Ghana Minstrel Choir - Vienna is but one of the most natural acts of African communities in the Diaspora: to organize, study, promote and preserve their cultural heritage in a foreign environment, which is always ready to deny their specific identity and to make irrelevant their most basic human needs.
The Ghanaian community in Vienna, though not extremely large is definitely one of the most active foreign groups in Vienna that is well-known for its activities in the area of culture and the various events organized by the Union of Ghanaian Nationals in Austria, such as the Ghana Cultural Day, the Republican Day Celebration or the Independence Day Celebration form an essential part of cultural life in Vienna - at least among the foreigners. The Ghana Minstrel Choir - Vienna is an integral part of these events.
Songs and dances constitute indispensable elements in African cultural life and reflect the dynamics of the African society. There are songs for war, recreation, festivals or other ceremonies, work songs, fertility songs, harvest songs, historical songs that tell the history of kings and courts, a function typically performed by griots in some West African Societies, with an accompanying balafon or kora.
Listening to the songs of the Ghana Minstrel Choir - Vienna may remind some of the better known American Gospel Singers, especially by the call and response patterns of some of the songs. However, one must not lose the historical perspective and misunderstand the African contribution to world culture: these traditions, which have been popularized by the African-Americans, are basically African traditions, which have been brought to the Americas by Africans transported there during the nefarious and wicked slave trade.
