Performance Roles in AGBLEHA Dance – Drumming among the Northern Ewe of Ghana

Abstract

The success, appreciation and enjoyment of indigenous music performance in many African societies largely depend on certain factors, among which are versatility, sound knowledge, efficient performance skills and roles assigned each member or some members of the performing group. In northern Ewe societies, an occupational music genre that employs specific performance roles to depict dramatic work scenes both at the farm and at home during recreational, festival and funeral celebrations of subsistence farmers is agblehawo. This paper therefore identifies these performance roles and describes how they are co-ordinated by the practitioners to make this genre of folk performance, a complete and successful one.