Rhodes University: Hosted Journals
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STORYTELLING SONGS OF THE ÈWÈ-DÒMÈ OF GHANA
Get PDFFor the Central Èwè or Èwè-Dòmè people of Ghana’s Volta Region, storytelling is a vital practice used to transmit key lessons. For centuries the Èwè-Dòmè employed storytelling performances in initiation rites, war celebrations, wake-keeping, and praise singing to enrich the gathering by relaying important information, building group identity, and binding the community together with story, song, and dance. Storytellers and community participants point to the role that songs play within storytelling as cultural markers for the Èwè-Dòmè communities in the area around Ho, the Volta Region’s capital. Within the framework of extended family or town-wide storytelling performances, audience members habitually interrupt the story with song and dance that enlivens sleepy listeners and augments the story with an interpretive angle on the theme. Singing reverses the artist-audience roles. Other community events similarly provide an opportunity for artist-audience interaction and the reversal of roles. This paper documents the social role of songs in the context of storytelling as well as the performance practices, texts, melodies, rhythms, and harmonies of this important traditional musical genre in the face of numerous threats to its ongoing existence
"SINGING THE HEALING": THE RITUALS OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES CHURCH IN GHANA
Get PDFWhile many in Ghana prefer modern medical systems, others use indigenous means such as those emanating from shrines and indigenous sects. Today, many religious practices in Ghana focus a greater part of their services on healing and the general wellbeing of its members. The formation of African Indigenous Churches (AICs) has played a central role in bridging the gap between indigenous and Christian concepts of worship, healing, and wellbeing. The Twelve Apostles Church, first of the AICs in Ghana, is prominent as far as good health and the wellbeing of its members are concerned. These indigenous musical healing practices are seldom recognised for their significant contribution towards good health and wellbeing. In this article, I use an ethnographic approach, employing interviews and participant observation, to describe the significance of the musical healing rituals of the Twelve Apostles Church in Ghana. The question is, how does drumming, dancing, and singing in the Twelve Apostles Church contribute to good health and wellbeing
JAZZ IN SERVICE OF THE STRUGGLE: THE NEW BRIGHTON STORY
Get PDFThis article contributes to the substantial body of publications on South African jazz with information on jazz performance and performers in New Brighton, a township adjacent to Port Elizabeth noted for its vibrant jazz scene and outstanding jazz musicians. The article covers several decades from the heyday of swing bands in the 1940s—50s through the 1960s—70s when New Brighton\u27s premier jazz combo, the Soul Jazzmen, were at the height of their artistry. The role of swing bands in New Brighton and surrounding communities as the training ground for members of the Soul Jazzmen and other local musicians of note is discussed, as well as how the Soul Jazzmen in turn were tutors for musicians of the next generation who became widely recognized artists, composers and arrangers. This is followed by a focus on the Soul Jazzmen and compositions by its members that protested against the apartheid regime in the 1960s—70s. The article is informed by historic photographs, newspaper clippings and information from oral history interviews that richly document how jazz was performed in service of the anti-apartheid struggle in New Brighton
GENDERED SPACE TRANSGRESSORS: STUDY OF TWO YORÙBà FEMALE DÙNDÚN DRUMMERS
Get PDFThe contemporary Nigerian musical landscape occasionally becomes a site for contesting and negotiating the established ideology of Yorùbá patriarchy. These movements are evident in many women\u27s decisions to venture into drumming, an age-old male dominated musical profession. Informed by the theory of spatial trialectics, this article investigates gendered space in relation to dùndún drumming with a view to understanding the changing nuances of gender relations among the Yorùbá of southwestern Nigeria. Ethnographic techniques were used to generate data on Àrà and Àyánbìnrin, two well-known urban popular female dùndún performers whose aspirations and career trajectories reside outside the Àyà n lineage and spiritual tradition. Biographical accounts and lived experiences of both artists suggest that women\u27s agency in Yorùbá drumming is hedged by different, prevailing socioeconomic contexts, including a determination to challenge limitations to a career path and economic progress. By describing how female dùndún drumming may be regarded as a response to social and musical change, and discussing how issues of masculinity and femininity are constructed, negotiated and contested, I argue that the belief forbidding women from playing Yorùbá drums is not strictly applicable to the dùndún because the dùndún ensemble is more connected to social than religious performances
KARIMBA: THE SHIFTING BOUNDARIES OF A SACRED TRADITION
Get PDFIn Zimbabwe, urban musicians and educators often perceive karimba as a category of relatively small mbira that are used for secular entertainment. This notion is strongly influenced by the prominence of the Kwanongoma mbira, or nyunga nyunga mbira, a 15-key karimba that was first popularized by the Kwanongoma College of Music in the 1960s. Despite a wealth of research, very little has been written about karimba traditions around the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border that are associated with traditional religious practices. In this article, the author focuses on a type of karimba with more than 20 keys that shares much of the same repertoire with matepe/madhebhe/hera music in Rushinga, Mutoko, and Mudzi Districts in Zimbabwe and nearby regions in Central Mozambique. The author explores the connections between innovations of the Kwanongoma mbira and karimba traditions in the Northeast with examples from the International Library of African Music archival collections and her own ethnographic research. This article provides a foundation upon which others may further conduct research on karimba music and suggests possible directions for incorporating these findings into educational contexts