February 22, 2014 - workshops exploring music in africa - traditional and contemporary
distler hall at the tufts university
2:00 - 3:30: Drumming and Dancing Workshop led by Nani Agbeli
Distler Hall, Granoff Music Center - 20 Talbot Avenue, Medford MA 02155
The first workshop on Saturday will be led by master dancer Nani Agbeli. This workshop is a hands-on event, allowing those who attend to learn the percussion parts, and get on their feet, learning about traditional dance from the home-land of Dr. Amu. In particular Prof. Agbeli will focus on Adzogbo-Len. Those who attend the concert the evening before (Feb. 21, 2014 in Brown hall at NEC - 30 Gainsborough street, Boston MA 02115) will hear and see Adzogbo danced and played by the Agbekor Society under Agbeli's direction.
In an article that Godwin Agbeli (father of Nani Agbeli, and teacher to David Locke) co-authored with Professor Locke, he explains: “Adzogbo was created in pre-colonial times by Fo speaking people of Dahomey. According to oral tradition, Adzogbo provided a means for Fo warriors to get information about impending battles from their war gods. It is said that several weeks before an encounter, adolescent boys were taken into seclusion in the forest, where they were treated with herbs, kept apart from women, and trained in the esoteric lore of the war gods associated with Adzogbo. They practiced the music and dance of Adzogbo, and it was believed that the gods themselves dictated the dance movements and choreography that the boys learned. On an appointed day the boys were brought from the forest to dance Adzogbo before the warriors. As they danced, some of the boys would become possessed with the spirit of a war god. It was thought that the war leader could foretell the course of the up-coming battle by interpreting the possessed boys' movements. The legendary Fo war leader Kondo is believed to have been one such hero. With the pacification of West Africa by the end of the 19th century the dance lost its esoteric purpose; Adzogbo now became a vehicle for men to display their strength, agility, and virile spirit.” Locke, David and Godwin Agbeli, “Drum Language in Adzogbo,” The Black Perspective in Music, Vol. 9, No. 1, (1981), p. 26. All are welcome, and there is no cost for the event, though we do ask that you register. Please email [email protected], and write “Dancing workshop” in the subject line, informing us in the body of the email of your interest to attend.
4:00 - 5:30: Choral Workshop led by Misonu Amu, George Dor, Felicia Sandler and Jamie Kirsch
Distler Hall, Granoff Music Center - 20 Talbot Avenue, Medford MA 02155
The two-day Festival celebrating the music of the “father of classical music in Ghana”, Dr. Ephraim Amu, will conclude with a choral workshop led by Amu’s daughter, musicologist and singer Misonu Amu, Ethnomusicologist and Ghanaian composer, George W.K. Dor, Jamie Kirsch, director of choral studies from Tufts, and Felicia Sandler, composer and theorist from NEC. Ms. Amu has traveled from Ghana to be with us for this Festival. The workshop will be a hands-on event, allowing those who attend to sing through music of Dr. Amu while learning about the man and his role in shaping a choral art that resonates in Ghana to this day.
Amu was the son of a traditional drummer and stool carver who later converted to Christianity and became a lay preacher and evangelist in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He was raised in a household grounded in Christian ideals, and Christian hymns. His faith, and his music training in Western harmony, experienced first in church and then his studies, inform his music. In the late 1920’s, Amu began to explore the music of indigenous Africa. He set out at this time to write original “African” songs with uplifting texts, in Twi and Ewe languages, following the tone of the native dialects, and reflecting some of the unique features of African rhythm. Harmonies were Western, and voiced in SATB or TTBB format. Reception was tremendous. Young composers made it their aim to compose in the Amu style, and his influence shaped a whole generation, and continues into the present. All are welcome, and there is no cost for the event, though we do ask that you register. Please email [email protected], and write “Amu workshop” in the subject line, informing us in the body of the email of your interest to attend.
Distler Hall, Granoff Music Center - 20 Talbot Avenue, Medford MA 02155
The first workshop on Saturday will be led by master dancer Nani Agbeli. This workshop is a hands-on event, allowing those who attend to learn the percussion parts, and get on their feet, learning about traditional dance from the home-land of Dr. Amu. In particular Prof. Agbeli will focus on Adzogbo-Len. Those who attend the concert the evening before (Feb. 21, 2014 in Brown hall at NEC - 30 Gainsborough street, Boston MA 02115) will hear and see Adzogbo danced and played by the Agbekor Society under Agbeli's direction.
In an article that Godwin Agbeli (father of Nani Agbeli, and teacher to David Locke) co-authored with Professor Locke, he explains: “Adzogbo was created in pre-colonial times by Fo speaking people of Dahomey. According to oral tradition, Adzogbo provided a means for Fo warriors to get information about impending battles from their war gods. It is said that several weeks before an encounter, adolescent boys were taken into seclusion in the forest, where they were treated with herbs, kept apart from women, and trained in the esoteric lore of the war gods associated with Adzogbo. They practiced the music and dance of Adzogbo, and it was believed that the gods themselves dictated the dance movements and choreography that the boys learned. On an appointed day the boys were brought from the forest to dance Adzogbo before the warriors. As they danced, some of the boys would become possessed with the spirit of a war god. It was thought that the war leader could foretell the course of the up-coming battle by interpreting the possessed boys' movements. The legendary Fo war leader Kondo is believed to have been one such hero. With the pacification of West Africa by the end of the 19th century the dance lost its esoteric purpose; Adzogbo now became a vehicle for men to display their strength, agility, and virile spirit.” Locke, David and Godwin Agbeli, “Drum Language in Adzogbo,” The Black Perspective in Music, Vol. 9, No. 1, (1981), p. 26. All are welcome, and there is no cost for the event, though we do ask that you register. Please email [email protected], and write “Dancing workshop” in the subject line, informing us in the body of the email of your interest to attend.
4:00 - 5:30: Choral Workshop led by Misonu Amu, George Dor, Felicia Sandler and Jamie Kirsch
Distler Hall, Granoff Music Center - 20 Talbot Avenue, Medford MA 02155
The two-day Festival celebrating the music of the “father of classical music in Ghana”, Dr. Ephraim Amu, will conclude with a choral workshop led by Amu’s daughter, musicologist and singer Misonu Amu, Ethnomusicologist and Ghanaian composer, George W.K. Dor, Jamie Kirsch, director of choral studies from Tufts, and Felicia Sandler, composer and theorist from NEC. Ms. Amu has traveled from Ghana to be with us for this Festival. The workshop will be a hands-on event, allowing those who attend to sing through music of Dr. Amu while learning about the man and his role in shaping a choral art that resonates in Ghana to this day.
Amu was the son of a traditional drummer and stool carver who later converted to Christianity and became a lay preacher and evangelist in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He was raised in a household grounded in Christian ideals, and Christian hymns. His faith, and his music training in Western harmony, experienced first in church and then his studies, inform his music. In the late 1920’s, Amu began to explore the music of indigenous Africa. He set out at this time to write original “African” songs with uplifting texts, in Twi and Ewe languages, following the tone of the native dialects, and reflecting some of the unique features of African rhythm. Harmonies were Western, and voiced in SATB or TTBB format. Reception was tremendous. Young composers made it their aim to compose in the Amu style, and his influence shaped a whole generation, and continues into the present. All are welcome, and there is no cost for the event, though we do ask that you register. Please email [email protected], and write “Amu workshop” in the subject line, informing us in the body of the email of your interest to attend.