Audio Selection:
Three things to focus on while listening to the audio selection are: the time keepings role of the afirikyiwa, adenkum and abaa; the unrelenting, inflected, rapid-fire dondo part; and the call-response interaction of the voices.
Texts / Translations for the Songs Heard on the Audio Example:
[Obo Onomabu* bra begye nsa.]
Afe aso bra begye nsa.
Nana Kweku Wobir.
[The stone should come for a drink.] (note: a formula used when pouring libations.)
Another year is here for us, come for a drink.
Nana Kweku Wobir. (note: possibly a powerful god in the area.)
*Obo Onomabu=Obonoma=rock bird=Anomabu (Anomabu is built on a rocky outcrop. The town was given its name because birds liked to alight on the rocky shoreline where it was built.)
[Awar bi ye musu/asan.]
Oadaadaa me akyere amanmba.
Medze moho rokosom awar a.
[Some marriages can produce calamities.]
Some marriages can be omen producing. note: the gist of this text is that a woman has tried to serve under the bondage of marriage, but has been made a fool of before the entire community.
[Aborofo woato nsa afre hen.]
Aborofo woetu kyew fre hen.
Yewosow yewoyow aborofo wotu kyew fre hen.
[The white men have invited us.]
The white men have doffed their hats for us.
We shake and shake (the adenkum rattles), we make good music for the white men.
Video Selection:
During the video clip you will be able to see the distinctive movement quality of the adenkum dance. The Fante are a head-bearing culture (they carry loads on their heads, not their shoulders or backs), and there is an impressive segment where one of the dancers balances a basin containing the group’s spare dondo on her head. Other segments of the video allow you to see how the two drummers coordinate their parts.
Performance Forces:
| 2 afirikyiwa | metal castanet consisting of a wide ring worn on the thumb and a somewhat globular-shaped bell hanging from the second finger of the same hand; time-keeping instrument |
| several abaa | a pair of bamboo concussion sticks; time-keeping instrument |
| 5 adenkum | gourd rattle with an external net of beads, shaken or stamped against an open palm; time-keeping instrument |
| 2 dondo | double-headed pressure drum with hourglass-shaped body, struck with a single hook-shaped stick, only one head is struck; a pair of these is used in an interlocking pattern to provide a rhythmic ostinato |
| cantors | female, two trading off |
| chorus | female, approximately fifteen |