Drums for a holiday.

[Music] [Applause] [Music] in that wedge of the Gulf of Guinea which is called the Gold Coast Acra has been the port of the European Trader for hundreds of years here came first the Portuguese and the Dutch and the French and finally the British 200 Mi Inland is Kumasi the capital of Ashan until 1900 the chief industry was war the Ashanti Chieftains went down to besiege the forts of the European Traders on the coast or to burn one another's Villages now all that is over 50 years of peace and the Gold Coast is no longer the white men's or the black men's gra it is a British colony moving fast towards some form of democratic government malaria and yellow fever have been mastered a rich land ships manganese and Timber gold and cocoa to the rest of the world and the colony has become a mixture of Africa and Europe [Music] around the stone and concrete of kumassi grows the dazzling equatorial Forest still and seemingly watchful in the midday Heat [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] off the glare of the road the African Trails disappear at once into the Twilight of a hot house and Lead at last to the compounds of the Asanti Coco farmers who have got clearings in the forest for their Farms [Music] the houses are built around a courtyard where the life of the family goes on while the farmer and his men are away working the women pound up the plantain and make it into a soft paste called Fufu Fufu for the ashantis is what spaghetti is to the Italians or bread to ourselves and the sound of pels pounding away goes on in African villages all day long many farmers have two wives but the value of a wife in recent years has gone up from £710 to 25 and this has brought about a natural decline in polygamy which is perhaps really only a method of getting extra domestic help the second wife is known as the jealous one [Music] the ashantis are like Village People in England or anywhere else they go to the weekly Market to buy and sell and pick up the news they drink Palm wine and talk Scandal there's cloth from Lancashire the knives from Sheffield pottery from staag but side by side with them are baskets made by the Africans pictures and stew pots baked in the local clay and strong heavy blankets woven in the compounds to eat there are peppers and colon nuts plantains and cassava and dried fish which the Muslim fish Peddlers are brought up from the coast there's meat and chicken too food is cheap no points no coupons no black market just the Plenty we used to enjoy in Europe before we took up tribal War among ourselves [Applause] w [Laughter] [Music] all the land in the Gold Coast is owned by the Africans it's divided among tens of thousands of small family Farmers the farmer grows enough to keep himself and then for the luxuries of his life he has his Coco crop his wealth is certain so long as he doesn't copy the bad example of America and cut down his Forest too ruthlessly and create an African dust ball and so long as he has the good sense to cut out and replace any trees infected with swollen SHO which is the mortal enemy of the Coco tree there are two cocoa harvests a year a small one in April and May and a larger one between October and December in the dim lace work of light and shade in the forest only an expert eye can tell which pods are right for cutting a tree is usually the size of an apple tree and it'll grow enough beans to make about a pound of cocoa a year all the family uncles and aunts nephews and nieces sit around and get their Long Knives to the husk and take out the soft pink juicy Bean [Music] what [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the next stage is called fermenting this is Nature's job the African farmer has only to reach out his hand for what he needs for his work and the plantain tree which has given him his fuu also gives him the equivalent of the English Farmer's straw the huge flat leaves of this tree are stripped off and in the leisurely fashion of people who preserve the natural rhythms of living and who have not lost the art of doing one thing at a time the farmer's family spread the leaves on the ground and make a clamp where the beans can be left to fit [Music] after four or 5 days when the juice is worked off the crop will be picked up and carried off to the village and spread out on long tables to dry in the Sun [Music] when we were fighting the ashantis years ago we knew very little about the customs of The Shanty life nowadays we've learned the wisdom of ruling through their Chieftain and of trying to build up what is important in their way of life in 1935 the present King of The Shanty was as they say installed with the title of pree II inst stoed because he's the guardian of the Sacred golden stool which is the emblem of their race every few years the governor of the Gold Coast calls a debar a great ceremonial Gathering when the king of Asanti and the chiefs of all the towns and Villages come in from their territory to meet the representatives of the British king when the proclamation is made King prus sends out the governor's invitation to all his Chiefs the call goes out to every part of The Shanty and the councils of Elders gather around the excited Chiefs to hear the news the villagers wake up to the tune of dances and to the speech of the old talking War Drums of the country those drums are saying ancient words a shanty porcupines who came from ku's womb touch your powder belts and gather gather gather that is the message of the drums but it no longer calls the Ashanti Warriors to Arms these are drums for a holiday [Music] [Music] [Music] but new Tunes are taking a place with the old drum language of the tribes the band of the Gold Coast regiment has an important part to play in the derba and they have trickier Tunes than the drum Tunes to play these men have seen something of the world Beyond Africa they fought in the first world war they fought again in Burma only a few years ago a Shany life like all tribal life is rich in ceremony and the people naturally loved the ritual of goriness and display of AD DEA [Music] for the police it's a tremendous traffic problem for the chieftain March in with thousands of followers to Kumari for the celebrations perhaps the followers will celebrate too much with palm wine perhaps the crowds will get over excited and swarm over the ceremonial Park so before the day begins they go over the details with a European officer at last the Chiefs set out on their Journey the great day has arrived all the drums are beating they beat their way through strings of verses which go on and on like hes for example when the chief gets into his litter the drums warn the people that he mustn't allowed to stumble in the old days if he did stumble a slave was killed on the spot to appease the evil spirit rise rise rise little by little carefully carefully take care you do not stumble oh heene let us go forward the sky is wide wide wide the Earth is wide wide wide the one was lifted up the other were set down in ancient times long long ago [Music] and out March the police the intellectuals lead those who can read and write wear boots and March out first those who cannot wear the Red Fez and follow barefoot for Miles the Chiefs are being bumped along through the Heat and dust and their ceremonial umbrellas toss and twirl in the streets of the camp they are twirled round and round with the double purpose of Fanning the chief in the Blazing heat and of driving away the evil spirits the importance of a chief is measured by the size and Splendor of his umbrella the state swords are raised their handles are bound with leopard skin and gold Lea every man has his part the interpreters the sandal bearers the drum bearers the shieldbearers gun bearers and the Elephant tail switchers he has coming he is coming little by little slowly say the drugs the great man that little by little slowly is very important in a shanty because the more important you are the more tradition requires you to keep people waiting and this time they are waiting for the greatest of all pree the Royal of Royals and his courtt [Music] after the king comes the queen mother who is born Along by her servs at one time the queen mother was the most important person in a shanty where the position of women has always been part she has the right to keep the king waiting in the belief of the asantis only the female transmits the literal blood to her children and they inherit through her and not through their father it is the brother of the wife and not the husband who is the head of the family yet the king is called grandfather by the people good morning grandfather they say to him [Music] how do have to get down [Music] [Music] all the Chiefs arrive on the derar ground and take their places in a huge semis everyone is waiting for the arrival of the British King's representative his Excellency the governor of the Gold [Music] Coast the band of the goas regiment Marches On and the governor in full ceremonial uniform hardly less colorful than the Robes of the ashanty Chiefs enters the derar ground this great desanti derar has begun [Music] the deby is held on open ground in Kumasi and all the notables of a Shanti are [Music] there it is a great hand shaking ceremony and the governor has to visit each Chief in turn in his little Court the Frank African eye gracious and Lively meets the still discreet eye of the European for a moment and the climax of the long journey through the bush has been reached [Music] la [Music] I [Music] [Music] then it's part of the ceremony the Chiefs return the governor's [Music] visit they come weighed down by their golden regalia wearing all their riches slowly walking some held up by an attendant to protect them from the ill luck of stumbling and at the days they bear their shoulders in salutation [Music] hey [Music] Chief follows Chief the eager the shine the grave the talkative and each pays his duty until King pre comes forward but behind him his bearers are carrying the sacred golden stool honor and symbolism are at the heart of a shanty life these processions are not just ordinary excited crowds each man from the King to his Bears each woman from the queen mother to the two girls who are born along in the traveling Court as emblems of virginity each has a part to play [Music] man [Music] [Music] and when the Queen Mother herself is presented to the governor the ACT is symbolical of the importance of women in a country where inheritance is through the mother and not the father PR is a modern King the new language of the loudspeaker has taken the place of the formal poetic speech of the drums he doesn't call the Ashante porcupines to war but he talks about the new legislative Council one of the things he wants is a new nonsectarian Secondary School like the famous one at achimota where 500 Africans Chief sons and the sons of villagers are trained in the delicate dub tailing of European and African [Applause] life when he has finished speaking he hands to the governor a copy of what he has said [Music] in his reply the governor tells the people what is being done to build schools and to widen representative government his speech is just as practical as king preus and the Africans are listening closely to the official words the great shantey dear is over the governor says goodbye to King pree and drives back to his residence in Acra [Music] [Music] the drums are silent now and King preest people are back at their Farms looking after the beans fermenting under the plant and leaves or wrecking them over on the long tables where they have been drying in the baking sun the farmer is watching the color of the beans and when they are dark enough and dry enough he gives the order to bag them up and send them down to the depot the fierce Warriors of Asanti have become rich on growing half the cocoa of the world and giving us our mildest drink in that tropical climate they themselves prefer something cooler [Music] [Music] the buyer down at the Village takes a sample and this is an anxious moment for the farmer the price he'll get and the money he'll make hangs on the quality of his crop and reflects the skill of his farming he may want to buy more goats and pigs or a motor car perhaps he has a son who wants to be a doctor or a daughter dreaming of the university and a teaching career there is a government set standard of quality and the method of sampling is to split the beans open and set them out on what looks like a draft board it is really a board divided into 100 squares which makes it easy to work out the percentage of doubtful beans when this has been settled the sacks are sewn up the farmer gets his money and the beans are loaded up on a lry which will Blaze Down the hot Motor Road to the coast at a steady 40 [Music] [Applause] [Music] down at the warehouses of arra where once the slaves were loaded in the ships the Coco is taken out by the famous long shoremen of the guinea Coast for centuries these men have been a class ofart famous for their strength and their seamanship they can lift huge weights and they work fast because they are paid by the boat [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] a [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in perfect time driving the trident-shaped pedal they have always used they race to the ship that waits for their cargo more loads mean more pet first there the first away [Music] a [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the [Music] [Applause] and so back to the shore for the next love and for the Harvest that has brought wealth the warrior Farmers never dreamed of wealth greater even than the gold which gave their country its name [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] h