THE CONTIGUITY FACTOR

IN GA MUSIC

BY BARBARA L. HAMPTON

T

HE GA, who live in southeastern Ghana, have been traders for more than four centuries, and their interaction with various West African peoples is evidenced in their culture. The problems one encounters in studying Ga music are essentially historical ones which, in the African context, require the use of various methods and sources for their so1ution.l Available primary sources include archaeological and oral data. In addition, the scholarly study of West African history and the changes continually occurring in our knowledge, as a result, have given rise to several important secondary sources. Because music is a "time art," some aspects of past musical performances remain inaccessible; yet the information yielded by these primary and secondary sources can shed light on other aspects of Ga music. It can be especially valuable to ethnomusicological interpretations of modern West African musical phenomena.2 T o the north and west of the Ga today live Akan peoples, the Akwapim and Fanti, respectively. The Akan-a generic designation for groups of matrilineal, Kwa-speaking peoples-have been neighbors of the Ga since they arrived in their present homeland from the east. Hence, in Ga musical culture one would particularly expect to find evidence of interaction with the Akan. An example of such evidence is

adowa. Adowa is the funeral music of the Ga people and is sung in Akan dialects. At one time the term applied to a women's auxiliary organization of the asafo, the Ga say, and it was "borrowed from the Akan people in the same way.as the asafo and the whole military organization were b ~ r r o w e d . " ~These and other empirical data suggest that adowa is, in fact, a product of Ga-Akan interaction. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the processes by which the Ga and Akan became involved, from the time when the Ga arrived in their present homeland, and to discover the nature and musical impact of interaction between the two cultures. This should yield explanations as to when, why, and how adowa became what it is today. Since adowa a'nd asafo apparently were adopted through one set of processes, and since vestiges of their relationship as auxiliary organizations remain, the discussion will focus on both institutions. In this study, I have drawn upon history to clarify musical phenomena. In the sense that a knowledge of adowa in Ga musical culture represents additional infor-

T H E BLACK PERSPECTIVE I N MUSIC

MAP

OF GHANA

34

T H E BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

mation, it is hoped that music can serve to illuminate the historical processes in which the Ga and Akan were involved. The basic premise is that Ga adowa was adopted from a group of Akan people. In addition to the data cited above, support for the premise is derived from other observations. Parallels between Ga and Akan societies are observable in the structure and organization of their military institutions and in the property of the institutions. For example, the principal drum-asafotwene in the Twi dialect of Akan and asafomi in Ga-are similar in design and function. In both societies the military institution is called asafo. Parallels are further observable between the material symbols of the secular chieftaincies of the Ga (called man$) and Akan, for it is the king who led the men to war and to whose glory many adowa songs are still sung. These include stools, palanquins, and drums (Ga obonu; Twi f t m t > m f r a ) . The obonu and hntFnf7Jm drums are physically almost identical. Perhaps the strongest suggestion of a link between the two cultures arises from the content of adowa song texts. One example from among the songs studied during my field research in the Accra and Eastern Regions of Ghana is: Yeafa ghenmea YEnk), ygnke yeahuno 0 0 . Nana ee. Ygnk), y e & yehuno 0 0 . Abwua dodow m a n y e o ee. YCnks, g n k ) yeahuno 0 0 . Yen na ne wo.

Let's go; let's go; we have seen her. Nana eel

Let's go; let's go; we have seen her.

A multitude of gods who are builders of the nation.

Let's go; let's go; we have seen her. You are our mother.

Common to all Akan is the office of Queen Mother. The cognatic Ga do not have this specific political office, although women serve in important governmental roles. The song above is typical of Ga adowa songs; in varying proportions the words are from both the Twi (Ashanti) and Akwamu dialects of the Akan language, and its content clearly suggests Akan provenance. One of the problems it and other similar songs pose, however, centers on the particular group of Akan people from whom adowa was adopted, since influences from several Akan groups are present in the songs. Therefore, more than one hypothesis will be tested in the light of oral and documentary histories.

The Ethnographic Framework The homeland of the Ga lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Accra Plains of southeastern Ghana. Bounded by the Densu River and the Laloi lagoon, the area extends some forty-one miles west to east, just south of the Akwapim scarp. The Ga live in six towns and their

GA MUSIC

35

outlying, dependent villages. They speak a Kwa language, which is a subfamily of the Niger-Congo family of languages, that belongs to the to the 1960 census, the population is Ga Adangme ~ l u s t e r .According ~ 236,210.~ Fishing and the growing of maize, cassava, okra, garden eggs, onions, and tomatoes are the main occupational pursuits, and also supply many of the women with market products. Though not as common, raising livestock is another traditional Ga occupation. In addition, the Ga towns furnish much of the labor force for both the government and industry in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and in Temma, one of Ghana's major harbors. In terms of social transaction, succession and inheritance practices, and ideological concepts, the basic unit of Ga kinship is the cognatic we (family).' Traditionally, Ga domestic groups have been organized unisexually. Matrikinswomen and their small children reside together in a yeiamli, or house, while patrikinsmen live in another house, or hiiamli. Groups from various backgrounds and of somewhat varying histories constitute the Ga of today. Each Ga town consists of smaller districts that were established by "latecomers," people who arrived at different times. For example, the A n a h ~ J a k u t s o(that is quarter) in Osu was established by Ewe refugees from Little Popo and their leader; the Alata akutsei (the plural form of akutso) in Accra, Osu, and La were established by laborers from Lagos; the Otublohum akutso was established by people from the Akwamu empire; and the Abola akutso was settled by the Fanti. The Ga say it was their policy to accept and assimilate newcomers on the condition that, for purposes of defense, they settle on the fringes of the township already established. The implication, then, is that there was a group of original, Ga-speaking immigrants.8 But who were they and from where did they come? According to one of the many explanations offered by scholars, mentions the oral tradition they came from the Middle E a ~ t .Reindorf ~ which alleges that the original Ga came up from the sea, an explanation which is not inconsistent with other accounts linking them with Benin to the east.1° Oral histories collected by Romer indicate that the present Ga homeland was once part of the Benin empire.ll According to a contemporary leader in Benin, the original Ga left Esi (in the Benin empire) about 1300, during the reign of Odagbedo. It has also been said that they came down the Niger River before turning westwards. l 2 It appears, then, that before migrating westward from Benin, the original Ga-speaking immigrants were forced to migrate south to Benin from their home in or near Ile-Ife, possibly by the Yoruba who had established their religious center there around 1000 A.D. The Ga probably arrived in modern Ghana in the early sixteenth century. 14 When they arrived they settled along the coast in Accra (referred to in European sources as "Small Accra"), as well as in an area about ten

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T H E BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

miles north in Ayawaso (known as "Great Accra"). Described as "a band of refugees" comprised of extended families, they were organized under priests, the heads of the families, and hunters, who were the priests' assistants. l5 The original Ga settled with the ~~~i aborigines, who spoke a Guan language. The social structure of the Kp i was similar to that of i were lagoon worshippers w o lived in small settleTheir form of worship included Kpledzo, an annual festival that is still held by the Ga in areas where the Ga-speaking immigrants were originally most highly concentrated. Many of the extant Kple texts include words from the language of the K p 9 aborigines. The perpetuation of this form of worship and these texts reflects the pattern of Ga settlement at the time.16 Ga-speaking immigrants who settled inland became farmers, while those who settled on the coast became fishermen, exchanging their fish for the farm products of the inland settlements. Neither the farmers nor the fishermen attempted to rule or conquer; they simply settled into subsistence-level farming, hunting and fishing, activities which were reflected in their religion. As is clear in both oral and written sources, a significant feature of life among the Ga settlers was their political organization. l 7 There were no chiefs or kings, no centralized government or military organization. Two points should be made concerning the assertions of earlier writers about the Ga political institutions of this period: One, the priests were the sole rulers in the governments of the Ga when they arrived (a thesis that Field supports).'8 Thus, in this context, the term priest-king is both misleading and inappropriate. Because of the exigencies of their new environment, the idea of secular power was incorporated into the office only later, as I hope to demonstrate. Two, there were religious sanctions against the Ga priests participating in military ventures. Therefore, the interpretation of the immigration as an "invasion" hardly seems accurate.lg Subsequently, however, these Ga-speaking immigrants were forced to establish a military institution. Out of what conditions did the necessity arise?

!i

The "Ashanti Hypothesis" In one body of oral tradition, the Akan-inspired institutions of Ga culture are accounted for by the theory that they originated with the Ashanti. According to these accounts, the chieftancy, the military organization, and the adowa company were all introduced under different circumstances. It is said that the chieftaincy was introduced by a man from Ashanti who settled in Accra, and that his sons by a Ga woman introduced the asafo. The following account of the adowa musicians is somewhat more detailed: There was to have been a marriage of one Ashanti princess, Nana Yaa Ahum, and a certain man from Osu... After she had gone to reside with him at Osu, she was feeling lonely

GA MUSIC

37

for the adowa music that she left behind. So she asked that it be brought to her. When the Ashanti women arrived, they were told to teach the Ga women their skills and duties. The Ga Women learned and have continued it even to the present.. . Everything they have comes from the ~ s h a n t i . "

It is not uncommon in West Africa for two disparate groups to form alliances through marriage, but the dissemination of this account, as well as the conditions under which it is transmitted, make it questionable. It is supported by the Ashanti themselves, however, and variations of it can be found in some of the areas that were once part of the tradition. Moreover, whereas the Ga concede that the institutions are Akan-inspired, they deny the Ashanti origins. I suggest that it is an official tradition with the flavor of nationalism, not infrequently found in societies where the government has achieved some measure of centrali z a t i ~ n . Yet, ~ ~ as observed above, the extent to which such traditions were accepted in the Ashanti empire was highly uneven. This can be explained in the context of the governing policy of Kumasi, the Ashanti capital. In nonpolitical matters the conquered states retained a measure of autonomy and thus were not assimilated. On one hand, it appears that there were few concerted attempts by the Ashanti to superimpose the culture of Kumas upon others, including oral traditions. where it did not already exist. On the other hand, in view of the constant revolts and rebellions of these provincial and tributary states, it seems unlikely that they would have adopted of their own accord the culture of ~ u m a s i . ~ ~ When the Ashanti ruler Obiri Yeboa died about 1670, he was succeeded by Osei Tutu as ~ s a n t e h e n e . ' ~It is widely believed that until the time of Osei Tutu (who died in 1717) and the priest Okomfo Anokye one cannot s eak of an Ashanti union or confederacy (that is, before the 1680s)." it was only to defeat the Denkyira at Feyiase in 1701 that the Ashanti organized militarily.25 In his discussion of the use of afona (sword) and kyem (shield) by the Ashanti, R. S. Rattray says: "This method of settling disputes did not possibly survive the growth.of the family and clan into a tribe for we hear at a later date of warlike expeditions of tribe against tribe, which postulates the subsequent growth of military f o r m a t i ~ n s . "Since ~ ~ before 1670 there was no separation of civil and military authority, it can be assumed that the Ashanti military organization began about the same time that the state was formed. It is inconceivable that this was done before the Ashanti began to participate in large-scale wars. As Rattray has noted, they may not have done so before beginning to use missile weapons.27 Hence, it was probably between 1680 and 1701 that the Ashanti began to build their military institutions along lines approaching the highly developed organization, with war stools and the title asafo, for which they later became known.28 Meanwhile, the Akwamu and the Ga, under the leadership of Nii went to war ( 1 6 6 0 - 8 0 ) . ~This ~ meant that the Ga had faced

danm%

THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

38

the challenge of organizing an army prior to the formation of an Ashanti confederacy and before any attempts to establish an Ashanti military. And the Ga actually met this challenge.30 The Akwamu Hypothesis" "

Around 1500 a group of Abrade migrants, who were later known as the Akwamu, moved south under the leadership of Agyen Kokobo, settling north of Elmina. Apparently, they were warriors and merchants, who soon became involved in the gold trade. The Abrade migrants established the town of Kumkunso (the present Twifo-Heman) but soon were brought into conflict with a neighboring Akan group. As a result, they migrated east under the leadership of Akotia, finally settling about twenty miles north of Accra just before 1600. In the early seventeenth century the settlement of the Abrade migrants, or what was to become the seat of the Akwamu empire, was bounded on the east by the Densu River and on the west by the area betweeen the Birim and Pra Rivers. The northernmost city was Anyinam in the Birim valley, where the Atewa Hills join the main section of the Kwahu scarp, and the southern city was their capital, ~ s a m a n k e s e . ~ ~ Therefore, the Abrade migrants or Akwamu settled northwest of the Ga. At this time the Ga were involved in trading, in addition to farming, hunting and fishing. The Portuguese, who were the first Europeans to reach the coast, had been trading with them for several years by this time. Trade, which consisted mainly of gold and slaves, must have been extensive, for vestiges of the Portuguese influence remain today in the Ga language; for example: Ga

Portuguese

English

sabolai

cebola

onion

kite

quitter

to discharge or release

aspatre

sapato

shoe, sandal

According to Claridge, the Portuguese left the Gold Coast altogether in 1642, and the Ga began trading more intensively with the ~utch.'~ T he Dutch "Map of the Lands of the Gold Coast of Guinea" shows that by 1629, Accra, the inland settlement of the Ga, had become a large trading center.33 In the 1630s Abonse, located near the inland Ga capital of Nsawam, became the main commercial center, linking the people in the north with those on the coast. Wilks says that Abonse was referred to as a "free market" which means that the king of Accra permitted any traders from the interior to come there in safety to barter their goods. Such visitors, on the other hand, were not allowed to procped beyond Abonse; from Abonse to the Accra capital, and from the capital to the beaches, trade was exclusively in the hands of the ~ c c r a s . ' ~

GA MUSIC

39

It is observed above that the Ga, who arrived and settled as extended families, were headed by priests who were also in charge of civil affairs. For protection the Ga grouped themselves in towns. From among the family heads they chose a head priest, who was also the civilian authority of the town. The importance-but not necessarily the power-of this office probably increased as the towns grew and became more involved in commerce.35 Significantly, near the middle of the seventeenth century it became necessary to establish an army, an event which transformed the office of head priest so that it became two offices; one was that of a powerful figure who became identified with the chieftaincy. This necessity arose primarily out of the desire of the Ga to secure their commercial centers and safeguard their role as middlemen. Since the Akwamu were involved as coparticipants in the trade with the Ga, there were several exchanges between them. The interaction and transactions between the Akwamu and the Ga can be viewed as existing in two periods- pre- 1660 and post-1660. In the pre-1660 period the Akwamu and the Ga interacted as patron and client. There were several transactions on this basis. First, the Ga invited the Akwamu to move their capital from Asamankese to Nyanoase, which was accomplished by 1 6 4 2 . ~This ~ brought the Akwamu close to Abonse and to the northwest border of the Ga area, as well as fortified the Ga commercial center against attacks from the north and heightened Akwamu participation in the trade. The Akwamu could exact tolls and duties from passing traders and thus gain complete control over the trade routes to Akim on their eastern border, and Kwahu farther north. The second transaction was that the Akwamu and Ga fraternized, and eventually intermarried. Third, according to Ga tradition, the Akwamu borrowed money and soldiers from the Ga and used them to launch an attack against the Kamana, Aburi, Bunu, Equea, Latebi, and Akrade to the east, all of whom the Akwamu conquered and absorbed between 1629 and 1 6 5 0 . ~ ~ Boahen attributes the success of the Akwamu expansion to the following factors: political, in that the Akwamu needed to "establish and consolidate their position" before venturing into large scale conquests; economic, in that they wished to "gain a firm control over trade routes" leading from Accra to the interior and to exact tolls and duties; European policies of noninterference and o portunism; and the bravery and military organization of the Akwamu. 3 1 The Akwamu were reported to have left Akotia, an Akwamu prince, with the Ga as a pawn when they borrowed the money and men for the war. It is also said that Akotia went to the Ga to learn European trade methods and the Portuguese language, the lingua franca of the coast until the eighteenth century.39 Whatever the reason, it is agreed in both oral and written sources that the Ga angered the Akwamu by circumcising the prince and thereby disqualifying him as the heir to the throne. This incident, among other things, precipitated a

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE I N MUSIC

war between the Akwamu and the Ga and marked the beginning of the second period. For the most part, the period from 1660 to 1730 was characterized by a conqueror-conquered or a tribute state-vassal state relationship, with interaction between the Akwamu and the Ga assuming the form of wars in which the Ga, though always defeated, attempted to regain their independence until 1730. T h e decisive battle occurred at N ~ a n t r a b iin 1660. Okaikoi, the le der of the Ga from 1635 to 1660 was killed. He was succeeded by Nii A a n m ~ j ( t e r mof office: 1660-80), who fought the Second Akwamu War and retired to Little Popo. (Great Accra was destroyed by the Akwamu in 1667.~') Nii Ayi, who succeeded Nii Afanm, and held office from 1680 to 1700, fought the Third Akwamu War and led the Ga to an area south of ~ ~ a w a swhere o, they settled the coastal areas in which they are now found. The final defeat of the Ga came in 1 6 8 1 . ~Soon ~ after their arrival on the coast, the Fourth Akwamu War was fought under Nii Ayijuma Tieku Baah, their leader from 1700 to 1733, and the Ga regained their independence from the A k ~ a m u .This ~ ~ marked the end of the Akwamu empire, which had acquired its position largely through a well-developed army. What was the nature of this military institution? Events associated with Akwamu military conquests can be traced to the wars between 1629 and 1650. According to Wilks, the Akwamu "embarked upon its bid for an empire by initially assuming the leadership of a military union based upon the political association of geographically contiguous states, as Kumasi was to do later."43 This indicates that by the second decade of the seventeenth century, the Akwamu military had been organized.44 Information provided by Meyerowitz and supported by the testimonies of members of the Gyaase and of the royal family in the present Akwamu state makes it possible to reconstruct a picture of the military organization as it existed at that time: 45

J

The system of state organized on the basis of seven clans first brokc tiown ~n the Akrvamu kingdom when, during the incessant wars with the aboriginal population and their neighbors, a territorial military organization was established under Saseraku Ansi I (about 1600) whereby the Akwamu state ceased to be a confederation of the towns of the kingdom, irrespective of their clan affiliation. Seven of the most important chiefs of towns in the state were given military titles and were appointed to command five battle formations and two subdivisions.. the Akwamu state, based on a confederation of towns instead of clans, and headed by a general instead of paramount-clan chiefs, was called )man, and the king took the titlelmanhene. Its rallying point in war was no longer the ah eneboa or totem of the abwua but the ancestral stools of the2manhene and his generals.42:

There is evidence of: (a) extensive contact between the Akwamu and the Ga over more than two centuries, which included the services of Ga men in the Akwamu army and intermarriage between some Akwamu citizens and the people of Otublohum akutso in Accra; (b) intensive contact between the Akwamu and the Ga in the close, friendly,

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41

fraternal relationship that ultimately gave way to a tribute state-province relationship; and (c) the existence of a military institution in Akwamu around 1629.~' The need for Ga army arose out of their having gained ascendancy as traders in the area. After the initial war this necessity was augmented by the peril of panyarring (that is, being captured as slaves), since the Akwamu sold those whom they conquered into slavery.49 Given the need for an effective military machine then, both the nature and the extensive period of contiguity were such that they provided the necessary exposure to existing Akwamu institutions before the Ga could adopt them. The available sources suggest that a process of adoption took place before Nii Ayi's term of office ended. Nii Ayi led the inland settlers down to the coast in 1680. According to the Ga, when he arrived on the coast, he had a military organization. The available document on the subject reads:, "The Akwamu showed them, the Ga, how to 'make stools to take to war'. The Ga also created military officials.. . . 4 Y Oral traditions such as the following account, given by Nii Nortey Afriyie, tend to support this.50 It is ancient. It can't stop because it started long ago. Adowa and obonu and asafothey are all a n ~ i e n t . ~ They ' are as old as Okaikoi and that name is not changed. Obonu and asafo and adowa-they all came from Okaikoi's hill.52

I t is said that the main reason for the Ga defeat at Nyantrabi is that they were not sufficiently unified. This lack of unification was due to the tyranny of Okaikoi, which was so divisive that it led to numerous civil wars in the Ayawaso area.53 Organization on a large scale was also too recent and too weak for the G; to successfully oppose the Akwamu in battle.54 An underlying assumption here is that there was some degree of unification which served for the purpose of defense. But what form did the mechanism assume and did it bear any similarity to the Akwamu military institution? In the traditions of the Ga there is a description of the structure of the army at the time. T h e smallest division was the asafo company, a fighting unit constituted by all adult men. The company was led by an asafoa$Each asafo company and ~ t asajoatfc s was identifled with an akutso, and a town constituted one or two major divisions, depending on its size. Each Ga town had a k w a f o n t 6 m f i (pl.) who each commanded a major division. In addition to this military nucleus, there were the distributors of gunpowder, the physicians, the drummers, and the stoolbearers. Three additional points concerning the military organization should be made. First, just as the stools'of the Akwamu 3 m a n h e n e and his generals were the rallying point in war, so were the stools of the Ga m a n t j c and akwajont@z& 55 Both the Akwamu and Ga stools were considered to be medicines which aided in war. The members of ~ z o f i l i w etold Field: "A stool is like a banner, the spirit in the stool

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

goes into the man who sits on the stool and he can never be a coward and his warriors can never be coward."56 The mantf~ is installed by acing him three times on the stool. During his installation, an akwaonttswears by the stool to support the mantfiin war. Second, according to Meyerowitz and Wilks, the new generals replaced the Akwamu "paramount clan-chiefs," and the king became ,mahene. In many ways, this is analogous to the creation of the offices of a k w a f o n t ~ a n dmantfiin the Ga military. The Ga say that certain supernatural sanctions involved in the death of a w u l (that ~ is priest) necessitated the physical separation of the religious and secular heads when it became apparent that w u ~ f i w o u l dbe required to go to war. Therefore, when the Ga created their asafo, it could not be headed by the w u h ~ ( a s c e n d a n tfamily elder) who had formerly led them. Instead, to fulfill this role they chose a younger and stronger man who could more easily go to war, and the office of mantfi "father of the town", was created for him. He, along with the w u l m ~ ,represented the civilian and religious authorities, respectively, of a Ga town. Third, just as the office of mant t w a s created for and existed for military purposes, and can thus be linked with the formation of a military, so can the adowa company. The role of the company should clarify this. Adowa is sometimes called the women's asafo. Women often accompanied the men to the battlefield, where they carried water for them and sang while the men kept watch. Field says that "some of the most war-like rallying cries and songs" were performed by these women.57 They would also dance, waving white handkerchiefs which symbolized victory and peace. The women who remained at home made war medicine for the success of the warriors. When the warriors and their mantlfreturned, the members of the adowa company came to the periphery of the town to meet them, singing adowa songs in praise of the surviving warriors and the bravery of those killed in battle.

P1

t

Conclusions According to some oral accounts, the structure of the Ga army was derived from the Ashanti, although many documents are vague on this point. In the process of forming their state, the Ashanti developed their fighting forces in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth centuries under Osei Tutu (after he had left the Akwamu court to succeed Obiri Yeboa as Asantehene) and Okomfo Anokye. But the Ashanti had neither intensive nor extensive contact with the Ga; hence, it is inconceivable that the Ashanti either influenced or aided the development of the Ga Army during this time. Thus, on the basis of chronology and the lack of contiguity the "Ashanti hypothesis" is seriously ~ e a k e n e d . ~ ' A comparison of the Ashanti, Ga, and Akwamu military organizations suggests that the Akwamu form is the prototype. Certainly the Ak-

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wamu form was the first to appear, and both the Ashanti and the Ga were exposed to the Akwamu army to the extent that it could have served as a model for both societies when it became necessary for them to build armies of their own. Documentary evidence consistently supports this thesis with respect to the Akwamu-Ashanti case.60 Further evidence of the Akwamu-Ga case is seen in this adowa song and its exegesis: Yf ara yenam oo yQara yEnam oo YEW m agva f ~ eygnarn oo

Ytara g n a m oo YEk) nana fle %nam oo ee

Akwamu Akoto Adowafo y6ky1 amankoo oo

Yt nam oo ee Kwao aye bl agva aa yEw~a

YtlQ ma agya a k y ~yEnam oo ee

YCara s n a m oo ygara @am oo %k€ m agya f ~ e&nam oo

Ytara yenam oo YbW nana f ~ ey e a m oo ee

A b ~ aTactile Adowafo y&yl amanko oo

YEnam oo ee

Kwao ay b1 agya aa ygw~a

g k ma ag-\a a k y ~yftnam oo ee

English:

We are walking; we are walking.

We went to our father's house. We are walking.

We are walking.

We went to the chiefs house. We are walking.

Akoto of Akwamu's Adowa chorus

dislikes quarrels between nations.

We are walking.

Kwao has done something good and left it for us;

We are finished.

We are going to say "Good morning" to father;

We are walking;

We are walking; we are walking.

We went to our father's house. We are walking.

We are walking.

We went to the chiefs house. We are walking.

We are walking.

We went to the chiefs house. We are walking.

Abia Tachie's Adowa chorus

dislikes quarrels between nations.

We are walking.

Kwao has done something good and left it for us;

We are finished.

We are going to say "Good morning" to father;

We are walking.

T H E BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

Exegesis: Just as in Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti, it is customary for Ga musicians to sing special songs in processionals and recessionals to and from the chiefs house. That is the purpose of this song; it is sung especially during festival time. During festivals, ancestors are given special attention which is why Kwao is mentioned as a doer of good deeds and as having bequeathed something good for the benefit of the people. Z w i a is an exclamation of sorrow at the death of a close friend or relative and means, "We don't have Kwao, the deceased, anymore," or "Kwao is finished" in this song. The history of the people plays an important role in the festival; hence, the song is also a chronicle. It is most often used as an opening song on other serious, but nonfestive occasions. The results of this study provide explication for the present features of Ga adowa. They should facilitate understanding of brief and oblique historical references made in adowa texts even where the exegetical interpretations provided by musicians lack detail. As in the above song with its references to Akoto, the Akwamu adowa chorus, and the quarrels between nations, numerous similar references in Ga adowa texts can find clarification in the knowledge surrounding the inception and development of adowa between 1660-1680 as a Ga musical institution. Although the central concern of this investigation has been the adowa ensemble and its music, attention has been given the military organization (asafo) and the chieftaincy ( m a n g q . The tree institutions are interlinked. Because of the rights and duties of the adowa members (Adowafoz) and their attachment to the military organizati n, the adowa is regarded as the women's 'hra/o," whereas the man& is the commander-in-chief of the military organization and the office was created for this purpose. Moreover, the three institutions are integral parts of one process of adoption and development. Today, adowa is as active as the other institutions which are known to have come from Okaikoi's Hill; it shows considerable stability of form and function (Since about 1886, the rights and duties of the m a n t f i and the asafo have been changed radically by colonialism and nationalism.) The Adowafoi still perform their music at durbars and funerals. To the calabash rattles, described by Field in 1940, they have added a bell and either a drum or bamboo stamping tubes, depending on the akutso in which they are based. They continue to dance with white handkerchiefs, and occasionally yellow or red ones; they are a persistent reminder of the affiliation between the adowa and the asafo, and of the special association of their people with the Akwamu, from whom the Ga adopted adowa in the seventeenth century. Temple University

GA MUSIC

Bell, bamboo stamping tubes, and gourd rattles.

An adowa ensemble of Osu-Accra, Ghana.

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THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

NOTES 1. Methods include examination of soils, soil profiles, raised beaches, and terraces of river gravel on the sides of valleys, which indicate climate and can be linked to stages of social development. The use of the radiocarbon method to arrive at dates (which must be expressed as statistical probabilities with their standard errors) is another method which is more precise than "relative dating" (as in Y came before Z but after X). Jan Vansina has outlined an effective method for analyzing oral histories in Oral Tradition: A Study in Historical Methodology, trans. H.M. Wright (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1965) 2. The fact that "music and history can mutually define and illuminate each other" has been demonstrated by scholars from both disciplines. Quotation from Klaus Wachsmann, ed., Essays on Music and Histoy in Africa (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1974), p. x. 3. M.J. Field, Social Organization of the Ga People (London: Colonies, 1940), p. 103.

Crown Agents for the

4. This has been documented by Field, who studied these organizations over thirty years ago, a time when the relationship between the two was probably more apparent than it is today. 5. Joseph Greenberg, Languuges of Afn'ca (Bloomington: 1966), pp. 8, 173.

Indiana University Press,

6. Ghana Government, Special Report "EE":Tribes in Ghana, 1960 Population Census of Ghana (Accra: Census Office, 1964). There is no volume reporting population by ethnic group in the 1970 census. 7. It is recognized that this interpretation of the social structure of the Ga differs considerably from that of M.J. Field and later scholars who based their work on her interpretations. My findings are supported by Kilson's various studies. See Marion Kilson, Kpele lala: Ga R e l i e o w Songs and Symbols (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1971). p. 7; idem, African Urban Kinsmen (New York: St. Martins Press, 1974). Kilson attributes the fundamental differences in interpretation to the fact that Field worked in Temma and Nungua, while she worked in Accra. My interpretations were derived from research in Nungua, Osu, and Accra; I attribute the difference primarily to developments in the theory of cultural anthropology during the past fifty years. 8. Due to the disparate origins of the present-day Ga, the original immigrants will be distinguished, for these purposes, by the language they spoke. 9. E.A. Ammah, "Festivals of Gas and Jews," The Ghanaian (August 1961): 9-11: (September 1961): 25-26. 10. Carl Christian Reindorf, Histoy of the Gold Coast and Asante, 2nd ed. (Basel, Switzerland: Base1 Mission Book Depot, 1889), pp. 17-23. 11. L.F. Romer, Tilforladeling Efterretning o m Kysten Guina (Copenhagen, 1960), pp. 114-18. 12. Jacob Egharevba, A Short Histoy of Benin, 3rd ed. (Ibadan: Press, 1960), p. 12.

Ibadan University

13. M.J. Field, Social Organization of the Ga People (London: Crown Agents for the Colonies, 1940), p. 142. 14. Ibid. This is also supported by W.E.F. Ward in A Histo? George Allen and Unwin, 1967), p. 58. 15. Field, Social Organization, p. 72. 16. Marion Kilson, Kpele lala, pp. 114-500.

of Ghana (London:

GA MUSIC

47

17. Information for this section was obtained largely from interviews by the present author with numerous Ga informants, especially Naa Dzamo Ako, the octogenarian daughter of a former La ~ a n t f fi rom field recordings (recorded on tape in Ghana by the present author), 6 December 1970, XXXIV Reel A612; and from M.J. Field, Social Organization. (All interviews noted hereafter were conducted by the author.) 18. M.J. Field, Religion and Medicine of the Ga People (London: Oxford University Press, ~ 1 9 3 7reprinted , 1961), p. 3. 19. Ward, History of Ghana, p. 57 20. Told by Madam Danquah of the adowa company at Manhyia Palace in Kumasi; transcribed from field recordings, Tape 17, January 1971, XLIX Reel B1710. 21. Jan Vansina, Oral Tradition. 22. Adu Boahen, Topics in West African History (London: Longmans, Green, 1967), pp. 77-79. 23. Ibid., p. 73 24. W. Walton Claridge, A History of the Gold Coast and Ashanti; From the Earliest Time to the Commencement of the Twentieth Century (London: Frank Cass, 1964), vol. 1, pp. 181-94; Ivor Wilks, "The Mossi and Akan States, 1500-1800," in History of West Africa, ed. J.F. Ade Ajayi and Michael Crowder (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972), vol. 1, p. 373. 25. Ibid. 26. R.S. Rattray, Ashanti Law and Constitution, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford University Press, c1929, 1956), p. 75. 27. This would have been after the Ashanti defeated the Denkyira and gained access to guns, gunpowder, and lead from the coast. See S. Tenkorang, "The importance of firearms in the struggle between Ashanti and the coastal states," Transactions of the Histon' cal Society of Ghana. 9 (1968). 28. Reindorf, p. 111 29. A.A. Amartey, O m a n y f A b a (Accra: Ghana Bureau of Languages, 1969), p. 12. 30. A simultaneous development process of the Ga and Ashanti is negated not only by chronology but by other circumstances. Ashanti interests were first and foremost directed northward, and they certainly could not have turned south until they had removed the threat of the Denkyira. Contact between the Ashanti and Ga cultures was not sufficiently extensive or intensive, if it existed at all, for such appropriation by the Ga to occur during this period. See Wilks, "Mossi and Akan," p. 381. 31. Ibid., pp. 364-72. 32. Claridge, Gold Coast and Ashanti, p. 97. The Portuguese returned only briefly in 1679, when they seized the Christiansborg fort from the Danes. 33. Chart 743, dated 25 December 1629, State Archives, the Hague. 34. Ivor Wilks, "Some Glimpses into the Early History of Accra" (Ms.), p. 6. 35. Perhaps for this reason, the head priest was commonly referred to as a "king". Field insisted that the Ga never had a king; see his Soczal Organization, pp. 71-81. The Ga, themselves, through oral tradition and other testimony, consistently support this fact, and it need not be further emphasized here. 36. Ivor Wilks, "The Rise of the Akwamu Empire 1650-1710," Transactions of the Histon'cal Society of Ghana 3 (1957): 101. 37. Boahen, Topics, pp. 63-68 38. Ibid., pp. 67-68.

48

THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE IN MUSIC

39. Wilks, "Akwamu Empire," p. 106. 40. Ibid., p. 107. Names of Ga mantf&mk' and the years of their reigns are given in Amartey, Omany Aba, pp. 11-15. 41. Ibid., pp. 105-108. 42. Reindorf, Gold Coast and Asante, Appendix, B- 11. 43. Wilks, "Akwamu Empire," p. 100. 44. Eva L.R. Meyerowitz, The Sacred State of the Akan (London: Oxford University Press, 1951), p. 57. 45. Field recordings, Tape 9, February 1971, LVII Reel B92. 46. Meyerowitz, Sacred State, p. 33. 47. Ivor Wilks, "Akwamu and Otublohum: An Eighteenth Century Marriage Arrangement," Africa 39, No. 1 (October 1959): 391-403. 48. Field. Social Organization, p. 7 1. 49. Ibid., p. 144. Kumasi followed the same plan, but at a later date, as Wilks suggests. The ascendancy eventually gained by Kumasi, coupled with the fact that it adopted the Akwamu military structure, may explain why the origin of the Ga institutions is erroneously attributed to Kumasi. The presence of the Twi dialect of Akan in some Ga adowa songs is probably due to recent interaction between the Ashanti and Ga (i.e., after both had established and developed adowa). 50. Transcribed from field recordings, Tape 20, December 1970, XXXIX Reel A2012. 51. Obonu, likefmt,'mflam in the Akan culture, is the name for the drum music and the set of drums which are the exclusive property of the mantiis court. 52. "Okaikoi's Hill" is Ayawaso or Ayaso, the capital of Great Accra. 53. Boahen. Topzcs, p. 68 54. Ward, Gold Coast and Ashanti, p. 105 5 5 . T h r word ma~zis takrn from the Akan)man, meanins "town"; t&mrans The rnarltfihad the samr po5ition in t i m v of war a. did the rnanheric..

"lather o f ' .

56. Field, Social Organization, p. 144 57. Ibid, p. 103. 58. Unlike their Akan counterparts who have power over both defensive and offensive action, the A afoat have no power over offensive action without prior consultation with the a k w d o n 4 J F . This and a few additional aspects of Ga military structure are, however, only subtle differences between the Ga and Akan asafo companies, and suggest the underlying reasons for their creation. 59. Although I am aware of earlier writings which suggest that asafo and adowa came to the Ga from the Fanti (see, for example, Kilson, Kpele lala, p. 13: Field, Social Organization, p. 103), these statements are not plausible, since half of the Fanti did not arrive on the coast of Guinea until after 1600, "probably after 1630," according to Wilks (1974, 370, thirteen years after the Ga had fought the Third Akwamu War, and just twenty years betore the Ga defeated the Akwamu. Thus, no such hypothesis has been introduced in this study. 60. Osei Tutu resided at the court of the Akwamu king until his accession to power, by which time the Akwamu had developed an army to the extent that it could have served as a model for the Ashanti army. See Ivor Wilks, "Akwamu, 1650-1750: A Study of the Rise and Fall of a West African Empire" (M.A. thesis, 1958). Interaction between the Ga and Ashanti over the past'two decades as nationals within the same state has probably resulted in more Twi words being used in Ga adowa songs than ever before. Due to a similar set of processes a few English words appear in some songs.

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Akwamu and Otublohum: An Eighteenth-Century Akan Marriage Arrangement Ivor Wilks Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 29, No. 4. (Oct., 1959), pp. 391-404. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0001-9720%28195910%2929%3A4%3C391%3AAAOAEA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X

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