Academic literature on the topic 'Songs, ghanaian'

Songs are one of the oldest forms of literature and they continue to play important roles in the socialization of members of a society. Considering the importance of songs, this study sought to analyze ambiguity in Ghanaian songs focusing on songs produced by one of the vibrant production houses in Ghana ‘Ruff town Records’. The study was based on 15 sampled songs by Ebony Reigns and Wendy Shay, the leading artistes of the record label. The study revealed instances of ambiguity in 10 of the sampled songs with the causes of these indeterminacies being mainly phonological intonation and lexical choices. These ambiguities were euphemistically deployed mostly to highlight sexual images. The study has implications for revealing the trends and patterns of contemporary Ghanaian music. It is therefore recommended that more studies should be carried out on Ghanaian songs, focusing on other styles and presentation techniques employed by song writers.

This essay is about implicit ideas of God in Ghanaian Pentecostal songs. It examines and discusses some selected songs or choruses sung by Ghanaian Pentecostal churches. Today these songs have ceased to be the prerogative of the Pentecostals; they are sung by all: Christian and non-Christian. The songs I examine in this paper reveal Ghanaian Pentecostal understanding and interpretation of the being and nature of God. The paper aims at demonstrating the naturalness of Ghanaian Pentecostal songs. It also reveals the synthesis of the Akan primal worldview and biblical understanding in the Ghanaian Pentecostal concept of God. Yet this paper demonstrates that Ghanaian Pentecostals show a clear discontinuity with the primal worldview when they subvert the mediatorial and salvific roles of the traditional deities and spirits with those of Christ and the Christian God.

Love, as a subject, has received a lot of attention in literature, particularly poetry. This is probably because poetry is traditionally seen as the creative exploration and expression of an individual’s emotion and passion. A genre of Ga oral poetry that has love as its primary subject is the adaawe songs which are sung by Ga maidens. This paper examines an aspect of Ga women’s discourse on love in the songs. Particularly, it examines how love is bemoaned. This was done based on the premise that, as a creative exploration and expression of individuals’ emotions and passions, adaawe songs contribute a unique commentary on the subject of love. Songs which were recorded and transcribed, as well as songs collected from Hamond’s (1970) Obɔade Lalai were analysed, paying attention to content and style. The analysis revealed that love is usually bemoaned when there is lack of continuous interest in a persona by the other party in a love relationship, or when there is a betrayal of love.

In this paper, we unravel the personality, musical exploits, challenges and contribution of Nana Ama Adadziewaa, Ghana’s iconic female background vocalist to the music industry. Using interviews, documents and audio reviews for data collection, we reveal that Nana Ama Adadziewaa’s voice is behind a corpus of popular hit songs in Ghana. Furthermore, her voice is heard on the Ghanaian airwaves nearly every day; however, this does not bring her any economic gains due to Ghana's poor royalty collection system. We conclude by eulogising Nana Ama Adadziewaa as a model of excellence in the background vocals of Ghanaian popular music and a significant contributor to the Ghanaian music industry. Subsequently, we recommend that the Ghana Music Right Organisation (GHAMRO) and relevant stakeholders enhance the royalty collection system in Ghana so that Nana Ama Adadziewaa and her contemporaries benefit as a matter of urgency from their hard work.

From songs, sermons and practices, this article examines the way Ghanaian Pentecostals address the question of evil and suffering. It approaches this from the perspective of common believers and leadership. The discussions reveal that there are multiple understandings, perceptions and interpretative tensions concerning how to cope with evil among Ghanaian Pentecostals. Whereas common believers approach it through what Opoku Onyinah calls ‘witchdemonology’, leadership considers this as inadequate. This is because common believers fail to understand the role of evil and suffering in human existence. As such they tend to promote the devil far above the Almighty God. According to leadership the presence of evil may not necessarily contradict God’s goodness and purpose. The paper concludes with some Biblical propositions in an attempt to resolve the apparent tension.

Abstract This paper examines rural Ghanaian children’s creative performance of play songs in the context of recent scholarship on children’s rights in children’s literature. This scholarship, which has focused mainly on written literature in western contexts, seeks to give serious literary attention to children’s creative expression and thereby uphold their rights to contribute to the artistic life and culture of their societies. Kasena children of northern Ghana exhibit creative agency in adapting traditional play songs to new situations, as they re-create and reinterpret communal idioms, imagery and symbols, thus generating new forms, new concepts and new meanings. I illustrate the aesthetic qualities and transgressive features of this phenomenon by drawing on relevant indigenous Kasem concepts about art and creative resistance. If taken seriously, this dynamic heritage of children’s poetry can help us see emerging play genres as an affirmation of children’s creativity, and prompt a redefinition of ideas about childhood.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: African art music practices of western origin have oftentimes been excluded from general discourses on western art music practices. In this study, close readings of selected art songs by twentieth and twenty-first century Nigerian, Ghanaian, Egyptian and South African composers serve to ‘map’ this music through challenging existing general discourses on art music composition, and genre-specific discourses on art song composition in Africa. The readings also serve to create new discourses, including ones that promote African crossregional engagements. In the first part of this dissertation, the readings take place in the contexts of the selected countries. The second section presents pre-selected discourses and theories as points of departure. Chapter 2 proposes to question how the theory of African vocalism can be expanded, and how animist materialism could serve as an alternative context in which to read the composition of art music in Nigeria and Ghana. Chapter 3 aims to answer which strategies in anti-exotic self-representation have been followed in twentieth-century Egyptian art song. Chapter 4 asks how South African composers of art song have denoted ‘Africa’ in their works, and how these denotations relate to their oeuvres and general stylistic practices. Chapter 5 interrogates how composers have dealt with the requirements of tonal languages in their setting of texts in such languages to music. Chapter 6 probes possible interpretations of composers’ display of the ‘objects’ of cultural affiliation, positing expatriate African composers as diplomats. Chapter 7 asks what the contexts are in which to read specific examples of African intercultural art music, without which the analyst might make an inappropriate (perhaps unethical?) value judgement. The conclusion presents a comparison of trends and styles in African art song to those in certain western song traditions. A discussion on folk and popular song styles as art is followed by a consideration of African vocalism in the context of the dissertation as a whole. A continuation of an earlier discussion on the compositional denotation of ‘Africa’ leads to a consideration of the ‘duty to denote’ in the context of western modernity.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kunsmusiekpraktyke van westerse oorsprong in Afrika is gereeld van algemene diskoerse oor westerse kunsmusiekpraktyke uitgesluit. Stip-lesings van geselekteerde kunsliedere deur Nigeriese, Ghanese, Egiptiese en Suid-Afrikaanse komponiste dien in hierdie studie om die musiek op die ‘kaart te plaas’ deur in gesprek te tree met bestaande algemene diskoerse oor kunsmusiekkomposisie, asook genre-spesifieke diskoerse oor kunsliedkomposisie in Afrika. Die lesings dien ook om nuwe diskoerse te skep, insluitend diskoerse wat gesprekke óór die grense van verskillende streke in Afrika bevorder. Die lesings in die eerste helfde van die proefskrif vind plaas binne die kontekste van die geselekteerde lande. In die tweede deel word vooraf-geselekteerde diskoerse en teorieë as wegspringpunte gebruik. Hoofstuk 2 stel dit ten doel om te vra hoe die teorie van Afrikavokalisme (African vocalism) uitgebrei kan word, en hoe animistiese realisering (animist materialism) as alternatiewe konteks kan dien waarin die komposisie van kunsmusiek in Nigerië en Ghana gelees kan word. In Hoofstuk 3 word gepoog om uit te vind watter strategieë in anti-eksotiese self-uitbeelding gevolg is in twintigste-eeuse Egiptiese kunsliedkomposisie. Die doel van Hoofstuk 5 is om uit te vind hoe komponiste die vereistes van toontale in hul toonsettings van tekste in sulke tale hanteer het. Hoofstuk 6 ondersoek moontlike interpretasies van komponiste se aanbiedings van die ‘objekte’ van kultuuraffiliasie deur die postulering van geëmigreerde komponiste as diplomate. Hoofstuk 7 vra wat die kontekste is waarin spesifieke voorbeelde van interkulturele kunsmusiek uit Afrika gelees kan word, waarsonder die analis ‘n onvanpaste (dalk onetiese?) waardebeoordeling kan maak. Die slot bied ’n vergelyking van tendense en style in Afrika-kunsliedere met dié in sekere westerse liedtradisies aan. ’n Bespreking van volks- en populêre liedstyle as kuns word gevolg deur ’n oorweging van Afrika-vokalisme in die konteks van die proefskrif as geheel. ‘n Voortsetting van ’n vroeëre gesprek oor die komposisionele uitbeelding van ‘Afrika’ lei tot ‘n oorweging van die ‘plig om uit te beeld’ in die konteks van westerse moderniteit.