A BRIEF HISTORY AND OUR 1ST INSTRUMENT... (Gankogui)

The history of music in Ghana like any other country started way back in the early ages. Cavemen used drums to communicate with each other and were later used to in entertainment.

Ghana has a diversity of music ranging from traditional to this modern era due to its vibrant ethnic groups. There are about 60 ethnic groups in Ghana including the Fantis, Ashantis, Dagombas, Ewes, Gas, Nzemas etc. All these groups have their own type music which differs from each other, bare in mind that the genre music are different but they all have some common elements or instruments which are being played in almost all songs.

Here, our main focus is on these musical instruments, their names (i.e. their local names) and importance.

Let’s kick start with a popular instrument known across all the ethnic groups. GANKOGUI, an Ewe musical instrument but being played by almost all the ethnic groups in Ghana. It’s a double bell played with a wooden stick. It is made out forged iron and comprises of a low-pitched bell and a high-pitched bell. The low-pitched bell is often called the ‘parent bell’ and the high-pitched ‘child bell’. The ‘child bell’ is always permanently bound together with the ‘parent bell’ with the low-pitched bell below and the high-pitched placed on top.

The GANKOGUI is the foundation of all Ewe traditional music. The player must play steadily without error through the whole piece.