Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T01:06:02.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Surrogate Speech of the Asante Ivory Trumpeters of Ghana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2019

Joseph S. Kaminski
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Surrogate speech is a phonological system by which word tones of a spoken language are represented in tones produced on a musical instrument. Ethnomusicologists regard this as a musical process. This article analyses the surrogate speech system of the Asante ivory trumpeters who perform at the royal courts of Ghana. The language of the Asante is Twi, which is tonal, based on two tones, high and low. The tones produced on the Asante's ivory trumpets outline the speech contours of the high and low spoken tones of Twi. The trumpet surrogate speech thus substitutes for spoken verse during rites wherein ordinary speech is not reverent enough, or previously, in combat and politics, wherein the surrogate speech functioned clandestinely to keep orders secret from enemies.

Type
Articles
Information
Yearbook for Traditional Music , Volume 40 , 2008 , pp. 117 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 By The International Council for Traditional Music

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adégbölá, Túndé 2003 “Probabilistically Speaking: A Quantitative Exploration of Yorùbá Speech Surrogacy.” In The Proceedings of World Congress of African Linguistics Held at Rutgers University, New Jersey. http://www.alt-i.org/downloads/ProbabilisticallySpeaking.pdfGoogle Scholar
Armstrong, Robert 1955 “Talking Instruments in West Africa.” Exploration 4: 140–53.Google Scholar
Blacking, John 1973 How Musical Is Man? Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Boulton, Laura C. 1957 African Music: Recorded by Laura C. Boulton on the Strauss West African Expedition of the Field Museum of Natural History. One 30 cm LP disc. Folkways FW 8852.Google Scholar
Bowdich, T. Edward 1819 Mission from Cape Coast to Ashantee, with a Statistical Account of That Kingdom and Geographical Notices of Other Parts of the Interior of Africa. London: John Murray.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrington, J. F. 1949 Talking Drums of Africa. London: Harry Kingsgate Press.Google Scholar
Carter, William G. 1971 “The Ntahera Horn Ensemble of the Dwaben Court: An Ashanti Surrogating Medium.” MA thesis, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
1984 “Asante Music in Old and New Juaben.” PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Euba, Akin 2001 Yoruba Drumming: The Dùndún Tradition. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies.Google Scholar
Gansemans, Jos 1988 Les instruments de musique du Rwanda: Etude ethnomusicologique. Tervuren: Museé royal de l'Afrique centrale.Google Scholar
Herzog, George 1934 “Speech-Melody and Primitive Music,” Musical Quarterly 20/4: 452–66.Google Scholar
Kaminski, Joseph 2003 “Asante Ivory Trumpets in Time Place and Context: An Analysis of a Field Study.” Historic Brass Society Journal 15: 259–89.Google Scholar
McLeod, M. D. 1981 The Asante. London: British Museum Publications Ltd.Google Scholar
Mukuna, Kazadi wa 1987 “Function of Musical Instruments in Surrogate Languages in Africa: A Clarification.” Africa: Revista do centro estudos Africanos 10: 3–8.Google Scholar
Nketia, J. H. Kwabena 1962 “The Hocket-Technique in African Music.” Journal of the International Folk Music Council 14: 44–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1966 Ayan: The Poetry of the Atumpan Drums of the Asantehene Vol. 1. Legon, Ghana: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.Google Scholar
1971 “Surrogate Languages of Africa.” In Linguistics in Sub-Sahara Africa, ed. Thomas A Sebeok, 669–732. Current Trends in Linguistics, 7. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Sarpong, Peter Kwasi 1990 The Ceremonial Horns of the Ashanti. Accra: Sedco.Google Scholar