- Title: Agbekor-Traditional African Dance
- Performer(s): People of Volta Region, Ghana
- Culture or Origin: Ewe people of Ghana
- Orchestration: 1) gankogui: two tone iron bell
2) axatse: African gourd shaker
3) sogo: low-pitched accompaniment drum
4) kidi: medium-pitched accompaniment drum
5) kagan: high-pitched accompaniment drum6) Voice5. So I choose this week to us the Agbekor war dance. I know Agbeker is a more serious style of African drumming from Ghana, but I will admit I do not know much about the dancing. With Agbekor music, just like Gahu, each drum has a specific rhythm that it plays. The cool thing about the different rhythms is the the player can improvise on the rhythm, which is really what makes the music interesting. If you notice in the video all the instruments start off with a specific rhythm in you watch the sogo(biggest drum) that performer starts improvising on his rhythm, but always goes back to the original rhythm. The rhythms are specific to Agbekor drumming as opposed to Gahu or any other style of African drumming. In African drumming the musical structure separates the different style of drumming.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Week 3
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I thought is was cute that the guys wanted to play for the camera. They were shouting "action" that they were going to be in the movies. The poly-rhythms that the percussion instruments playing are the key to this music. Unlike our Western music, the rhythm does not have a strong downbeat but the dancers sense the beat of the music and dance in unison to it. I like the colorful outfits of the dancers and their coordinated movements. Thanks for the traditional African music.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me that the musical structure is what determines the different styles of drumming; I didn't know that and it makes sense. I am wondering while watching about a couple of things. It seems there are only men performing. Is this common for African drumming as a whole, or to this specific region? Is it a cultural thing? In what context would this music normally be performed? Is it for a celebration? I'm also wondering about the age of the performers. Do you know anything about the training to play these instruments? Do young boys learn a method for drumming in different styles, or is it when they are older?
ReplyDeleteFor many African cultures the drum is a male instrument. Females dance and sing. This is not true all over the continent, but it is true for parts of West Africa. Most of the training occurs by rote, and is usually handed down father-to-son, although there are places now where music schools are set up and people outside of this family relationship (even Westerners and girls!) are allowed to come and learn.
ReplyDeleteVery cool video. I am always intrigued by the use of improvisation in different cultures. It seems that the use of improvisation might be tonally or harmonically different, but as a general observation, most performers return to their original melody, or in this case the original drum beat. I noticed the use of call-and-response here as well, which is of great significance in the African culture (Wade, 2013, p. 153). Also, this trait transferred to American culture which is evident in jazz music.
ReplyDelete