His name is F. NII YARTEY. When I insisted on knowing what the F stands for, Nii said 'oh my God I don't want to tell you'. It is used to be Francis, but now it feels funny to use Francis, so I left the F there and when you ask me I say friend. I don't feel happy using Francis any more, because I was misled into using it'.

Q: Was it the Danes who misled you?

A: No, well maybe by remote control because of the system we inherited from the colonial period that made us believe that to go to heaven and be the person you should be, you must have a name other than what your system could provide you with. Some times one is tempted to say oh okay this must be normal and a universal thing. But then when you look at your own stock, what you have and the meaning attached to your names and you leave them and go and take a name that you don't understand the meanings of, then there must be something wrong. You know, it is not that you don't want to be a universal man, but we still have to have our characters and be ourselves before we can be any other person.

Q: What is your position in the Ghana Dance Ensemble?

A: Actually, I am a senior researcher at the Institute of African Studies, the University of Ghana in Accra where the company started, so I am on leave because there was a change, the company was requested by law to move from the university campus because it had been there for 30 years to a newly built national theatre. So I asked for leave. I have also been the artistic director and chorographer for the group since 1976.

Q: Has your research helped you discover closer and positive links with Denmark?

A: Yes, but it is not only trying to find out our links with Denmark and so on, but also within Ghana itself. As you know, our ethnic system requires us to cross boundaries and look at the elements which unite us as a people, however painful had been the experience. In Accra there are people who have direct Danish parentage connections with Danish names. In fact some of them have traced their way to Copenhagen etc. Therefore, we have been researching about this in connection with the production. We got a lot of documentations about this from here, Ghana and St. Croix.

Q: Do you think that such a production can help the Danes better understand their historical connection to Africa?

A: Yes, it is not only the Danes who find it difficult to talk about slavery. The whole history of slavery has been shrouded in secrecy. Danes themselves admit that they know very little about their country's full involvement in slavery in Africa. We think that there are a lot to be learned by not only the Danes but we the Ghanians as well. Of course we should not forget the fact that almost all the people who were taken from Ghana by Denmark were sent to the Virgin Islands and the neighbouring Islands. Danes are also going to be tickled about this.

We have been talking about the Danish role in slavery lately since this production started. In this connection, I have sent a proposal to our parliament requesting them to put up a huge monument in appeasement of the souls of those who lost their lives during slavery. We honoured our first president, the late Kwame Nkruma and other great sons and daughters of Africa. We have even honoured former colonial governors such as Sir Gordon Gussisberg.

So, it would be appropriate to honour those people who stood up against slavery, people whose bones you could trace in the middle of the Atlantic. They lost their lives during the fighting against slavery at home, on the middle passage and on the Islands. We should look at the whole issue so that where praise is due we give it and where blame is due we make sure that it is corrected and where honour is due we give it.

Some people wonder why Africans want to erect monuments for the memory of slavery. But the Holocaust is celebrated all over the world which makes people aware that it happened and scores of books have been written about it. But, can the holocaust be compared to slavery, that lasted for 4 centuries during which over 100 million Africans were killed or taken away in 'peace time'? So, we should also honour our victims. Any country which does not honour its dead, then that country does not deserve its citizens dying for it. We need to honour our dead, so that Africans can be united both in political terms, in thoughts and the way of doing things.

In addition to the monument we need to establish special studies, seminars and do research about the effects of slavery on the continent, because Ghana was not the only country that lost its citizens to slavery. We should start teaching about slavery on the same level as we teach

English or mathematics. We are learning how to speak English which is not serving our development. Teaching English benefits in this way only the English speaking countries to deal with us. Even though we don't want to live in a vacuum, first thing first, we want to know ourselves first before we know other people.

One of the first thing we want to know is: why were Africans taken to slavery? Few Europeans came in few boats and took a whole population. What happened? There must be something we don't know about. We have been told that Africans themselves took part and helped in the slavery. But, how did Africans help? And are we still doing the same today after 500 years or not? If we are, what is that thing that we can't put our hands on?

Q: Is favouring colonial languages a continuation of helping to exploit Africa?

A: No, no not in that sense. but it becomes so when we place less emphasis on our own languages. I don't know why Kiswahili is spreading in East Africa while in West Africa we don't have a common language? If we could have common regional languages, our linguistic divisions would be limited. But why should we use colonial languages that have no bearing on the continent?

If you look at our educational system in which pupils from the village are put in a class room together with pupils whose first language is English. This makes our education a long and difficult process. I myself had to suffer because English was the medium of instruction instead of my mother tongue. So by the time we reach the university, we are already grey haired. This is a huge disadvantage. Any way, I am not saying that we should not learn English, but learning other languages should never be at our disadvantage.

Q: Do you think that foreign governments should be involved in the projects?

A: Yes, I suggested that we contact all foreign countries which benefited from slavery. I am very positive, if these countries are contacted properly they will support the project because of what Denmark has done to spend money to bring us here, bring the Caribbeans and get other people from this country involved in the production. This means that a good will is already established. I praise Denmark for financing the present production and our government for the logistical support. This unprecedented initiative by Denmark is praise-worthy especially looking at the subject matter from which everybody wants to shy away. People don't want to be blamed for the shameful practice of slavery. But they boldly came and said "we want to sponsor this to create awareness".

We want to link the monument to the annual Pan Africa Theatre Festival (PNAFEST) in Accra so that many people will come every year to see and support it. All Africans and people of African origin who are able should also contribute to the project. The idea of coming back home from the diaspora can be done in this monumental way.

When it comes to reparation, we don't need it in terms of giving us money and saying this is for your work or the work of your ancestors take these two billion or trillion dollars.

Q: But, can one pay for the blood of the 100-200 million slaves?

A: That is impossible. Besides, we don't need it, we don't want to beg, we don't want to go on our knees. The fact that we are still surviving makes the African special and we want that recognised. All we are asking for is that Western countries which have taken part in slavery to have conscience. We want to believe that they have conscience we don't want them to send us flowers, we want them just to be fair with us in today's unjust world economic order, we want to be able to determine the price of our commodities and they should support that if they have conscience, they should invest in Africa and when they invest openly, genuinely and sincerely then nobody will talk about reparation.

Q: How can they invest in Africa considering the unstable political climate there, like Nigeria, Rwanda, Liberia etc?

A: No, no, Nigeria, Liberia, you know this is the chicken and egg kind of situation. Our countries are at war, Rwanda killed all these people basically because of economics. We have not been fighting those wars all our lives. It is nothing. Something triggered something and we all know it is the economic situation.

Q: What images do ordinary people in Ghana have about Denmark?

A: Before, Denmark was almost none existent, people knew more about Britain, France and Germany, US, but now a lot of people are getting to know more about Denmark, the Virgin Islands and the whole connection. So now with this special cultural event people are becoming more familiar with Denmark. When the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Birgit Storgaar Madsen, was asked how could she support the MUSU production, as a descendant of those Danes who committed all those atrocities against Africans?. She said that it is because she liked the way my choreography and its high

artistic level, but the most crucial is that we all should revisit and look at our common heritage and address the issues of slavery in the way that it will never ever occur again. It is not necessarily the way it happened before but the way that we see all the discrimination that is going on all the time.

Q: So Images of Denmark are becoming clear now in Ghana?

A: Yes, they are clearer now and it is a positive image in spite of the fact that this production has been associated with Danish slavery. But then the whole idea of you did it kind of attitude has been minimised by the fact that the Danes took the initiative to support. The Danish-Ghana Business Club also contributed in sponsoring our brochure. They have promised to sponsor the company to tour the whole country when we return home. Now, more people know that Denmark does exist. They might confused it with Copenhagen, but they know that there is a country called Denmark or Copenhagen. Before even for those who knew about it, understood it as something hidden far away close to the snow where nobody went to. So when we tour the country it will spark off a whole lot of interest in Denmark.

The president of the Danish-Ghana community said that what his club wanted from this production is to help the business communities know themselves and each other better. Because what often happens is when a white man comes to a black man's land always something happens one is superior and the other a servant. But when you look at the whole thing from realistic point of view, these are business people but deep down in their minds somebody must be asking: are we still having that slave master relationship, colonial mentality or are we doing real business? The only way to erase it and come to term with it is to talk about it. To them this is a great opportunity to advance their business.

It is good for the people to see this. People in the audience were crying, yelling when they watched the performance. It takes the pain a little bit away and reflect on their anger, and well after all we all were part of it. So how do we address the situation so that we can have a better world to live in and better relationship to develop our various countries. So to me this is what is coming to the fore.

Q: How is it to work with the Caribbean Dance Company?

A: A lot of things happened to me when I went to St. Croix during my research on this production. And just yesterday a similar thing happened to a girl from the Caribbean group while being interviewed together with a boy from my group by DR television. Suddenly the girl started crying in front of the camera and they had to stop the interview. She was carried to her room. After while she sent for me instead of her group leader. I took her around the building in order to know what the matter was. She couldn't tell what actually went wrong. All she could say was 'Nii, I heard that in Ghana people don't like to talk about slavery like we do at home! She said that something went inside her and she started crying. She could not tell why. 'Now, I feel sick, I want to vomit, I want to lay down, there is something happening to me I went to go to bed' said the girl. So a whole lot of things have happened. Some times people at home believe that the spirits of ancestors work through other people, and it could be one such manifestations, too strong to take. Today she is alright and is dancing. This is not a small thing. What Monty Thompson and I want to do is that later on we sit down with her and let her talk about it to share her experience with us.

To me it is one of the biggest thing that happened during this production. It affected me there, and I used to cry, almost every other day at rehershals. I didn't want this to affect the dancers, so I walked out. It was just when the production finished that I told them what had happened.

For me this is a cleansing process through a ritual. It is a process and where it would take us, I don't know. We have seen movies like Roots and so on, but they do not affect people as much as this production does. In this production, we have to dig, research and share and prepare people for the peace.

Where I was born, at one time the Danes, the British and the Dutch where there in this small area. Those powers divided that little city. So part of that area followed the Danes against their own kind who were following the British and so on. This was a serious matter that affected the people so hard. It is still being felt today.

So when we started talking about such things, people have got to know why we are behaving in the way we do today. After slavery the British came back to colonise us. There is this attitude that any thing that belongs to the white man like the papers in the offices should not be respected. Government work, as is said, you don't put it on your head but on your shoulder so you can drop it when it hurts. People don't respect government work, even today when slavery has stopped and

direct colonialism has stopped. The word government is still like a slave master, a colonial master, African governments are still struggling to make their people know that government is part of the people and vise versa.

We are slowly trying to grow out of this legacy, but the number of years that we went through slavery and colonialism took was too long, too intense for us to be able to erase the effects within the period that we have been independent, politically.

This is still there. I started teaching my people about the problem it and invited Dr. Irene Odetei of the university of Ghana to give us talks and watch films. People started to ask a lot that their minds started opening about these subtle elements in our society that some times we don't understand. We hear all that people used to eat together, children used to respect their elders and so on, but we can't see such things happening any more. Therefore talking about this subject helps unfold some of these mysteries about our behaviour today.

But, if the belief that when somebody dies you have to pour libation at home or take the body to the church and so on, then what happened to that girl and that boy yesterday was some thing that this production has been able to achieve. I don't know whether it is positive or negative, but at least it has brought something out that we need to get into.

Q: Do you think that this relationship will continue after the festival?

A: Oh yes, in fact we started talking about Steel Pan, which is an oil drum which the Caribbeans have invented over there. They tune it to get all the ranges which the piano can give. It is a black man's tradition. Now it is exported to Japan, New Zealand and so on. Drums are going right now to the Caribbeans from Africa, but we don't have Steel Pan in Ghana. So, I want to bring it to Ghana with a teacher from the Caribbeans to teach us how to use it. This will be a cultural reunification. And I want to tell the Danes 'look this is what your programme has generated'. We want to continue what has been started here. It would be a crime to stop the process here after the festival.

Q: But, when I look at the Caribbeans colour wise and perhaps blood wise they look more related to the Danes than Ghanians?

A: Maybe, but I tell you if you ever visit St. Croix and go with the eye and sensitivity as I did, you wouldn't be able to tell that these people are not Ghanians in their attitudes, the way they do and perceive things. It is incredible. I have been to Jamaica, and I saw some were clearly Ghanians, but this really had very strong effect on me. Then when they were telling me about the hurricane that struck last year and that I should put it my piece. I got up one morning and started to think about how to put hurricane in a piece like that. And I had a feeling that it would be stupid to put hurricane in the production. For one week the idea was haunting me until I put it there and it did fit.

One day the explanation for wanting to put the hurricane came to me in this way: During one of the raids on the Africans, the Danes fired a cannon killing a lot of people. The Danes were not the only ones who used cannon against the Africans. But why the Africans are still surviving, not only on the continent? In fact we are accuse of over population right now. Africans are all over even on Island, and that is to tell you how we have even multiplied in the face of slavery, colonialism and all the killings afterward.

I ask myself what could have contributed to this? It could be that something that we can't touch, it could be only something special, spiritual, then I got the reason. When they fired the cannon, the spirits of those who died got together and put their collective powers into those who have been taken away to slavery. They used that power to help them survive the treachery of slavery. People on St. Croix believe that the hurricane comes from the Guinea Coast. It comes with the spirits of the ancestors to take our people back home. You know, during the slavery some of the slaves committed suicide, just like you see in the production because they did not want to die in the hands of the white, they wanted to go home. And the only way to go home is through the spirit just like the Christians would we want to go to heaven, but before you can go to heaven you have to die. So these people committed suicide to be able to go back to Africa through spiritual means.

Q: What do you think about the Images of Africa Festival?

A: It is a wonderful thing. I see it as the most powerful and most well organised African festival in Europe. Having said that, it brings a big question mark, what is Africa doing, what are the African governments doing? Much as I appreciate this, but why must I come here to meet you? Why not back home? Most of the people from Africa that I am going to meet during the festival, probably I would never have met them, if I haven't come here. One would say oh thank

you to Denmark, thank you for providing the money to make the festival happen. But why is not Africa doing it? Why mus it be here? Other people might go to the extreme and say why doesn't Denmark send the money to Africa for this festival to take place there and then Denmark would say 'sorry we don't trust African government, they would mess up the money' you know a lot of questions on these things because last year I took part in Africa 95 in England during which we discussed why Africa 95 in Britain, why not in Accra, Kinshasa, because we don't have the means or because we don't see the importance of it, we don't have the capability of doing it? Why?

As to the question why we need to revive slavery. It is especially, we are made to forget even our names. You may look on it as simple, but it was a brain washing operation that did not only affect our names. It also caused self denial which has left almost an indelible mark on our perception of ourselves in relations to the white man, and in relations to the world, in relations to our own God. This is a serious, serious, serious matter and we need to revisit slavery. It is a very painful wound that must be opened to make sure you take a sample to the lab and see why it is not healing. It may take another 500 years to do it, but we must start. We shouldn't cover what went into slavery, our own role in slavery, why was it so. Why did these people come all the way to take slaves to a barren Island like St. Croix? The products which the Europeans wanted would have grown in Ghana much better, why didn't they just colonise us there and let us produce the things for them right there in Ghana?

If things had stopped there, it would have been alright, but the same things are still happening today in various shades, very subtle. Now, I joke all the time about this with my people, because once I travelled with my group to Canada and lost 6 of them there. So, I invented this joke and said before the white man came and took us in chains and we fought them, they killed us and fought them and ran away.... but today we buy tickets, we borrow, beg or steal money to buy plane tickets and we leave everything we got at home and come and go to the white man's country to clean his toilet, that is the highest form of slavery! The chain has melted and it has become an injection through the television, video, beautiful cars, nice dresses and abundant of junk food.

Instead of doing it in another way, the Europeans came to our countries, no visas. When the Danes were in Accra, the Ghanian women were helping them, because some of them were ordinary clerks who were not earning enough money and the Ghanian women were helping them to survive. The Danish men got children with these women and left the children there. So why not the young Africans come to the white man's land in order to work earn money and get knowledge. He could marry the Danish woman who has money to invest that money home. But some Africans come here and cut themselves away from home for ever. Home would loose that brain which managed to bring that person over here. There is nothing wrong about coming here, but what worries me is that when you come here to clean their toilets and forget to clean you house. Such an attitude is a legacy of slavery. That is why we must open up the wound and know why this is happening so that the black man will one day take over the mountain of civilisation once again.