Terry Bonchaka ? ?My Friend, My Friend, Don?t Forget Me!?

Terry Bonchaka....His spirit still lives on It appears that the late Terry Adjetey ?Bonchaka? will not allow his name to fade from Ghanaian showbiz circles soon.

As music lovers prepare to observe the first anniversary of his death, the young hiplife musician who died on October 3, 2003, continues to convey strong messages to Ghanaians through music.

In a radio jingle performed months before his demise, Bonchaka sang ? My friend, my friend, my friend, don?t forget me!...my friend my friend don?t forget me!...with Ayisoba the two-string fiddle player from Bolgatanga.

The potency of the message, a year or so after it was recorded, has not been so poignant as now when preparations are underway to celebrate his life.

No matter how hard one tries to, one cannot ignore the huge void that created with the absence of the artiste whose rise into stardom was so fast he was leaving in his wake a thick film of dust that was difficult to see through not just for the musicians in his league but the well established ones as well.

When his first album was launched in 2002, Nii Korley Laryea, an arts writer, wrote ?There is a duality to Terry Adjetey ?Bonchaka?, he has a musical policy that makes room for the experimental and adventurous as well as the?straight forward and mass-oriented.

Bonchaka was not only a good musician but his stage craft was excellent. His ability to switch from performing in a suit to performing almost in the nude was unparalleled. However what won over even the most hardened critic was his dance form which earned him the accolade ?the puulele man?.

It is to the memory of the Puulele man that a two night show, dubbed the ?Resurrection Chapter 1?, has been slated for October 29 and 31. The show is being organized by Radio Gold, TV3, Crystal TV and Family Tree Entertainment.

The first of the two shows which features artistes whose songs were done in collaboration with Terry as well as other hiplife artistes come off at the Open Air Theatre of the Accra Trade Fair Centre.

The second show which comes off at La Beach on the 31 will begin on a solemn note. In the early hours of the day, the relatives of Terry and a few musician and friends will go to the cemetery for a short ceremony. From there the main event at the beach will take of in full flight.

As part of both shows, local designers have been contracted to put up a fashion show of the kind of clothes that Terry would have favoured were he alive. Some hiplife artistes have also gone through the pains of writing a song in memory of Terry and will outdoor them at the show.