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Agbadza: the Critical Edition by David Locke

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Agbadza: the Critical Edition by David Locke Agbadza: The Critical Edition By David Locke Part I Context..................................................................................................................3 Introduction to Agbadza..............................................................................................3 Project Narrative .........................................................................................................6 Gideon Foli Alorwoyie............................................................................................6 The Agbadza Project Begins....................................................................................7 Alorwoyie's Perspective on the Agbadza Project .....................................................8 Remembering an Old Style..................................................................................8 Linking Songs and Drumming........................................................................... 10 Research with the Elders.................................................................................... 11 Creative Process ................................................................................................ 12 Musical Aesthetics............................................................................................. 14 The Value of Analysis ....................................................................................... 16 Making Sense of the Music ....................................................................................... 17 Multidimensionality .............................................................................................. 17 Transcription in Staff Notation .............................................................................. 18 Pitch for Songs...................................................................................................... 19 Pitch and Timbre for Musical Instruments ............................................................. 20 Timing .................................................................................................................. 20 Part II Musical Analysis................................................................................................ 23 Musical Time in Agbadza.......................................................................................... 23 The Agbadza Dance and the "Four-Feel"............................................................... 23 Hand Clapping and the "Six-Feel" ......................................................................... 28 Beat: Three-In-The-Time-Of-Two......................................................................... 30 The Measure and "Where is ONE?"....................................................................... 31 Ewe Meter as a Matrix........................................................................................... 33 Resultants and Composites .................................................................................... 37 Simultaneous Multidimensionality of Accentuation and Phrasing.......................... 38 Accentuation ..................................................................................................... 38 Phrasing and Temporal Motion.......................................................................... 40 The Metric Matrix in Practice................................................................................ 42 Supporting Instruments--Time Parts.......................................................................... 44 Bell Phrase ............................................................................................................ 44 Rattle Part ............................................................................................................. 49 Kagaŋ.................................................................................................................... 50 Drum Language of the Time Parts ......................................................................... 52 Lead and Response Drums ........................................................................................ 54 Kidi....................................................................................................................... 54 Inventory of Response Drum Themes................................................................ 54 Duration of Response Drum Themes ................................................................. 55 Relationship of Response Drum Themes to Bell Phrase ..................................... 56 Patterns of Bounces and Presses in Response Drum Themes.............................. 57 1 Accentuation in the Metric Matrix of the Response Drum Themes..................... 60 Sogo...................................................................................................................... 62 Musical Role ..................................................................................................... 62 Palette of Sounds for Lead Drum....................................................................... 63 Drum Themes.................................................................................................... 64 Drumming Melody ............................................................................................ 65 Form in Lead Drumming ................................................................................... 66 Ending Signal ................................................................................................ 66 Musical Relationship of Lead and Response Drums--Overlap and Interlock ...... 67 Morphology of Lead Drum Themes................................................................... 68 Disciplining Frameworks--Bell Phrase and Metric Matrix ................................. 69 Variety in Accentuation..................................................................................... 72 Relationship of Drum Themes to Songs................................................................. 73 Aligned or Offset............................................................................................... 74 Mutual Enhancement of Lyric Meaning and Musical Excitement....................... 75 Songs ........................................................................................................................ 77 Call-and-Response as a Creative Resource ............................................................ 79 Form--Linear and Rounded................................................................................ 80 Varieties of Melodically-inflected, Socially-interactive Music Form.................. 81 Temporal Frame.................................................................................................... 82 Melodic Rhythm.................................................................................................... 83 Pitch...................................................................................................................... 84 Melodic Shape....................................................................................................... 85 Scale and Mode..................................................................................................... 86 Tonality Expressed in Melody ............................................................................... 87 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 90 References .................................................................................................................... 92 2 Part I Context Introduction to Agbadza In its songs and drum language Agbadza talks about war, struggle, survival, leadership, bravery, patriotism, triumph, and death. These heavy, profound themes make Agbadza suitable for occasions in Ewe society such as funerals, memorial services, and rituals of chieftaincy. In contemporary multi-ethnic settings in West Africa, Agbadza is performed on any occasion calling for an emblem of Ewe identity since it is widely regarded by members of other ethnic groups as the main type of music and dance of the Ewe people. Agbadza provides an excellent path into the heart of West African musical style. The music of Agbadza bears the imprint of the 2+2+1+2+2+2+1 bell pattern, a time line phrase that is widespread in West Africa and famously well known among international aficionados of African music (see Figure 1). Figure 1 Agbadza bell phrase as 2+2+1+2+2+2+1 The music of Agbadza consists of singing and drumming. Energized by the ensemble's exciting music, the message of the drumming fuses with images in the song text, seizing the listener with the passionate spirit of Agbadza. In the vocal music, poems are set to tunes that have a variety of call-and-response arrangements between song leaders and a larger choral group. Song lyrics express themes of life and death, heroism and cowardice, and a warrior ethos for both males and females. In Agbadza, Ewe poets sang of battle during a tumultuous era (1600-1900) of migration, conquest, and imperialism, including the trans-Atlantic African slave trade (see Agbodeka, Fage). Songsmiths designed beautiful pentatonic melodies that add greatly to the overall 3 rhythmic power of the drumming. Agbadza's instrumental music for drum ensemble features drum language compositions for the low-pitched lead sogo drum and medium- ŋ — pitched response kidi drum that are set within a texture sounded by ga kogui bell, axats ŋ rattle, high-pitched kaga support
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