Ayeyaa

This work depicts a princess in a story picked from an indigenous Akan folklore (“anansesem”) about a beautiful princess called Ayeyaa. She was the most beautiful lady in her kingdom and the other kingdoms around. Many men, both near and far, sought her hand in marriage, but Ayeyaa will only choose the man who could play the most beautiful melody.

The men will come to the village square and play with their music instruments her to hear, but Ayeyaa was reluctant to choose because she anticipated that more beautiful melodies were yet to be played. Her thinking was that “untold melodies are sweeter”. The men came and played the best melodies they could, but she will not choose any of them.

As the years passed, many of the men gave up, and Ayeyaa started feeling lonely. Depression, anxiety, and loneliness, coupled with old age, sets in, and the beauty of Ayeyaa began to fade away. Out of sorrow, she locked herself up in the palace, and in the cool of the day, after the villagers have returned from their farms, she will play with a flute all the melodies she had heard from the men. Ayeyaa did this for years until the villagers became deeply in love with her melodies.

One day, as the villagers were ready to listen to the princess, there was an unusual silence from the palace. The following day, they decided to go and find out what had happened to the princess. To their surprise, Ayeyaa was nowhere to be found, except the flute she had been playing with. Until today, nobody ever knew or heard what happened to Ayeyaa. The flute ayeyaa played with has become what is popularly known today among the Akans of Ghana as “Atenteben”. It’s usually played to announce the passing on of a person to the land of our dead ancestors. 

As a child growing up, this was the best story I ever heard from my grandmother. There are many life lessons from this story, and as a sculptor, I was inspired to capture a vivid picture of this beautiful princess as my grandmother described her and present it to the world.