Music, dance and colour transform traditional burials

(20 Sep 2017) LEADIN:
Dancing pallbearers are becoming more and more popular at funerals in Ghana.
One funeral service is going above and beyond to make the day as happy as possible.
STORYLINE:
They may be dressed in black, but these pallbearers are anything but solemn.
Led by Benjamin Aidoo they are bringing music and dance to the traditionally sober event.
Aidoo started working as a pallbearer as a way to pay his school fees when he was at high school ten years ago.
"I saw the first people who started it and they called me to join them and work together."
Branching out on his own, what started as an experiment has taken off and now Aidoo runs a company with more than 100 pallbearers.
Aidoo started to offer a different style of event - more choreography and generally a more upbeat atmosphere.
The style of burial is now increasingly being copied all over Ghana.
People have started to see burials more as a way to reunite with family and to celebrate the life of the deceased.
"In Ghana here you have to be creative to move ahead, you can't be at one place. So at first people were using all black, when somebody is being buried you know pallbearers do wear black. So I decided no, let me add colour."
He spreads out a number of photographs showing the array of colourful outfits he has worn to funerals in the past.
He has since expanded and taken on new people to join him.
"So I decided to add varieties, buy my own suits, buy the shoes, buy everything and then we started from there and then I call people to join me, people to train, and stuff. Right now I've got into and I'm working for my own, I'm on my own now."
His team of pallbearers get ready as Aidoo puts some finishing touches to their outfits.
He is often up all day and night before an event making sure everything is ready.
"I have to make sure all the things are outside, the shoes been polished and then the suits been polished while putting (on) all the medals and everything."
It's not unusual for him to provide services for more than five or six burials every weekend.
But the service does not come without a price.
Cost depends on the number of pallbearers and the costumes they need to wear.
"Assuming it is a Scottish skirt (kilt), it is 800 (180 US dollars) and when it is navy, green 900 (203 US dollars) and then all white goes for a 1000, 1200 (225-270 US dollars)."
Despite the prices, the demand is so high that five more companies have sprung up in Accra, copying Aidoo's style.
Some of them were established by ex-pallbearers from Aidoo's company.
"I make sure I take time over my suits, how we dress to differentiate us from different pallbearers because we have competitors and they don't meet up to our standard. That doesn't mean I have to be there. There is a saying that, 'the sky is your limit but I have to push further'."
But competing with the dance moves of Aidoo's pallbearers might be the biggest challenge for rival companies.
Balancing the coffin on their shoulders, they swing and dance to the quickening beat of the music.
"We always improve on our choreography, on our dancing. We bring in more styles to suit people, for people to know that, yeah, you, these pallbearers, you are unique in your display."
And it seems Aidoo's hard work is paying off with more and more customers using his service.
Anabelle Namartey is the grand-daughter of the deceased and she likes the display put on by the pallbearers.
But as the pallbearers continue their routine, it seems not all the family members are happy.
It seems Aidoo and his dancing pallbearers are definitely here to say.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...