Research paper about music

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Kelly Smith

MUS 307

Spring 2014

Interview with Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole

Ghanaian Drumming: The Heartbeat of Community

To start out, can you tell me in what ways does Ewe music reflect the sense of community found within the culture?

Well first and foremost it takes a community to effectively play the music. We have layers of sound in terms of what makes a complete piece. You have the drums; you have the accompanying instruments outside of the drums, which are the bells and rattles. You have in certain situations, clapping, which is another form of an instrument. You have the singing, which is another layer, and then you have the dancing. With all of the layers together that’s basically a community in and of itself. Not one can happen without the other, so that’s another community effort. There isn’t drumming without the accompanying instruments that supports the drumming, i.e. the singing or the hand clapping. There are certain parts of our music repertoire where that’s very instrumental. Those layers are a very big community aspect of our drumming. It takes more than just one, or even two people, it takes an entire community to play the music.

So that leads to my next question, which is, with all of those layers, how important is the master drummer in adding to this sense of community?

That’s a completion of it. The role of the lead drummer shifts from the main drum to which would be known as the supporting drum in some instances. In a way that is a very important part of our music because of the dialogue that happens, known as call and response. For the most part the “call” can’t be given if there is no lead drum for the supports to respond to, or the singers, or even the dancers. So that is an element that is very necessary in the completeness of a piece of music.

Would you say that without the master drummer the piece wouldn’t really be able to be done?

Not really because there are a lot of pieces in our repertoire of music where the lead drum is not the focus. A lot of times you have, let’s say, sections of our music known as hechecha which is literally just a chorus, rattles, hand clapping, and singing. That does not need a drum lead to play calls, you have the bells, which is the lead and guides the instruments and the singing. So no, there are times where is it not necessary for there always to be a lead drum playing calls because that role kind of shifts in different situations for different pieces of music.

So is there also a lead dancer?

Yes there is a lead dancer and a song leader that initiates the community to sing and the song leader usually is the one that lines out the timing of the song or actually chooses what song is to be song. For the most part, music is played traditionally at clubds in Ghana. There are dance clubs that belong to the various different villages and they each practice in their own way. A lot of times you have spontaneity where the lead singer hears a particular call that invokes a passionate feeling to where he is motivated to sing a particular song that may not be a song that was practiced or rehearsed, or even well known. People just have to pick up on it. With the lead dancer as well, depending on the dance that is being done at the time, again the lead dancer would initiate specific movements and change the dynamics of the movement. Sort of like “follow the leader” or “Simon says.” When the dance leader initiates something and gets a particular feeling from a call or shift that is spiritually invoked by the music, they may do a particular movement in a certain way which is just a passionate response to whatever the lead drum may be playing, or by a song the lead singer has started to sing. Then the rest of the dancers pick up on that [movement] and they can choose to follow or not, but a lot of things in that nature are basically an improvisation. Nothing is really strict. You kind of get a feeling or inclination to just be expressive in one’s own individual way. So when we do performances here [in the US], set to the stage, westerners need it to be a little bit more set. So there isn’t as much freedom when we set the dances for a stage performance. Back home, traditionally, it is a little bit more free for individual style and interpretation. There is a loose structure which is very different from the way its set here for teaching purposes.

So back home [in Ghana] is it more common to be in a club setting where people just start dancing and feeling the music as opposed to having an actual “performance” like is done here?

Yeah, well the performance would be done more for daily life functions like a harvest festival for a certain group in a particular community. Sort of like here where we go to the YMCA or Boys and Girls Club where you have those facilities. It’s similar to that, but obviously there are no designated “facilities,” the people just find an open space to play the music. It’s usually an open area that is known to the village, like a courtyard or a town square. There’s basically two ways something like that happens: 1) There’s a town crier that goes around announcing that something is happening, like a festival, or 2) people just go to a spot and start playing, the sound carries, and then people hear it and follow the sound to find out what’s going on. Back at home it’s very spur of the moment and random, unless it’s specifically for a particular festival or celebration, like weddings and funerals. Nowadays, there are cultural groups that go around to different areas and perform to remind the younger generation of what used to be. I’ve found that when you get outside of the rural villages and into the city area, they’re more into the performance style of the traditional music. You’ll find that now because of the preservation that is happening to teach the younger generation because the traditional culture of the music is being lost.

Is western influence causing a degradation of the Ewe tradition? If so, what effect is this having on the culture?

Absolutely, yes! For me, it’s a little disheartening that so much is being changed. My parents have been here now for forty years and they are some of the last elders of their village that still grew in the tradition of the original music culture, folklore culture. It’s like the telephone game. Tradition is changing not only because things are being forgotten and the elders are passing away a lot sooner, but because the people who are trying to keep it alive are passing it down without having had any real exposure to it when they were younger like I did. Things just go through a type of evolution and they change because of new environments and new things that are introduced. Kids everywhere hear western music, especially R&B and rap, and to them everything American is golden, so things start to change because of this western influence. The influence of jazz music has also changed a lot of traditional music, which is really ironic to me because the origins of jazz music came from African music. So to look at jazz now and for them to try to change to jazz and not understand the history of it is pretty funny to me. Being raised in a traditional African household and to see that sort of change happening there is really hard for me. So there’s definitely a negative influence from western culture on our music. Now, the djembe drum, which is not indigenous to Ghana, is being played all over Ghana because it’s just seen as kind of cool. People think that anyone who can play a djembe is a drummer, but that doesn’t define you as a drummer just because you can smack a djembe like crazy. So it’s that unfortunate mentality that is changing the traditional folkloric style of the Ewe music. So I definitely see that as a negative influence.

How is this music being passed on to future generations? How are they trying to conserve it?

Through the performance groups now, but then you don’t have much of the older generation that are still around. Like I said before, my parents have been in this country for so long that their students are actually getting more of the tradition here than they are back in Ghana. I guess that’s good in a certain way so that the correct things are being taught somewhere, but at the same time the people back in Ghana are losing out. Those that are left there are now part of the younger generation that just has to evolve and learn through random teachings of people who just remember hearing something a certain way and trying to replicate it as best they can. That’s where things get lost in translation and become forgotten. Traditionally this music is passed on orally, it wasn’t notated and written down. Now that people are trying to do that to conserve it, unfortunately they are notating things down incorrectly. I don’t think there is a way to fix it. Unfortunately, it just has to start where it is now and continue.

So there’s very few elders left over there that are actually teaching correctly?

There is no one of my father’s age or older that is still teaching the correct tradition. Everyone is younger who is just trying to remember from my father’s time. And again, the process of learning our music is not through one-on-one teaching. That’s not how I learned it. I learned it just by being around it so much and that brings you back to that whole community idea of music. Everybody just kind of gathers around and starts to play and no one says, “okay come here and sit down and let me show you this,” and maybe that’s why a lot has gotten lost, because its’ not that type of teaching, notation or documentation. It’s learned all through being around it, living it, and hearing it on a daily basis. That’s how I got it and it became my profession. Every time my parents went out of state or the country to give lectures, I just went with them; I didn’t have a nanny or babysitter. By being with my parents so much I picked it up and became invested in it. Since I had the tradition instilled from the beginning that’s why I can teach the folklore style properly.

How have your personal studies of traditional music developed over the years?

Having a more keen sensibility of being able to listen and hear things. I find a lot of students who have been taught western music prior to traditional music are stuck in certain ways. They’re stuck in that culture and can’t think outside the box, and I think I’ve learned how to really listen. People hear things all the time, but they don’t really listen. Listening is differently from hearing. I’ve learned how to really absorb it and to really feel the music, as cheesy as that may sound. Letting the music just go through me and absorb it like a sponge, and that type of learning is really a lost art. You have so many people who are so caught up in a task and finishing that task without taking the time to enjoy the music. It’s through that enjoyment where you really understand what the music is and are able to feel it. Our music is a way of life, it’s our breath and our air, and when I teach I really try to give an insight to that.

How have you passed this tradition on to your family and children?

My kids come to class with me all the time. I really try to not just teach them, but give them opportunities to really express themselves through the music culture. I give them that understanding of the importance of knowing the style of music and understanding where it comes from. It’s always cool to just play and have fun, but it’s also important to have that understanding, especially with the deterioration of African music in general. I want to give my kids exactly what parents gave me at a very young age. I started dancing before I could even walk.

You kind of answered this already, but how does the experience of Ewe music differ from that of western culture?

More specifically in how it’s learned, instructed, and the forced idea of notating. Even in the idea of always counting instead of feeling. You miss so much when you’re always focused on one aspect of music, like counts. With the western style of teaching and notating you lose that whole connection of just listening and feeling the music. That’s the main difference for me. A lot of people miss so much when they don’t open their ears and make that connection. When they’re focused so much on counting there is so much of the music that is missed. It’s really good to have that understanding of the music before you try to read and notate. That was my experience. I had a good understanding of feeling and rhythm before I started counting and I feel like that really helped me in the long run.

You’ve talked a lot about really feeling the music instead of just getting stuck on what’s on the page. Would you say that sticking to this traditional sense of music adds greater feelings of accomplishment when performing it?

Yes, I feel that everyday honestly. That accomplishment is very important to me and dear to my heart. I grew up in a very traditional household, but always lived here in the states with western schooling, so I’ve become a sort of hybrid and been able to use both. I have a complete respect for the tradition, but also have an understanding of the western style. I take the best parts of western culture and incorporate it into my teaching. I sort of have the best of both worlds.

That’s actually really interesting to me that you said that because I’m a music education major, and I don’t know much you keep track of common education trends, but they’re introducing something known as “common core” where science, English, and music all have to integrate themselves into one another. I’m taking a class right now where we had to take a piece of music and research the history about it and incorporate the history and meaning of the piece into our lessons, specifically for a high school band class. This gives students something to relate to and actually, in the long run, makes them perform the piece better because they understand where the music came from.

Yes I’m actually doing that at one of the elementary schools I teach at. Once you put music into something that kids will actually understand as a part of everyday life lessons and values, it gives them a better understanding so they are more encouraged to put that into their performance aspect. That builds character and it builds strength and focus. This whole idea of the common core I am very familiar with and it’s interesting how there is a sense of focusing not just on the music, but the historical and cultural context, which is good, but then you kind of get away from actually playing the music. But I’ve found that it really encourages the students when they know about history or the story behind the piece of music. None of our pieces were made for no reason. There are social dances, rites of passage dances, and dances that celebrate specific occasions like a harvest festival.

And going back to what you said earlier about there being so much bad music out there, if a piece of music has cultural significance it’s most likely going to be a better piece of music.

Yes, and that’s where that whole feeling thing comes in once again. One of the things I have my students focus on is when you are playing half-ass or feeling the music half-ass, then it effects your entire demeanor behind what you’re playing. In our culture music is life, and life is music, and it’s through the music that we express and feel, or even hurt and mourn. All of that is truly expressive musically, and I tell my children you have to put something to get something out. You can’t just sit behind a drum and say, “I’m going to play this and that’s it.” You really have to let your energy come forth through your music, and that comes from understanding where the music is from or even the story behind the music.

What are some of the other advantages to this community based music?

Well it teaches us that it’s not just “one man for himself.” We all know that we must stay connected and feel and play off of one another. You see so many performances today with drum solos and soloists, and in our music there is no soloists. Back to the community idea where if the bell, which is timekeeper slows down or falls off, it eventually affects the majority of everything else that is going on in the music. Even though there is a sense of timing without the bell, the bell as timekeeper is the foundation. Everyone must find their connection with all of the other layers of instrumentation. That brings me back to that idea of really listening. Not just to what you are playing, but to what everyone else is playing. You must stay connected to everyone else. You can’t just zone out and do your own thing, or else the whole piece falls apart. You have to play your pattern while also listening to others and keep your awareness to stay together as a unit. If one man goes down, everyone goes down with the ship.

My last question is, what roles does traditional religion play in traditional Ewe music and are those religions still active today?

The primary indigenous religion is Hoodoo and you have different elements of that and different deities as well as sub-deities. A lot of religion is still very much prevalent in our music. You also have cult religions that have music that is only played by those who are a part of that particular cult. Then you also have the influence of western religion from when catholic missionaries came. That too, as opposite as the religions are, they are still highly incorporated into traditional music where religion is recognized. Some people look at that and think there is huge opposition between Hoodoo and Christianity, and each of the different religions. There is some conflict in incorporating the two religions, but somehow it is done. There was a point in time when my father was a young boy and the missionaries came. The people were banned from playing traditional Ewe music and they would be punished corporally if they did. So my father and people had to hide playing their traditional music. So even though there was this point of conflict, the music is still highly influenced by both religions today.