HANSHI FRANCIS M. E. FUSTER - Founder 1977
Francis M. E. Fuster, born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1943, was introduced to music at an early age by his maternal grandfather who was a sailor. From his travels, he often brought home gifts, many of which were musical instruments including guitars and drum sets. Their playtime together would lead him to a lifelong career as a musician and indirectly as a martial arts pioneer in his home country and eventually all of West Africa.
At the age of 19, while part of a 12-member dance group called Compare Jazz Dance, Fuster jumped at a surprise opportunity to take his playtime to the real stage. After opening for a band called The Heartbeats, the dancers were backstage when they heard a call for a drummer. The curtains were parting and their drummer was not in place. Fuster, who was also a student at the time, didn’t skip a beat. He took the drummer’s seat and made the road his real-world education, touring West Africa with the group as a drummer and singer for 10 years before starting his own band in 1972 called, Baranta in Nigeria.
Introduction to Martial Arts
While living in Lagos, Nigeria in 1973, Fuster attended the inaugural meeting of the Nigerian Musicians Union where he had just been elected social secretary and fellow musician Fela Kuti had been elected president.
After the meeting, which was held at Kuti’s Africa Shrine, Kuti invited the executive committee to his house for refreshments. It was during this gathering where Fuster witnessed the popular human rights activist bring in a martial arts instructor to train his security detail to help protect him through the intense aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War. Curious about the art, Fuster asked the instructor to come to his house to teach him. His journey in martial arts had begun.
Sampai Sumalia, who hailed from Cameroon, taught Fuster for about three months until more advanced teaching was required. Sumalia’s instructor, Ibrahim DaSilver, began teaching Fuster and a few of his fellow musicians. It was not the first time the two had met. DaSilver had protected Fuster one night when a fight broke out at a club where he was performing. From that incident Fuster recognized the power of the art.
Now serving as his teacher, the 5th dan black belt from Brazil instructed Fuster to build his own dojo with his bare hands in the back of the band house where musicians lived and practiced. It took three weeks. Over the next couple of years, Fuster would receive his first black belt from DaSilver as well as a small library of martial arts books.
Music and Martial Arts
The self-taught drummer and percussionist would go on to tour the globe with various legendary musicians, including The Hugh Masekela Band, Miriam Makeba and Paul Simon’s Graceland on Tour. All the while, he continued practicing martial arts, often visiting dojos while on tour and learning different styles of karate. He would also go on to establish two martial arts academies.
In 1979, he started the Shango-Ja Martial Arts Academy in Sierra Leone in response to political unrest in the country that left universities closed and many students in need of constructive distractions. He was able to establish an academy in the backyard of Mrs. Nadett George, mother to his number one student— Donald George (North Carolina-US). Top students include: Phillip Williams (Perth, Australia), Harold King (South Carolina-US), and Junior Heals (deceased). The academy, which produced an elite first *class of 30+ students, continues operating today.
In 1995, with the assistance of the late Junior Heals and Sensei Victor Amara, Fuster founded Shango-Ja Martial Arts Academy in Accra, Ghana. Because of its popularity, Sensei Prince Wilson and Sensei Sylvester Davis were eventually recruited to help run the academy. A year later, Fuster and Amara were instrumental in establishing the Ghana Karate-Do Federation, with Fuster serving as vice president for three years. The academy, located on the property of Fuster’s hotel built in 2010, continues operating today with Fuster teaching weekly when he is in the country.
Class of 1979-1982 in Sierra Leone
Gwyn Allen, Coleridge Coker, Magnus Cole, Brian Conton, Desmond Decker, Junior Fuster, Donald George, Harold George, Sigismund “Junior” Heals, Cecil John, Ayo Johnson, Patrice Johnson, Phillip “Omo” Johnson, Hope May-Cole, Bernadine Macauley, Bertina Macauley, Kofi Mensah, Abraham Metzger, Kevin Metzger, Shireen Nelson-Williams, Sonya Nelson-Williams, Albert Paila, Julius Pratt, Phillip Sillah, Harold Shubu King, Lexton “Lecko” Taylor-Lewis, Tanya Taylor-Lewis, Ronald Thorpe, Nicholas Vandy, Phillip Williams
DONALD GEORGE 7th Dan
Donald George - Shango-Ja’s second lineal Chief Instructor and first student, has had a 40 year engagement with Martial Arts. Starting with Shotokan Karate and widening to in-depth knowledge of many styles and esoteric knowledge. He runs Shango-Ja USA and is a keen supporter of nourishing opportunities for young people.
He is an American War Veteran now working as a Licensed Special Educator in North Carolina and believes education is a vital part of life; His Martial Art knowledge gained through competitions and training with masters encountered through his travels is an invaluable asset to the future of Shango-Ja Martial Arts.
Chief Instructor - Shangoja Martial Arts Academy USA
7th Degree Black Belt, BCDA – American Combat Bujutsu – Hanshi Danny Wilson/Shihan James Beverly
(2009 - 2018 – North Carolina)
1st Degree Black Belt, Hawaii Okinawan Kempo Karate – Kyoshi Joseph Bunch (2003 - 2007 - Hawaii)
Praying Mantis Kung Fu – Master Park Ji Moon
(1989- 1991 – South Korea)
5th Degree Black Belt, Shangoja Martial Arts Academy – Hanshi Francis Fuster (1977 - 89)