Highlife is a Ghanaian music genre that originated along the coastal cities of present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It encompasses multiple local fusions of African metre and western jazz melodies. It uses the melodic and main rhythmic structures of traditional African music, but is typically played with Western instruments. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and guitars which lead the band and its use of the two-finger plucking guitar style that is typical of African music. Recently it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound.
The clave is a rhythmic pattern used as a tool for temporal organization in Brazilian and Cuban music. In Spanish, clave literally means key, clef, code, or keystone. It is present in a variety of genres such as Abakuá music, rumba, conga, son, mambo, salsa, songo, timba and Afro-Cuban jazz. The five-stroke clave pattern represents the structural core of many Cuban rhythms. The study of rhythmic methodology, especially in the context of Afro-Cuban music, and how it influences the mood of a piece is known as clave theory.
The music of Togo has produced a number of internationally known popular entertainers including Bella Bellow, Akofah Akussah, Afia Mala, Itadi Bonney, Wellborn, King Mensah and Jimi Hope.
Ewe music is the music of the Ewe people of Togo, Ghana, and Benin, West Africa. Instrumentation is primarily percussive and rhythmically the music features great metrical complexity. Its highest form is in dance music including a drum orchestra, but there are also work, play, and other songs. Ewe music is featured in A. M. Jones's Studies in African Music.
Ghana is a country of 33.48 million people and many native groups, such as:
Ceremonial drums are membranophones and idiophonic slit drums, which are played in a ritual context cult, religious or ceremonial social occasions by indigenous peoples around the world, often accompanied by singing or chanting.
In music theory, the term period refers to forms of repetition and contrast between adjacent small-scale formal structures such as phrases. In twentieth-century music scholarship, the term is usually used similarly to the definition in the Oxford Companion to Music: "a period consists of two phrases, antecedent and consequent, each of which begins with the same basic motif." Earlier and later usages vary somewhat, but usually refer to notions of symmetry, difference, and an open section followed by a closure. The concept of a musical period originates in comparisons between music structure and rhetoric at least as early as the 16th century.
Guy Warren of Ghana, also known as Kofi Ghanaba, was a Ghanaian musician, most notable as the inventor of Afro-jazz — "the reuniting of African-American jazz with its African roots" — and as a member of The Tempos, alongside E. T. Mensah. He also inspired musicians such as Fela Kuti. Warren's virtuosity on the African drums earned him the appellation "The Divine Drummer". At different stages of his life, he additionally worked as a journalist, DJ and broadcaster.
The Ewe people are a Gbe-speaking ethnic group. The largest population of Ewe people is in Ghana, and the second largest population is in Togo. They speak the Ewe language which belongs to the Gbe family of languages. They are related to other speakers of Gbe languages such as the Fon, Gen, Phla/Phera, Ogu/Gun, Maxi (Mahi), and the Aja people of Togo and Benin.
The music of West Africa has a significant history, and its varied sounds reflect the wide range of influences from the area's regions and historical periods.
African dance refers to the various dance styles of sub-Saharan Africa. These dances are closely connected with the traditional rhythms and music traditions of the region. Music and dancing is an integral part of many traditional African societies. Songs and dances facilitate teaching and promoting social values, celebrating special events and major life milestones, performing oral history and other recitations, and spiritual experiences. African dance uses the concepts of polyrhythm and total body articulation. African dances are a collective activity performed in large groups, with significant interaction between dancers and onlookers in the majority of styles.
Ewe drumming refers to the drumming ensembles of the Ewe people of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The Ewe are known for their experience in drumming throughout West Africa. The sophisticated cross rhythms and polyrhythms in Ewe drumming are similar to those in Afro-Caribbean music and late jazz. The original purpose of Ewe drumming were sung or performed by warriors. Now the songs and performed to celebrate or for recreational use. For example, Agbadza was originally used as a warrior dance but is now used to celebrate events.
In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the use of music is not limited to entertainment: it serves a purpose to the local community and helps in the conduct of daily routines. Traditional African music supplies appropriate music and dance for work and for religious ceremonies of birth, naming, rites of passage, marriage and funerals. The beats and sounds of the drum are used in communication as well as in cultural expression.
Studies in African Music is a 1959 book in two volumes by A.M. Jones. It is an in-depth analysis of the traditional music of the Ewe tribe.
A bell pattern is a rhythmic pattern of striking a hand-held bell or other instrument of the idiophone family, to make it emit a sound at desired intervals. It is often a key pattern, in most cases it is a metal bell, such as an agogô, gankoqui, or cowbell, or a hollowed piece of wood, or wooden claves. In band music, bell patterns are also played on the metal shell of the timbales, and drum kit cymbals.
In music, a cross-beat or cross-rhythm is a specific form of polyrhythm. The term cross rhythm was introduced in 1934 by the musicologist Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980). It refers to a situation where the rhythmic conflict found in polyrhythms is the basis of an entire musical piece.
Sub-Saharan African music is characterised by a "strong rhythmic interest" that exhibits common characteristics in all regions of this vast territory, so that Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) has described the many local approaches as constituting one main system. C. K. Ladzekpo also affirms the profound homogeneity of approach. West African rhythmic techniques carried over the Atlantic were fundamental ingredients in various musical styles of the Americas: samba, forró, maracatu and coco in Brazil, Afro-Cuban music and Afro-American musical genres such as blues, jazz, rhythm & blues, funk, soul, reggae, hip hop, and rock and roll were thereby of immense importance in 20th century popular music. The drum is renowned throughout Africa.
Adowa is a dance by the Akan people of Ghana. It is a popular traditional dance in Ghana and it is performed at cultural ceremonies like festivals, funerals, engagements, and celebrations. The Adowa dance is a sign of expression that allows performers to communicate their emotions and feelings through their hands and feet. There are different hand movements performed for each setting. People communicate positive emotions at weddings or engagements and negative emotions at funerals.
Abraham Kobena Adzenyah is a Fante Master Drummer, percussionist, ethnomusicologist, and educator from Agona Swedru, Ghana. After serving as a music, dance, and drama instructor at the University of Ghana (1964–1969), Adzenyah spent over forty years as an Adjunct Professor of West African Music, Culture and Dance at Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut (1969–2016). He has recorded and performed with artists such as Steve Reich, Anthony Braxton, Steve Gadd, Jayne Cortez, and the Ghana Dance Ensemble, with whom he performed at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. Adzenyah has also co-published two books on Ghanaian percussion methodology and performance.
Atsiagbekor is a traditional war dance of the Ewe people, originating in Ghana's Volta Region and extending to Togo and Benin. Historically performed to celebrate military victories, the dance reflects the bravery and strategic unity of Ewe warriors and their communities. In modern contexts, Atsiagbekor has evolved into a form of cultural expression performed at social events, festivals, and educational platforms.
