Female Song Tradition and the Akan of Ghana

Nnwonkoro is a genre of women's song found among the Akan-speaking peoples of Ghana. It has become a hybrid musical form, incorporating songs and dance movements based on traditional practices alongside others reflecting Christian influence. Nnwonkoro groups perform regularly at funerals, on state occasions, for entertainment, and even in church. In common with other Akan musical traditions, nnwonkoro is transmitted orally and aurally. Based on extensive fieldwork in the Asante and Bono Ahafo regions, and featuring many transcriptions of songs, this book investigates the nature of composition in oral culture, together with issues such as the scope of the poetic imagination and the transformation processes that accompany modernization. This study illuminates the musical style of nnwonkoro in a way which, it is hoped, will facilitate future comparative study of African songs. A CD recording is included.

Kwasi Ampene is Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA.

Contents: Introduction; The Akan song tradition of Nnwonkoro: a historical overview; Motivations for the creative process; Compositional conventions of Nnwonkoro songs; Models of form and style; The creative process and context; Contemporary issues; Appendices; CD information; Bibliography; Index.