Rev Bro Pius Agyeman: Cultural revolutionary

Stones and pawpaw fruits filled with sand rained through the windows of a Catholic church at Adoagyiri, near Nsawam in the Eastern Region as the Saint Luanga choir under the direction of Rev Bro Pius Francis Agyeman, (SVD) sang in Twi with African drums accompaniment at a Sunday mass.  

That  was around 1966  and the Catholics in that area had never experienced African drums being played in the church. 

Rev. Agyeman and his choristers had to take cover from the flying missiles but the  stern objection to his idea of adding  a more African dimension to Catholic worship rather strengthened his resolve to carry it out.

 The man of God turned exactly 70 last Wednesday, September 3.  This year also marks the 50th anniversary  of being  in full-time  service to God.

African values  

He has been through many situations  in Ghana and beyond but the African value has never escaped him and is even thankful that it  helped  build him into a staunch lover of African values.

“We don’t  have to throw everything of ours away as if whatever  the white man brought is better than ours. 

All they brought is their culture and not necessarily the Christ culture,” Rev. Agyeman says.

“Christ was not a European.  Since the Europeans received the faith and  allowed  Christ  into their culture, they have made him look like a European. He was not.”

To many Catholics in Ghana and elsewhere, Rev. Agyeman’s  biggest contribution  to the Catholic faith has been through music, teaching  and the ability to speak well.

He pointed out that he has  composed over 1,000 songs which are sang in the Catholic church and other Christian circles. He also has a fair amount of patriotic songs to his credit. 

The man  from Kyekyewire  in  the Ashanti Region has travelled in Africa, Europe and the United States at various times either as a student, trainer of  seminarians  or propagator of  African  culture, music and liturgy (ways of carrying out services in a church).

The Catholic church has two branches of  ministry:  the brotherhood and  priesthood. Anyone that  wants to offer his life to Christ by way of the church has a choice and Rev Agyeman opted  for the brotherhood when he entered the seminary at Adoagyiri.

Traditional songs

Like most African children, he  had encountered music in an informal way when growing up. His mother, Yaa Kumaa, was a gifted composer of  traditional songs as well as a good dancer. 

Rev Agyeman believes he inherited his mother’s compositional abilities and general creativity, in addition to his father,  Bernard Kofi Owusu’s proficiency  as a linguist and storyteller.

He started getting tuition in Western musical theory from some of the priests at Adoagyiri where he also learnt to play the organ.

At the Our Lady of Mercy (OLAM) Catholic Church in Tema Community One where Rev. Agyeman moved to from Adoagyiri,  he started a choir called Tete Odomankoma to help  keep the African approach church music burning in him.

That fire has been sustained through the years and Rev Agyeman formed choirs with a slant for African songs almost everywhere he went. He even did that in Europe and effectively taught his choristers there to sing in Twi.

Adehyemma

He kept the name of Adehyemma for the choirs he formed as he moved around in the service of the Lord. 

Some of the occasions Rev Agyeman remembers vividly in his long career as a composer and music director include leading a choir to perform at the funeral of the late President Kwame Nkrumah at Nkroful in the Western Region.

He also cherishes the moment he conducted a 1,200-strong Catholic mass choir accompanied by 52 African drums  at the Kumasi Sports Stadium in a performance for the late Pope John II when he visited Ghana in 1980.  

“The Pope was really impressed seeing all those singers  clad in kente and performing so well.  He later awarded us medals and that made me feel that I should continue with my vision despite any opposition.”

Apart the initial training in music at Adoagyiri, Rev Agyeman studied music again at the University of Ghana and the now University of Education at Winneba in the Central Region.

Ephraim Amu

To him, there could not have been a bigger honour than meeting and being inspired by the late Dr Ephraim Amu and Prof  J.H. Nketiah when he studied at Legon.

“The two men did not only impart their knowledge in music to me. They made me more aware of African culture and re-enforced my determination to also impart what I know to others. 

“I  also met Archbishop Emeritus Akwasi Sarpong even before I went to the seminary and his overall conduct  spurred me on to consider serving the Lord on a permanent basis.”

Mega music festival

As part of the programme  to celebrate Rev Agyeman’s double anniversary this month,  a concert dubbed Mega Music Festival will be held at 6.00pm tonight  at the Christ The King Parish Hall in Accra.

Choirs from Nigeria ,where he has been going every year to teach since 1992,  are in for the event. Rev Agyeman says music by some of the people that have influenced his path in music including Amu,  Nketiah and J.P. Johnson  from Kumasi.

The man’s dream now is to teach liturgy to the various parishes, priests and everywhere else possible. 

He also  wants to  use African music to support  liturgical  studies  wherever he goes.

Rev Agyeman hosts programmes on Adom FM and GTV, both in Accra, in order to  get his cultural voice  and teachings on the Catholic faith heard by as many people as possible. 

“Our culture is holy. Whatever is not good about it, we should polish it and make it better,” is the man from Kyekyewere’s call to all Africans.