User:Nahamuah/Saka Acquaye

Saka Acquaye, painter, sculptor, textile designer, teacher, arts administrator dramatist and musician died on the evening of Tuesday February 27, 2007, following after a protracted illness.

Early Years and Education
Born in Accra on November 2, 1923, he was educated at the Achimota Teacher Training College from 1943 to 1946 and then Achimota Art School from 1947 to 1949 where he studied music, art and craft.

Saka taught art at the St. Augustine’s College, Cape Coast for two years in the 50’s. Thereafter, he undertook further studies in art sculpture and industrial design at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, USA between 1953 and 1956.

Saka also took a two-year course in advertising and public relations at the Charles Morris Price School from 1957 to 1959.

In 1964 to 1966, he majored in opera and theater arts at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Music
Saka co-founded the Black Beats Band with King Bruce in 1952 but left the group when he had to pursue further studies in the USA.

In the US he formed the African Ensemble in 1954 and performed with the group at several venues. Saka Acquaye and his African Ensemble recorded an album of highlife music from Ghana, that incorporated rhythmic styles and instruments from Cuba and the Caribbean, jazz styles from America, and traditional music from West Africa.

The album track includes the following: 1. Sugar Soup 2. Down the Congo 3. Saturday Night 4. Drum Festival 5. Concomba 6. Beyond Africa 7. Congo Beat 8. Echoes of the African Forest 9. Bus Conductor 10. Ebony 11. Kenya Sunset 12. Awuben 13. Akudonno.

In the '50s, it was considered a revolutionary mix. However, by the '60s, highlife was rapidly becoming an institution. The opening track, "Sugar Soup," digs deep into West African folk music to tell the story of a girl who goes overboard preparing a soup for her lover. The vocals here betray their West African roots, with distinctive call-and-response units based around a simple repeated theme. "Saturday Night" opens with a horn fanfare, bringing Cuban drums and the unusual voice of the vibraphone to the fore. A popular tune at the time, it has a very catchy swing feel.

"Concomba" highlights the cultural collisions that resulted in highlife: basically a calypso tune, the piece features chord changes and a nice vibraphone solo, plus (of course) a richly textured rhythmic foundation. As a reflection of highlife's origins, it also points toward the direction the music would subsequently head.

Performing on the album were: Saka Acquaye - a multi-instrumentalist: drums, flute, and tenor saxophone; Garvine Masseaux: vibes & drums; George Brooks: double-bass; Edward Cooper: trumpet and mellophone; Wilfred Letman: trumpet; Charles Earland: tenor saxophone; Walter Miller: guitar; Robert Crowder, Joseph Acquaye, Benny Parkes, Sunny Morgan: drums.

Saka returned to Ghana in 1961 and formed the African Tones band and dance group that toured Russia.

Wulomei
In the early 1970s, Saka discovered Nii Tei Ashitey's talented Ga group, Wulomei, a Ga Traditional Folk Music group. He and Kwadwo Donkor helped produce the group's first record 'Walatu Walasa '.

Soul to Soul
Saka was also involved as one of the Ghana organizers of the "Soul to Soul" concert at Black Star Square in 1971 that brought many top American acts to Ghana, including Wilson Pickett, the Voices of East Harlem, the Staple Singers, Ike & Tina Turner, Roberta Flack, Les McCann, Eddie Harris and Santana.

Promotion of the Arts
Saka was a chief promoter of the arts at the Ghana Institute of Art and Culture, which later became the Arts Council of Ghana. He collaborated with Beattie Casely-Hayford who was then the Director of the Arts Council.

From 1968 through 1972, he was appointed as Head of the Ghana Arts Council and during that period, his musical play, "The Lost Fishermen" was produced and the popular Saturday Anansekrom (variety) programs were initiated.

Plays
As a dramatist his most notable plays "Hintin Hintin", "Obadzen", "Makola Scholarship", "Sasabonsam" and "The Lost Fishermen".

The Lost Fishermen
Saka Acquaye wrote The Lost Fishermen in 1965 and it had exceedingly good runs at the Arts Centre in Accra where it was performed by the late Ishmael Adams and the Damas Choir.

It was also warmly received at the Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in Nigeria in 1977 where it was again performed by the late Ishmael Adams and the Damas Choir.

The Lost Fishermen is a story of how some fishermen are lured to go to sea on a Tuesday, a day set aside by the fishermen for rest and mending of nets. The fishermen, unfortunately, get shipwrecked on an island populated by love-hungry women who had previously lost their husbands to the sea.

What unfolds later is a well-crafted tale of conflict, intrigue and romance narrated with humor, song and dance! The accompanying songs are mostly in Ga with a few in Fante.

In February 2007, The Lost Fishermen -- the musical based on traditional Ga folk music was revived and performed at Ghana's National Theatre in Accra for a number of weeks after 19 years, and it was well received by theatre enthusiasts.

Sculptures and Legacy
Saka was recognized for his incredible talent as a sculptor and was considered to be the doyen of sculpture in Ghana, He mastered the various techniques of the art, he subsequently narrowed his interest down to modeling in clay.

And in the 1970s and 80s he went back to casting his work using fiber glass because he felt that the material offered a lot more flexibility. Thus, he used fiber glass for some of the props for the Ghana Dance Ensemble that he created with David Amoo.

Among his portfolio of impressive works are the J.B. Danquah monument at the Danquah Circle in Accra, Ghana; art work at the Banking Hall of the Bank of Ghana; and the Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg monument at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.

Other works include the Guggisberg, Fraser and Aggrey busts located at Achimota School in Accra, Large wooden carving in the Johnson Wax Conference centre at Rancine, USA and another large wooden carved door at the African-American Heritage Association, Wayne University, Detroit, USA.

Tribute by Atukwei Okai
When Saka Acquaye passed away in 2007 he was eulogized by his friend, the renowned Ghanaiana poet Atukwei Okai in an article titled, "Saka Acquaye, The Maestro".

Family
Saka Acquaye is survived by his three children Saamoa, Nii Akwei and Akushika.