Coma

I had to study herbs with my uncle. I followed him when he went out. He would say: "Do you see this? Don't walk on this. If you step on this you will get elephantiasis. Don't piss on this because you will get bad blood. If you take this, you will get wise in the brain; you will get excited and energetic but you can try to do too much. Especially when you are playing drums." So I said to myself when I was fifteen, "Oh, that's good advice. I'll try this and that to see." I learned a lot about herbs. My uncle died. He received a challenge from a master drummer from another village, and they had to fight to see who was stronger spiritually. Power- and herb-wise. And my uncle finished off that guy. The guy was dead, it seemed, but after being unconscious, in a coma for months, he came back and struck my uncle. My uncle went ill and fell into a coma, then came out of that and fought the other guy. The other guy passed away in the next few months and so did my uncle. In those days, it was too much. People could take a common herb, burn it, and put the ashes in front of your house to make you get elephantiasis of the foot. So many things can happen! That is why I decided not to stay an be my uncle's successor. I left my village when I was nineteen to go to the city and play with trumpet player and dance band leader E.T. Mensah. I let go of my traditional way of living and drumming and played only highlife, which is similar to calypso and played in posh dance halls. It is a popular smooth dance music and more commercial. I traveled around West Africa, seeing other peoples, different mentalities, eventually forgetting about all that voodoo, most of it anyway. But I still protect myself. I have to.

Kofi Ayivor