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Factors That Shape and Maintain Folk Music in Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

B. A. Aning
B. A. Aning*
Affiliation:
University of Ghana, Legon
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Extract

The survival of any type of music in Ghana is dependent upon the extent to which the music is able to satisfy the values the people look for in such music. The values, which may be aesthetic or structural, social or religious, may operate individually or in a simultaneous complexity. In other words the factors that shape and maintain the folk music in Ghana may be found in the music per se, in the artist or in the context of performance.

There are musical norms which the community expect in a musical performance. One such norm is the sound quality. The Ghanaian concept of music (and this may go for other African peoples too) does not unduly discriminate between sounds of definite pitches and sounds of indefinite pitches. It is true that in some situations the emphasis may be on one or the other. However, examples abound in which musical ensembles employ both pitched and unpitched instruments. And both categories of sound are given relatively equal roles in a performance.

Type
The Concept and Practice of Folk Music and Dance in the Twentieth Century
Information
Journal of the International Folk Music Council , Volume 20 , 1968 , pp. 13 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © International Council for Traditional Music 1968

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References

Aning, B. A. (1964). Adenkum: A study of the music of Akan female bands. Unpublished thesis, Institute of African Studies, Legon.Google Scholar
Nayo, N. Z. (1964). Akpaloo and his songs. Unpublished thesis, Institute of African Studies, Legon.Google Scholar
Nketia, J. H. (1957). “Possession Dances in African Societies,” Journal of the International Folk Music Council, Vol. IX.Google Scholar
Nketia, J. H. (1962). African Music in Ghana, London.Google Scholar
Nketia, J. H. (1963). Drumming in Akan Communities of Ghana, Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Nketia, J. H. (1964). “Historical Evidence in Ga Religious Music,” The Historian in Tropical Africa, London, O.U.P. Google Scholar