Of 'Love Girls' and a tenacious woman I call Mum!

I must have been about twelve. I hated my mother. She was so fond of sending me on errands around the house as though my half brother, Sami, was incapable of running them too. I appreciate, however, that she must have been used to sending me as Sami had only recently come to live with us. But I felt it was unfair that he didn’t get sent quite as much as I did. You see, ours was a big house, three floors and running up and down those flights of stairs was not so much fun.

Much as I loved it when she was around, I hated it when she needed something or someone from another part of the house and would get me up from my comfy corner when we were watching a video or something, and send me to fetch them. She was often away, on a trip abroad or at our village attending her chiefdom – she is a Chief - so she wasn’t around very much, but when she was, and I wanted to loll in her company, she would be sending me all over the place. As a child, that was unpleasant.

When she did get round to giving us a treat, it was fabulous! I remember Sunday lunch at the Chinese restaurant at this fabulous place called Palm Court where we often went. There, we children got the chance to show off our etiquette skills, and mum, the chance to hone in on some more tips. The Palm Court was a talk-of-the-town, celebrated joint back in those days. I remember vaguely that the restaurant was located in a part of the building that overlooked the ocean at Christianborg near Black Star Square. It was “all that”, and I felt really privileged to have had the occasion to experienced it. I wonder what happened to it!

Much as my mum was welcoming, with a happy disposition, she didn’t dote on children, and that’s another thing I hated about her. Whereas Aunty Joe would fuss over me and attend to my every whim whenever she visited or I went to see her, Mummy almost always said no first, before changing her mind and allowed a treat. If I cried for something, I was sure not to get it. In my teens when I was naughty, it was amazing how quickly her right Ahenema would materialize in her hand as a disciplinary baton! I remember once I found the guts to run a ring in her bedroom literally jumping across her bed and managing to slide out an adjoining door through my dad’s room before she could give me a whack. Bemused, she just stood there at the entrance laughing as I refused to come closer when she ordered!

By the time I was growing, Aunty Bea, or Nana, as we call my mum, had stopped cooking. There were enough help in the house who did that, and so the only time I got to eat food she’d prepare herself was when we were on holiday. Those are the best memories I have of her, seeing her stir a pot or open an oven to check a bake. Those were rare scenes for me so I relish them, and they always bring me warmth. Once, she made a special dish for us when we were on a visit at the village; boiled cassava with salted palm oil! It’s a traditional Ahanta meal and it is absolutely fantastic! Especially that one mummy did that day, with boiled eggs, kippers and smoked salmon on the side!

My mother! She was beautiful, chic and charming in her hey days! You should see the early pictures of her and my late dad. The way he looked at her, and how he showed her off! Today, still beautiful and charming, she’s pushing on in age, and her rheumatism makes walking difficult, but she’s full of good cheer and in very high spirits. I can’t imagine she was the same woman who used to bend so swiftly to get her slippers to hammer me. I am sure it won’t be long before she is on the road again thou, roaming from one function to the next with her buddies, Aunty Joyce, Aunty Sisi and Aunty Getty! They are called the ‘Love Girls’ and they are such a fun bunch at any party!

I am thankful she is still so blessed! God’s been with her eternally, as well as with all my other mothers and I thank Him for His mercies on them, particularly around this time of the year when we are celebrating ‘Mother’s Day’. Tomorrow is the day, and if you haven’t done anything special for your ‘old lady’, I suggest you do. As for me, whenever I get the chance, like now, I pay her a tribute. Without a doubt, she is the best thing that ever happened to me! Here’s to all mothers!

I was thinking what I’d do for her this weekend when I bumped into my neighbor Wilma. She was excited, having just finalized her plans for her mother. Apparently, that fabulous ‘Afropolitan’ hotel, the African Regent is putting on a Special Brunch event with live band music and all, for mums on the day. Also, I heard that Geisha, the soap that ‘lasts like a mother’s love’ is singing a special song for mums at the Aviation Social Centre today. And Agya Koo’s hosting an Ozon Media star studded buffet dinner dance featuring Amakye, A.B. Crentsil, Papa Yankson and the Bukom Dance Ensemble at the Coconut Grove Regency tonight! Now, I’m spoilt for choice.

But the more I think of it, all I yearn to do is have the Pan African Orchestra play ‘Adawura Kasa’ especially for her. It’s a composition by the Orchestra’s originator Nana Danso Abiam. A prayer-music in the context of African traditional libation written for gongs, light percussion instruments and Atumpani drums, I heard it when the Orchestra did their ‘come back’ concert at the British Council hall last Friday! Though it was the opening number, it was, for me, the crescendo of the show! It demonstrated how disciplined the members of the ensemble are, playing in syncopated melody an amorphous tune with gongs and still managing to make it structured! It lifted spirits. At least, it lifted mine! The Pan African Orchestra is the one that uses traditional instruments like the atenteben, flutes, gonje fiddles and the like, to create beautiful contemporary music based on classical African themes. You want to hear them.

And, by the way, did you know there’s free open-air ‘film shows’ at the Accra Mall every weekend? Indeed, Accra’s beginning to get exciting again! And next Saturday too, the inimitable Cameroonian music maestro, Richard Bona, courtesy of Q music, brings his suave brand of jazz to our capital! Blast, I can’t wait!