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In 1995, we engaged the veteran troupe, Jaguar Jokers,
to stage one of their classic plays in the manner of the mid 1950's, when the troupe was founded.
They selected the small town of Teacher Mante for their venue, on the busy road to Kumasi,
then set about as they would have forty years earlier,
improvising a theatre in the enclosed yard of a private home.
Mr Bampoe--the leader of the JJs--dresses the town cryer for another advertising circuit of the community,
a service he himself had performed as a boy for the original troupes, the Axim Trio and the Two Bobs.
In the thirties, when Axim Trio, Gold Coast Two Bobs, they started, this is publicity.
We have no amplifier, no amplification, nothing.
So this, we call it, "Mask man: Charlie."
We go to the town, ring the bell, make campaign for people to know that something is happening tonight
"Yes, tonight, it will be terrible. The Jaguar Jokers are in town.
Well, when you pay to patronize Jaguar Jokers' show, you didn't throw your money away.
Because they give you best show, and you'll like it. Very educative.
This is the Jaguar Jokers: the impregnable stage-shakers of Ghanaland."
As Charlie does the rounds, Bampoe supervised the building of a stage.
The platform is constructed without screws or nails, yet is remarkably sturdy.
The JJs once promoted a show in which they promised to stage a full soccer match.
The fans came in droves to see how they'd fit all that running onto such a small surface.
But one team captain, played by Bampoe himself, was so unruly at the coin toss that the game was forfeited.
Needless to say, the fans were not amused.
More of the troupe arrive by public transport, lead by Acquaah Hammond,
Mr Bampoe's long-time stage partner.
In their heyday, the Jaguars hired buses for their tours,
but they have been largely inactive since 1982,
when a fatal road accident killed several troupe members,
and destroyed all their band equipment.
For this show, they will borrow what they need, as they would have, forty years ago
including benches from a local school, and drums from a church.
They will perform without amplification.
Young boys gather to watch and help out, following a longstanding concert tradition.
Many performers got their start running errands for the itinerant actors.
Perhaps these boys will sustain the profession in the new century.
Because we have been doing this continuously, we are known by the children.
Immediately at our arrival at the station, they rush to help us.
And they carry us to where we performed. And by that too they get the access of entry
into the show free of charge.
We helped them too much!
Go to them, "What do you want us to do for you?"
We wash their clothes, fetch them water to bath.
And in those days too, there was no pipe-born water,
so you go far away to fetch water from the stream and give it to them.
Bampoe took advantage of his time with the West End Trio's Kobina Dadzie.
Who, who is this picture of?
When I studied in school.
1943, I started. We are the the Yankee Trio.
So these were just fellow students, at school?
One is dead.
This is Opia.
Opia, of the Jaguar Jokers. We started, when we were in school.
We copied it from Axim Trio. And the Dix Covian Jokers.
And the Western Trio.
I was the lady impersonator!
The trio shows of the past were accompanied solely by a harmonium organ and a single drummer on a trap drum.
Present-day concerts open with a full dance band, and use electric guitar, bass and drums for music during the play.
Here the JJs make do with an acoustic pre-show warm-up, to hold on the attention of their audience,
most of them too young to recall the trio days.
Behind the curtain, the lady impersonators are dressing.
Formerly, if you are a woman and...
...you join concert, you wouldn't be recognized by your parents.
You see? They'll say you'll be a *** or a harlot.
That's why we used lady impersonators, from the beginning.
It's simple. If you put on the earrings, the form comes.
You polish your face, and put some marks on your lips, then you're in show.
Only the voice changes.
So-on-and-so.
We have to go intensive training with the voice.
You see, when you are using the female voice,
your appearance shouldn't be detected that you're a man at all.
And your appearance, and the voice, and the dance, and the words of the dialogue...
you'll appear as a complete lady without dispute.
Have to study women. How they move, how they act.
Quarrelling... So, yeah, I pick up from women.
And that's you? --That's me, yes.
I remember at Konongo, the engineer and his wife had to bet 20 pounds.
The lady says, I'm a lady, and the husband says no, I'm a man.
So they had to bet. And then examine me, they got to know I'm a man.
And the man won 20 pounds from the wife. He gave it to me.
One of Kakaiku's impersonators, Francis Mills, was so effective he won a beauty contest.
As for Mills like this, hey!
Ashao part! --But Mills, always they put him on the ***, prostitution part.
She can act! Saucey.
That man?
I am sorry you didn't meet the man personally. --He is beautiful, very very beautiful.
He's very flexible, you know, he's...
When she's talking, she talk like a woman. You will never think she's a man.
The voice and everything looks like a woman.
You see how I'm laughing! The same!
When we talk about concert show, we don't talk about lady actress.
We talk about lady impersonators. They are the concert people.
Immediately you employ a lady, it means it's a drama troupe.
Their thing turn into drama troupe. Not concert party.
These are the Jaguar Jokers' lady impersonators, fashionably coiffed and dressed, from the 1960s.