Artifacts from the Perspective of Effutu Masquerade Performance: An Aesthetic Album

| african arts SUMMER 2023 VOL. 56, NO. 2 The creation of masquerading artifacts like masks, hats, stilts, flywhisks, African bells with ring strikers (castanets), and costumes from the inception of the culture in Ghana has been a matter of strict philosophical discourse, especially within the conceptualization of forms in a blend of mostly European and, rather less, from African perspectives. To date, the masquerade artists and the leaders of Winneba have maintained a blend of European and African frames of reference in conceptualizing their ideas and costumes. The Effutu Municipal Assembly notes that Winneba was traditionally known as “Simpa,” “which was derived from the name of the leader of the Effutus, ‘Osimpa’, who led the Effutus of the Guan ethnic stock from the Northern part of Ghana to the present location” (2015: 3). The name “Winneba” originated from European sailors, who were often aided by the favorable wind to sail along the bay; the constant use of the words “windy bay” turned into the name Winneba. The town was one of the first communities in the country to meet European traders; it served as a port where foreign goods were discharged and transported to the interior and to major commercial areas such as Agona Swedru and Akim-Oda. Because of its role as a harbor town and a place of early European settlement, it became the administrative capital of the then Central Province of the Gold Coast (Ghana). The cocoa boom in forestry areas led to the relocation of major trading companies in the 1940s to Agona Swedru, and this affected the growth of Winneba. The township incurred even greater loss when the port of Tema was completed and port activities in Winneba were thus shut down. With this, most commercial activities also shifted from Winneba to Tema and Accra (Effutu Municipal Assembly 2015). Winneba is primarily a fishing community that uses dinghies for fishing. The Effutu people in Winneba have rich cultures, including the Kakamotobi masquerading festival, Aboakyer deer hunt, and others. The fishing community is gradually turning into a cosmopolitan area, which has taken a toll on the citizens (Micah 2014). Davies (2010), discussing Phyllis Galembo’s fascination with masquerades in Ghana, reveals that the Kakamotobi masquerading festival began as a party. Galembo’s masquerade photographs support the historic antecedents of Effutu’s masquerade culture: