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Adzewa

Adzewa group performing with a drum out of doors
Adzewa group affiliated with the No. 6 asafo company of Anomabu

Adzewa groups are women’s auxiliaries to Fante asafo (warrior organizations). Their membership generally consists of older women who sing and dance at ceremonies. All members of an adzewa group are daughters of male members of a particular asafo company. Asafoakyere (“sister of the warriors”) is the title bestowed on the leader of an adzewa group. Traditionally, adzewa groups followed their asafo company to the battlefield to provide support services. Today there are no battlefields, but adzewa groups still provide moral support for their asafo companies during festival processions and at funerals, as well as providing their own music on such occasions. The women play gourds (danka) while singing; the gourds are sometimes believed to contain supernatural power due to being kept in a room with an obosom of the company.

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