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Atenteben
The ''atenteben'' ''(atɛntɛbɛn)'' is a bamboo flute from Ghana. It is played vertically, like the European recorder, and, like the recorder, can be played diatonically as well as chromatically. Although originally used as a traditional instrument (most often in funeral processions), beginning in the 20th century it has also been used in contemporary and classical music. Several players have attained high levels of virtuosity and are able to play Western as well as African music on the instrument. The instrument originated with the Akan ethnic group of south-central Ghana, particularly in the region of the Kwahu Plateau. It was first popularized throughout the nation by the Ghanaian musicologist Ephraim Amu (1899–1995). It was also featured in the Pan-African Orchestra led by Nana Danso Abiam, and Dela Botri, a former member of the Orchestra, is among Ghana's foremost exponents of the instrument. Since 2004, Botri has combined the atenteben with hiplife music on h ...
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Ephraim Amu
Ephraim Kɔku Amu (13 September 1899 – 2 January 1995) was a Ghanaian composer, musicologist and teacher. He was a mentor to the musicologist J. H. Kwabena Nketia. Biography Early life and education He was born on 13 September 1899 at Peki-Avetile (also called Abenase) in the Peki Traditional Area of the Volta Region and as a male child born on a Wednesday was called Kɔku. His father was Stephen Amuyaa, a wood carver who was popularly called Papa Stefano. His mother was Sarah Akoram Ama. Ephraim Kɔku Amu was baptised by the Rev. Rudolf Mallet on 22 October 1899. Amu first went to school in May 1906 and at about age 12 he entered the Peki-Blengo E.P. Boarding Middle School, where he showed much interest and love for music and agriculture. According to him, he enjoyed the music played during church collections when the music teacher, Mr Karl Theodore Ntem, played soul-moving renditions on the organ. Amu and his music teacher struck a mutual agreement whereby Amu requested t ...
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Ghanaian Musical Instruments
The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of 2024, making up 85% of the population. The word "Ghana" means "warrior king". An estimated diaspora population of 4 million people worldwide are of Ghanaian descent. The term ethnic Ghanaian may also be used in some contexts to refer to a group of related ethnic groups native to the Gold Coast. History The ethnogenesis of Ghanaians is traced back to nomadic migration from Nubia along the Sahara desert then south to the Gold Coast, and the Ghanaian ethnogenesis taking place on the Ghanaian Gold Coast region from the 10th to 16th century AD. Early Ghanaians were involved in a lucrative trade with gold bars and other natural minerals to the Portuguese in 1471; these Ghanaian states were among the wealthiest on the African continent from the 17th century ...
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Nana Danso Abiam
The Pan-African Orchestra (PAO) is an orchestra using indigenous African traditions and instruments. It was founded as a 48-piece ensemble in 1988 in Accra, Ghana, by Nana Danso Abiam. Abiam died in a motor accident in Accra on 24 December 2014, in the early hours following his 61st birthday. His mission with the PAO, originally a 30-piece ensemble, had been to explore the classical foundations of traditional African music and to cultivate an integrated continental art form through new compositional and orchestral techniques. The musicians play traditional instruments from across Africa, including the atenteben, gonje, kora and gyile. Background The idea for the Pan-African Orchestra was conceived by Nana Danso Abiam while he was a student (under Professor Kwabena Nketia)Philip Sweeney"Symphonies for a continent: The Pan African Orchestra uses native instruments to create a novel sound. Philip Sweeney met them in Ghana just before their first European tour" ''The Independent'', ...
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Akin Euba
Olatunji Akin Euba (28 April 1935 – 14 April 2020) was a Nigerian composer, musicologist, and pianist. Career Born on 28 April 1935 in Lagos, Nigeria, Akin Euba studied composition with Arnold Cooke at the Trinity College of Music, London, obtaining the diplomas of fellow of the Trinity College London (Composition) and fellow of the Trinity College London (Piano). He was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1962. He received B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied with Mantle Hood, Charles Seeger, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Klaus Wachsmann, and Roy Travis. He held a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Ghana, Legon (1974). While at Legon, Euba's doctoral work was supervised by Professor Nketia, and his dissertation is titled "Dundun Music of the Yoruba". Euba was professor and director of the Centre for Cultural Studies at the University of Lagos, and also served as a senior research fellow at the University of If ...
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Kwahu Plateau
The Kwahu Plateau is a long plateau in southern Ghana. It consists of the uplifted southern edge of the Volta River Basin. It forms the main watershed of Ghana, separating rivers in the Volta River system from rivers in the western half of Ghana which flows into the Atlantic Ocean (Birim, Pra, Ankobra). The plateau has an average elevation of 1,500 feet and its highest point is Mount Akmawa at 2,586 feet. The plateau is dissected by several valleys and is marked by towering peaks. To the south it borders dense forest country, which it shields from the harmattan The Harmattan is a season in West Africa that occurs between the end of November and the middle of March. It is characterized by the dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind, of the same name, which blows from the Sahara over West Africa into th ... winds of the interior. Cacao cultivation has been introduced in the west, through which traditional trade routes lead to the Atlantic; vegetable cultivation is stressed in t ...
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Ashanti People
The Asante, also known as Ashanti in English (), are part of the Akan people, Akan ethnic group and are native to the Ashanti Region of modern-day Ghana. Asantes are the last group to emerge out of the various Akan civilisations. Twi is spoken by over nine million Asante people as their native language. The Asante people developed the Ashanti Empire, along the Lake Volta and Gulf of Guinea. The empire was founded in 1670, and the capital Kumasi, Kumase was founded in 1680 by Asantehene Osei Kofi Tutu I on the advice of Okomfo Anokye, his premier. Sited at the crossroads of the Trans-Saharan trade, Kumase's strategic location contributed significantly to its growth. Over time a number of peculiar factors have combined to transform the Kumase metropolis into a financial centre and political capital. The main causal factors included the unquestioning loyalty to the List of rulers of Asante, Asante rulers and the Kumase metropolis' growing wealth, derived in part from the capital's lu ...
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Fipple Flutes
The term fipple specifies a variety of end-blown flute that includes the flageolet, recorder, and tin whistle. The Hornbostel–Sachs system for classifying musical instruments places this group under the heading "Flutes with duct or duct flutes." The label "fipple flute" is frequently applied to members of the subgroup but there is no general agreement about the structural detail of the sound-producing mechanism that constitutes the fipple itself. Nomenclature The accompanying illustration of the mouthpiece of a recorder shows a wooden block (A) with a channel carved into the body of the instrument (B), together forming a duct that directs a ribbon of air across an opening toward a sharp edge (C). The edge splits the air in a manner that alternately directs it into and outside of the tube, setting the contained column of air into periodic vibration. This flow-controlled "air reed" is a definitive characteristic of all flutes, which therefore all have an edge or equivalent air ...
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Bamboo Musical Instruments
Bamboos natural hollow form makes it an obvious choice for many musical instruments. In South and South East Asia, traditional uses of bamboo the instrument include various types of woodwind instruments, such as flutes, and devices like xylophones and organs, which require resonating sections. In some traditional instruments bamboo is the primary material, while others combine bamboo with other materials such as wood and leather. Overview Bamboo has been used to create a variety of instruments including flutes, mouth organs, saxophones, trumpets, drums and xylophones. Flutes :''See Bamboo flutes'' There are numerous types of bamboo flutes made all over the world, such as the ''dizi'', ''xiao'', ''shakuhachi'', '' palendag'' and '' jinghu''. In the Indian subcontinent, it is a very popular and highly respected musical instrument, available even to the poorest and the choice of many highly venerated maestros of classical music. It is known and revered above all as the divine f ...
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Music Of Ghana
There are many styles of traditional and modern music of Ghana, due to Ghana's worldwide geographic position on the African continent. The best known modern genre originating in Ghana is Highlife. For many years, Highlife was the preferred music genre until the introduction of Hiplife and many others. Traditional music The traditional musicology of Ghana may be divided geographically between the open and vast savanna country of northern Ghana inhabited by Ghanaians of Gur and Mande speaking groups; and the fertile, forested southern coastal areas, inhabited by Ghanaians speaking Kwa languages such as Akan. *The northern musical traditions belong to the wider Sahelian musical traditions. It features a mix of melodic composition on stringed instruments such as the '' kologo'' lute and the '' gonjey'' fiddle, wind instruments such as flutes and horns, and voice; with polyrhythms clapped or played on the talking drum, gourd drums or ''brekete'' bass drums. The tradition ...
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Legon
Legon , a suburb of the Ghanaian city Accra, is situated about north-east of the city center in the Ayawaso West Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. Ghanaians loosely refer to the University of Ghana simply as "Legon". Legon is also home to a few of Ghana's well known educational institutions such as Presbyterian Boys' Secondary School (PRESEC-Legon), Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration(GIMPA) and the University of Professional Studies, Accra(UPSA). Legon is adjacent to one of the most prestigious residential suburbs of Accra - East Legon and only about 20 minutes drive from the Kotoka International Airport. Education The university has its own Elementary school, elementary and middle schools known commonly as the University of Ghana Primary School Legon, University Primary and Junior Secondary School (UPS) and the University of Ghana Staff Village Basic School. S ...
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University Of Ghana
The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast. It was originally an affiliate college of the University of London, which supervised its academic programs and awarded degrees. After Ghana gained independence in 1957, the college was renamed the University College of Ghana. It changed it name again to the University of Ghana in 1961, when it gained full university status. The University of Ghana is situated on the west side of the Accra Legon Hills and northeast of the center of Accra. It has over 60,000 registered students. Introduction The original emphasis on establishing the University of Ghana was on the Liberal Arts, Social Sciences, Law, Basic Science, Agriculture, and Medicine. However, as part of a national educational reform program, the university's curriculum was expanded ...
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