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Music of Wednesday, 10 March 2004

Source: ghanamusic.com

The Best Of Mercy Osei Bonsu

One Professional teacher who has now become totally infatuated with her hobbies, traditional music, dancing and drumming, is Ms Mercy Osei Bonsu.

Notwithstanding her heavy schedule as an English teacher at St. Louis Girls Secondary School in Kumasi, where quality teaching is never compromised for anything else, she finds time to pursue her hobbies as her real profession.

Ms Osei Bonsu who is in charge of the St. Louis Girls School Choir, also belongs to Archbishop Sarpong?s Musico Liturgical Cultural Troupe, who use traditional music, dancing and drumming to perform some religious services especially during festive occasions.

As one of the leaders in the group, she has had the opportunity to travel extensively outside the country with the group where they managed to entertain some schools, churches and other social groups, both blacks and white with traditional music, dancing and drumming.

Among the countries the group has visited since she joined in 1985 are Italy, Holland, United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.

In Africa they have also visited Nigeria, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cote D?Ivoire, among others.

Commenting on how she became inseparable from her hobbies, Ms Osei Bonsu told the Showbiz, that when she was a student at St. Louis Girls Secondary School, the then Headmistress, Ms Lydia Osei, who is now a Deputy Director Of Education, saw that she was very talented in music and therefore encouraged her to form the St Louis Choral Group. She said she took up the challenge and formed the choral group in 1979 and since then she has never looked back.

She said she managed to lay a solid foundation for the choir such that it became one of the main centres of entertainment for the school in all gatherings.

?The bond between me and the group became so strong that even when I left for the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology? I always found time to be with the choir to practice on some selected songs,? she said.

According to Ms. Osei Bonsu, after her university education, she had the opportunity to teach in her former school, and that reinvigorated the bond between her and the choral group. She is still in charge of the group and regards it as her heritage, which should be protected for the benefit of the present future generation.

She has led the choir to entertain the students during festive occasions, religious, programmes and other social gatherings and sometimes they move outside the school to perform, especially during conferences of Heads of Assisted Secondary School.

She said it was in 1985 that she joined the Archbishop Liturgical Cultural Troupe as a singer, but to her surprise, she found that she could perform traditional dancing and drumming to the satisfaction of her audience.

She said after she discovered the hidden talents, she fully developed them, and now, through hard work, she has become one of the leaders of the group who is effectively and efficiently imparting her talents to the young ones who have joined the group.

She said with the help of Archbishop Peter Kwasi Sarpong she has travelled very extensively to America, Europe and Africa to perform in some religious programmes, social gatherings and functions ?with the principal motive of exposing our cultural and traditions to them.?

In her view she does not consider monetary considerations as the principal in the two groups ?but to impart my talent to the young ones with the view to leaving a legacy before I become old or join my ancestors.?

She expressed her profound gratitude to the headmistress of St. Louis Girls Secondary School, Ms. Johannes Johnson, the teaching and non-teaching staff and the entire student body for the assistance offered to the choir so far.

Concluding Miss Bonsu commended the Archbishop and the Cultural Troupe for their support  and assured to continue to work very hard to ensure excellences in her performances.