A CHAT FROM LONDON: Baba Adesose funeral and multiple lessons

Freddy Macha

I attended a funeral on May Day.

It was one of a kind. Or as Londoners say a “one off”...

Special. They always say London is a special city. Three hundred languages spoken. Three hundred languages mean people of most parts of the world are represented here. And this burial ceremony meant THAT.

Began with a Christian service.

With an officiating reverend, who spoke of Jesus and us being good people – so that one day we reach THAT lovely place; i.e. heaven. There was that vibe yes. Psalm 91 and 23 were read ardently, fervently. These are very, very powerful verses. But this was not just about the sacred Bible.

We were here to mourn and pray and rejoice a West African man child.

Born in 1946 and at 72 years, said to have joined the Ancestors. A very West African way of speaking about death.

West Africans are tough and proud and conscious of African traditions. No wonder the Order of Service for a Nigerian-Sierra Leone musician, Adesose Wallace, commenced with drumming at the church entrance.

That would mean Ngoma in Swahili. Then a song - led by a well respected London based West African musician, the percussionist, Francis Fuster - an ex colleague and friend of Baba Ade.

Yes Baba Ade was “a man of many parts, who meant different things to different people,” declared Goke Braithwaite, his sister.

She was one of the many participants of the short, crisp, tight, disciplined programme, which included the famous Jamaican musician Buju Banton.

So many other musicians

And Buju Banton was not the only Caribbean Islands representative. There were singers and Nefertiti Gayle, a seasoned Jamaican poet. There were many other musicians from Grenada, Trinidad, Barbados and well... Africans from each skin of our rich continent--Angola, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Congo DRC, Cameroon, North Africa--but most of all Mali, Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. There were many whites too– some friends of Baba Ade, some related, some former students, fellow musicians, all kinds. Plus many West Africans, young and old...

As said earlier, we must repeat the phrase “West Africa”, not just for geographical reasons.

Our west relatives have a knack of promoting and upholding African traditional values.

Excellent Yoruba tune

That is why drums and this excellent Yoruba (of Nigeria) tune, Ajuba, composed by Baba Ade was theme. Two hours later, as we stood around the burial ground, we now participated in an Islamic ceremony. The language and terms changed. Now it was: Bismillahi Rahman Rahim, then libations, Amin, and Inshallah, plus the religious cleanser: Frankincense.

The Imam explained that Allah Wa Akbar... is “God is Greater.” Not Great but GREATER.

We were reminded to be humble and nice--that we will all die one day. We are not here forever, so do good things while you are alive...you and me...!

...and before we threw soil and decorated the grave with flowers, it was speeches. Mosi Konde, a musician from Guinea, uttered a mix of Islamic chants, words about the departed Baba Ade and finally played amazing melodic Kora music.

Traditional elements

Kora is a stringed instrument possessing a truly magnificent sound, scope and meaning. Again note the way West Africans do things. How many reading -THIS- actually know the Kora? How many of us, here in East Africa, value our traditional elements? Heritage, ladies and gentlemen, HERITAGE.

Speeches. So many brief speeches, spoken with emotion and respect. A musician called Planetman from Yemen said Baba Ade did not mind nationality, religion or beliefs. “He loved everyone...”

WE humans tend to behave really well during funerals. Can only compare that to when we see police officers on the street. Yes, death and burials is an invincible police chief!

Artists and sporting icons try to bring everyone into one chair. Our cultures and skins might be different but no-one has blue or yellow blood. Each of us carries RED blood.

As soil was being thrown onto the coffin at this cemetery in Willesden, North West London, men and women bowed or reflected or wept silently. A small child on someone’s back kept talking, innocently, while some carefree birds hollered from surrounding oak trees.

Suddenly, it kicked off...

Now musicians were blasting and blowing and hitting sax, drums, cowbells, Kora, singing, expressing goodbyes in a language of the London based late African legend. Yes, for over forty years, Adesose Wallace played a huge role in making African traditional music a community activity, overseas.

While it might be common to see people of all colours thrashing and enjoying Ngoma in Europe- today; things were quite different when this West African son stepped here in late 1970s

No wonder so many of us attended Baba Ade’s funeral.