An anniversary song competition has turned into a full album covering more than a century of the school’s music
ACCRA – The Mfantsipim Old Boys Association (MOBA) has launched the Mfantsipim Sesquicentennial Anthology as part of Mfantsipim School’s 150th anniversary celebrations. The album has 14 tracks of the school’s music through the years. It was recorded and produced by the well-known lawyer Ace Anan Ankomah, an old boy of the 1984 year group.
*From one song to a full album
Speaking at the launch, Mr Ankomah said the project was “entirely unplanned”. It began with a casual text from Alfred Prince Gyan (MOBA’13) about a 150th anniversary ‘jama’ song competition. The two reworked Mr Ankomah’s song into a medley and recorded a demo with old boys from Joyful Way Inc. The entry won the competition.
The Anniversary Planning Committee then sent over Flora Adokoh’s winning choral piece, and sound engineer Herbert Crassie orchestrated it into a full anthem. Later, Dr Ernest Addison (MOBA’79) suggested recreating the ‘Mfantsipim Ode’ from the school’s 1976 centenary. Mr Ankomah said that suggestion “opened the floodgates”.
The team worked from old hand-written texts kept by Kakra Essamuah (MOBA’77). Timothy Andoh (MOBA’77) rebuilt the ‘Mfeha Ndwom’ largely from memory. The album then grew to include ‘For All the Saints’, ‘Dwin Hwɛ Kan’ and two highlife classics by Kwadwo Donkoh (MOBA’53).
Recorded live at the school
The team made two trips to the school to record the School Choir and Regimental Band live. Jonas Anterkyi (MOBA’16) filmed the sessions, and music videos for many of the tracks are already on MOBA’s YouTube channels. Professor Alfred Patrick Addaquay (MOBA’04), a musicologist at the University of Ghana, played the organ on ‘For All the Saints’. A late request from Emmanuel Dadson (MOBA’84) added ‘Ahotsewfo’, the Fante version of that hymn.
What’s on the album
* ‘For All The Saints’: the school’s official hymn since 1910, adopted in honour of Rev A.T.R. Bartrop, who helped save the school from collapse in the early 1900s. It appears in five versions on the album.
* ‘Dwin Hwɛ Kan’: the school’s official anthem since 1963, first composed around 1910. It appears in two versions on the album
* ‘The Mfantsipim Ode’ and ‘Mfantsipim Mfeha Ndwom’: the official anthem and song of the 1976 centenary.
* Two centenary highlife songs by Kwadwo Donkoh: Donkoh was a national highlife legend whose classics include ‘Time for Highlife’.
* The ‘Sesquicentennial Anthem’ and ‘Sesquicentennial Jama’: the official 150th anniversary pieces. The album also includes a brass band version of the jama by the Regimental Band.
Raising funds for the school
Mr Ankomah presented 1,000 pen drives containing the music, with booklets giving the lyrics and history of each song. He also presented 100 limited-edition red vinyl records, to be sold to old boys to raise funds for the school.
He thanked the many old boys and supporters who contributed. Among them were Albert Ocran (MOBA’84), who produced the booklets free of charge, and the 150th Anniversary Planning Committee.
The album was produced in memory of James Kwabena Ankomah (MOBA’57), who is Mr Ankomah’s late father. It is dedicated to the MOBA’84 year group and to the memory of the MOBA’57 year group.
