Ghana@50: Bring Back Soul To Soul

The government of Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia organized one of the most successful musical events in the country – Soul to Soul. The event brought together for the first time renowned Ghanaian and US artists on the same stage in the country. Names that come to mind right away are Wilson Pickett and Ike and Tina Turner. It was a magnificent spectacle attended by Ghanaian youth from across the country. Students ran away from their schools and spent a night or two in Accra. Those with little resources walked the distance from wherever they were in Accra and made it to the Independence Square. The event turned Accra upside down. It rekindled the interest of Ghanaians in the music/entertainment industry.

In 1971 Soul to Soul was organized as part of the celebration of Ghana’s attainment of Independence from the British. Organizing a similar event in 2007 as part of Ghana @50 celebration will be an exercise in the right direction. As usual the events lined up for Ghana @50 are all the usual diplomatic gatherings, durbars with boring speeches and parades. All these are structured and leave no room for free expressions by the youth. An event like Soul to Soul will be the invitation from the government to the youth for active participation in the celebration.

In HIPIC-era Ghana Soul to Soul would be purposefully focused – to raise funds for AIDS research, treatment, education and prevention. This would make it easier to attract well-known artistes to come to and perform in Accra. It would be their contribution towards the fight of the dreaded disease in Ghana in particular and Africa in general. By raising the funds here institutions like Legon and Kumasi Legon (KNUST) would get direct funding for research and thus boost their status as research institutions in the world.

The event would pump direct foreign money into the economy, as people attending from various parts of the world would exchange their currency and use them in the Ghanaian market. It would generate billions of cedies in economic activities. Our hotels, guesthouses and motels would record increase in occupancy rate.

Soul to Soul or Highlife to Hiplife whatever one wants to call it would challenge our security forces as they coordinate, co-operate and control frenzied yet hilarious and jubilant crowd of international nature. It would release years of boredom and social inactivity and open the gates of Ghana for the influx of internationally known entertainment and sports personalities into the country. In the years to come if Ghana decided to host the Summer Olympics in 2032 the success of Soul to Soul could be cited as part of our record in organizing events of international magnitude.

The event can be organized to coincide with the end of year activities of 2007. It could be the grand finale for Ghana @50. It does not matter when it is organized so long as it is given the light of the day. The event would for once make Ghanaian youth forget about NPP/NDC, North/South, Kotoko/Hearts, Christians/Muslims and all variables that divide us. Agya Wereko, give something to the children for Ghana @50.

Wofa Kuffour listen! Nana Abrefa organized Soul to Soul for the “Akotex” (Ako, Ako) generation. Since then no other government in the country even thought off let alone organize something similar for the youth. Their children and grand children are of the “apuskeleke/I am aware” generation. They too want to dance, shake it up, boogey boogey and bring Accra down.

JAK! Given that your government is the grand child of Busia it would be in order if you continued or repeated what he did. Do something. It is time we talked about something other than politics – Soul to Soul.

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