Ghanaian+Concert+Party+-+Exam

Ghanaian Concert Parties  Created by Bob Johnson, Ghanaian Concert parties combine a multitude of art styles, including: Musicals, acrobatics, slap-stick comedy, moral sermons and more. They are performed by groups of itinerate artists for both urban and rural crowds. It officially began just after the world war, although the earliest known performance took place in 1903 at a "Costume Ball and Concert" in Cape town, featuring two Ghanaian comics called the "Two Macs" and while it was a theatrical art form, its performances integrated themselves to the ever-changing social climates and a multitude of mediums. These include local highlife music and dancing, sign painting (comic advertisements) and film, among other things. However one of the most significant influences of modern day Concert Parties comes from the guitar bands of the 1960s.



 The name of ‘Concert Party’ comes from the Western Concert Milieux of the early 20th century. An important facet of this Western Influence were the school concerts held every Empire Day, a celebration of the British Empire and her colonies on the 24th of May, held between 1904 and 1958. Other important influences of Western culture came from Cantatas, and stories from the Bible.

 The very first notable Concert Party actor was Teacher Yalley, Sekondi Elementary school’s principal. Starting in 1918 he gave three-hour shows on every Empire Day filled with jokes, costumes, and song and dance. There was a great influence of Jazz music on the performances as well as popular ballroom dance tunes such as ragtimes, foxtrots, quicksteps, and waltzes among others.



 Bob Johnson, considered the father of Ghanaian Concert Parties, began his career with the schoolboy group called “The Versatile Eight”. Their Concert Parties consisted of three important roles: The Joker, the Gentleman, and the Lady impersonator. Johnson took on the role of the joker, played in blackface. He performed this role so well that he subsequently rocketed to notability in Concert Party theatre and was since known as ‘Bob’ in the profession. He was also the first to take the theatre form to the professional level and was the first to make it readily available to the middle and lower classes of Ghana, not just the white and black elite parties.



 Concert Party Theatre has proven to be a theatre form that showcases the heart and soul of Ghanaian society and culture. It is for those of all classes, not just the elite, and touches on the history of Ghana, and even shapes it from generation to generation. And though many groups have died out and dwindled, many rise to take their place and unite the Ghanaian people. Concert Party was theatre for the people by the people, and continues to be so today.

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Source: COLLINS John 1994: The Ghanaian Concert Party: African Popular Entertainment at the Crossroads. Ph.D Thesis for the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the State University of New York at Buffalo.