ATOKE, the banana bell

The atoke is a forged iron bell instrument and is always shaped in the form a banana or a boat.  When playing the atoke, the player holds in his weak palm the banana-shaped instrument and plays it with a forged-iron rod with his strong hand. The atoke serves the same purpose as the gankogui and is sometimes used instead of or a substitute for the gankogui.

ATSIMEVU

The ATSIMEVU is a popularly known as the grandfather of all the ewe musical instruments and the tallest of all. It has a carved body of about 4 ½ feet tall and has a drum head of about 9 inches in diameter which is mostly made from animal skin. In order to play the atsimevu, the drummer should stand parallel to the drum which is tilted against a stand known as vudetsi, bringing the height of the drum head below the chest for a good leverage and aiming position. It is played with two sticks or stick and hand.

Gourd Rattle - Axatse

The gourd rattle is a hollowed-out gourd covered with a net of seeds or beads. It is popularly known as AXATSE in the volta region of Ghana and being played in many different numbers of ways. When sitting down, it is held at the handle and in the players strong hand and is shaken up hitting the hand and down hitting the thigh making two different sounds. It is mostly played alongside with the gankogui to enrich and reinforce what the gankogui plays. Conclusively, the gourd rattle populary known as axatse in the ewe land gives energy to the music and drives the music. The axatse produces a dry ratting but energetic sound.

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.

INTRODUCTION

‘’TALKING DRUMS’’ is an entertainment blog which seeks to discover and enlighten how most of all the Ghanaian musical instruments came to being and played.

We unearth the musical instruments which are not heard of now-a-days and their functions in the olden days.