STORYTELLING SONGS OF THE ÈWÈ-DÒMÈ OF GHANA
Abstract
- Abstract
- For 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.
Description
- Description
- pages: 91-112
Subjects
People & roles
- Author
-
Gbagbo, Divine Kwasi
Value Annotations
Value Annotations
- Is Part Of
- Ohio University
-
Elder, D. Rose
Value Annotations
Value Annotations
- Is Part Of
- Ohio State University
Origins & context
- Title
- STORYTELLING SONGS OF THE ÈWÈ-DÒMÈ OF GHANA
- Type
- Text
- Language
- English
- Parent project
- International Library of African Music
- is funded by
-
Rhodes University
- Place of Origin
- South Africa
- Created Date
- December 1, 2019
Rights & access
- License
- CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0
- Access Rights
- Public
- Copyright Date
- January 1, 2018
Identifiers & sources
- DRE ID
- eaa-99-03c9
- Identifier
-
2294
Value Annotations
Value Annotations
- Type
- Publisher, distributor, or vendor stock number
Further details
- WissKI URL
- 82715