correctness we will make remixes or autotune what
has come to be called gbaments which
the bold and humorous among us would later use as ringtones.
The Ghana
National Team has come under a lot of criticism and observation in this regard.
It is understandable that many of the players after spending years playing for
clubs like Udinese, Juventus, Stromsgodset, Al Ain etc. would have lost touch
with the motherland. Is that even a reason?
The National
Anthem is a symbolic part of the game. It is like an oath the players take that
says they will do everything in their power to make the motherland proud.
Nothing fills our hearts with pride and joy more than when the Stars put their
hands across their chests and begin to sing the anthem. Indeed, this is the one
single moment when Ghanaians would not hesitate to get up, stand at attention
and sing the National Anthem with pride and fervor.
Whereas The
Yanks do their sideways thing with their hands crossing their hearts, the Black
Stars do it like they have done since time immemorial: hands crossing their
hearts and eyes staring straight into oblivion. Their thoughts get lost in the
sea of fanatics for the few minutes the anthem is played. And while the anthem is played just before
the commencement of the game, several kinds of patriots are unveiled. There are
the silent hummers, the miming patriots, prayer warriors and the chorus masters.
The silent hummers know but a few lines of
the anthem. Usually, they are the group that spent most of their life in
another country. Kevin Prince Boateng, Adam Larsen Kwarasey, Albert Adomah
belong here. They purse their lips shut silently singing in their hearts or
maybe, just maybe thinking of who they should swap jerseys with after the
match. They are pardoned for their inability to vocalize this symbol of our
great nation. We have always been partial to “overseas” people; this partiality
is hidden behind the façade of the age-old hospitality we associate with our
motherland.
The miming patriots play it safe. They make
sure they don’t open their mouths too wide lest they give themselves away.
Their miming is so measured that you can’t tell if they are miming the correct
words or not. If they were to compete against our celebrated musicians who sing
up a mime during awards ceremonies like the Ghana Music Awards, they would win
hands down. Dede Ayew and Asamoah Gyan have mastered this art. They do it in
such a way that you cannot tell what words their lips are forming. The lips
move enough to show they are singing but not too much so you can tell what
exactly they are saying. And they look very cool doing it.
We have been
described as the most religious nation on earth. It would therefore be
ridiculous if we didn’t ask God’s help at such a crucial moment. The prayer warriors use this moment to ask
for God’s blessing for a successful game. They look very solemn with their eyes
closed drawing confidence and strength from this solemn moment. Stephen Appiah,
Bra Panyin, is the leader of the pack here. In their meditative mood, they
revel in the calm before the storm because whatever the outcome of the game,
there is no avoiding the infamous earful from the twenty-four (24) million
soccer ‘pundits’.
And then
there are the chorus masters. You can
relate to this group if you are a music enthusiast. You know just a few lines
in a song, and so you prepare for those few moments when you sing your heart
out and for a split-second, get to feel like a superstar. The chorus masters are selective of when
they articulate. It is not so much being selective as being strategic. You see
the veins around their neck stretch taut when the tune hits a popular line in
the anthem. They start with a lot of vim, fade out in the middle when the reach
the line: “Fill our hearts with true humility…” Either they are being humble in
their enunciation or they are not very comfortable with the verses at this
point. Once they overcome this hurdle the tempo picks up. Richard-Olele-Kingson
has experienced a lot of these moments in his Ghanaian football career.
Mr. Philip Gbeho spins in his grave every time we take
this beautiful symbol of national unity and sing it to shreds. How wonderful
would it be if some of them chose to sing
Yɛn Ara Asaase Ni or Tingbang Nyɛla
Ti Ba Tingbang. It would make things so much easier.
No matter what happens at Brazil 2014, we are one
Ghana and the cultural, religious and political diversity is what makes us a
country. Each player in the way they sing the anthem, make up the pot-pourri of
our Ghanaian-ness.
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