The Bird with Its Head Tilted Backwards

The Bird With Its Head Tilted Backwards A Call for ‘Sankofa’ in Music Fig. 1: Kofi Ghanaba (aka Guy Warren), inventor of Afro-jazz and star of Sankofa (1993), peeking through a sceptre with the Sankofa symbol atop, 2007. © Nana Kofi Acquah.1 Alexander Lewis-Whitaker 18812187 Digital Music & Sound Arts AG317 Final Essay Supervised by Johanna Bramli 13/01/21 1 N. K. Acquah, ‘The man who gave the world African jazz’, The Power of Culture, 2007, http://www.krachtvancultuur.nl/en/current/2007/september/ghanaba.html, last accessed 11 January 2021. 1 Contents Abstract 3 Introduction 4 1. Scrambled Africa 5 2. Universal Uniforms 8 3. Elder Speech 11 4. Old Rock 'N' Roll, Not What You've Been Told 14 5. Ideal Nonsense 17 6. The 21st Century Plantation 20 Conclusion 22 Bibliography 23 List of Works 29 2 Abstract The colonisation of the Gold Coast by the British in the 19th century set in motion the syncretism of musical forms between this area of West Africa and the Western world that resulted in new genres including highlife, hiplife, Afropop, and gospel. However, it also spurred a psychological change among those colonised in which their supposedly inferior ways of life were suppressed in favour of a Western lifestyle. Despite achieving independence in 1957 under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah, the newly-renamed Ghana and its diaspora are still victim to Eurocentric hegemony under the guise of globalisation, unfair trade practice, and a failure to restore the ways of the past. The political instability and failing economy that followed Nkrumah’s overthrow in 1966 forced musicians out of the country, birthing new generations with inevitably little knowledge of their roots. This effect will only be amplified as the generations go by unless there is a convincing enough call to retrieve the instruments, practices, languages, ideologies and other cultural forms that are at risk of being relegated in importance or completely replaced by those of another race. The Akan concept of ‘Sankofa’, which encourages being advised by the past in order to make positive progress in the future, could offer stronger cultural definition for both resident and diasporic Africans. This essay analyses why identity is imperative but problematic in a globalised world, as well as how ancestral ways may be perpetuated in music, looking in depth at Ghanaian enigma Ata Kak and contemporary Edinburgh trio Young Fathers. Keywords: Sankofa, indigenisation, syncretism, neocolonialism, globalisation, social constructionism, essentialism, double-consciousness, heritage, Pan-Africanism, emic, universality, uniformity 3 Introduction This essay is concerned with the ‘internal desire for cultural definition’ among diasporic and resident Africans in reaction to the ‘cultural casualties sustained in the experience of being involuntarily immersed in Western culture’.2 This is a contemporary manifestation of the Akan concept of ‘Sankofa’ (Fig. 1), translated from Twi as ‘go back and fetch it’; the past holds indispensable information which can illuminate the path forwards for those who are psychologically conflicted due to the colonial legacy. As put by Marcus Garvey, ‘A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots’. However, given Africa’s diffuse history of syncretism and interaction with other parts of the world, it is unclear which is the ‘taproot’ and which are the laterals. This essay will investigate, primarily from a musical perspective, why identity is so important, and the problems facing suppressed cultures in an increasingly Westernised world. Ghanaian artist Ata Kak and Scottish trio Young Fathers have been explored to illustrate how Africanity can be perpetuated through music. It is important to mention my own heritage here to indicate the potential bias within this essay: I am three-quarters White English and one-quarter Ghanaian, specifically of the Asante (aka Ashanti) subgroup of the Akan meta-ethnicity. A mixed-race heritage can already be confusing in that there is such a wide frame of reference in which to position oneself.3 The issue is compounded when one culture is seen as the oppressor of the other culture: any attempt to pull from the latter could be interpreted as a continuation of colonial methods, especially since my skin is white and so the Africanity is not obvious. Under the one-drop rule of southern America in the 20th century, anybody with even a single black ancestor was regarded as black; questions over cultural appropriation would therefore not have been asked as I would have also been oppressed. In a society where I can be the same mix of races but not be oppressed, while others still are, these ‘neocolonial’ concerns may hold greater weight. 2 C. N. Temple, 'The Emergence of Sankofa Practice in the United States: A Modern History', Journal of Black Studies, vol. 41/no. 1, 2010, p. 128. 3 A. Emielu, 'Some Theoretical Perspectives on African Popular Music', Popular Music, vol. 30/no. 3, 2011, p. 373. 4 1. Scrambled Africa Ethnic groups do not have to be viewed as essentialist but socially constructible,4 whereby the culture will continuously evolve based on the interactions of people from many different groups. The national borders of Ghana are themselves constructs of British making, with people formerly of rival ethnic groups, such as the Asante, Fante, Ewe, and Ga, being united into the singular ‘Gold Coast’ that fit the motives of the Europeans. The Berlin Conference of 1885 saw almost an entire continent divided up without deliberation with the Africans themselves.5 This ‘Scramble For Africa’ left discrepancies between ethnic homelands and national borders, raising questions over what sort of identity is more important for those attempting to reawaken their heritage. Prioritising a tribal identity would cause confusion over nationality in many cases, such as with the Ewe people, who are spread across Ghana, Togo and Benin. On the other hand, prioritising national identity would mean accepting the geographical decisions made by the oppressors. Should the social constructionist excuse still apply in the case of forced acculturation? There is also the Pan-African outlook advocated by civil rights activists including Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois, which suggests a singular, continental identity. The ‘shared experiences, customs, and spiritual values’6 among Africans may warrant a unification that would benefit the continent from an economic standpoint. This broader ‘African’ identity may be the only option for certain diasporic Africans, as ancestral knowledge is not always passed down the generations. This is most evident in the case of the Transatlantic Slave Trade that preceded the colonisation of Africa, as slaves often changed their name to that of their plantation owner, making lineage tracing unreliable. Therefore, African-Americans in particular may only be able to identify with the continent of Africa, or at least the extensive group of countries within Western and Central Africa where the slave trade was most operative. This continental identity can be observed in the grouping of disparate genres of contemporary African music under the umbrella term ‘Afrobeats’, a label which ‘reeks of a desire to package African culture in a format that is digestible and thus, sellable to Western audiences’.7 Although there may be political and economic advantages to Pan-Africanism, would this not 4 ibid. p. 380. 5 H. Fischer, ‘130 years ago: carving up Africa in Berlin’, DW, 2015, https://www.dw.com/en/130-years-ago-carving-up-africa-in-berlin/a-18278894, last accessed 11 January 2021. 6 M. Christian, ‘Marcus Garvey and African Unity: Lessons for the Future from the Past’, Journal of Black Studies, vol. 39/no. 2, 2008, p. 327. 7 K. Akinsete, ‘Call Us By Our Name: Stop Using “Afrobeats”’, OkayAfrica, 2019, https://www.okayafrica.com/afrobeats-genre-name-stop-op-ed/, last accessed 11 January 2021. 5 proliferate the ‘flattening’ of distinct African cultures into one ‘vast monolithic land where everyone speaks the same language, shares the same culture and beats the same drum’?8 The political landscape of Ghana post-independence has also had an impact on the diaspora and, by extension, the musical output of Ghanaians, as many have flocked to more opportune areas in the Western world, especially London, Hamburg and Toronto.9 The political instability and economic collapse following the overthrow of Ghana’s independence leader and first president, Kwame Nkrumah, in 1966, meant that the large highlife ensembles which had become emblematic of the Nkrumah administration could no longer be afforded,10 and the curfew imposed during the 1981-1992 rule of the late Jerry Rawlings consequently killed all nightlife.11 The resultant out-migration of musicians would have supplemented the continued imposition of Western values and musical characteristics, at least among successive generations, considering the aforementioned likely destinations of these migrants. Despite the various coup d’états post-independence in 1957, Ghana has seen a relative lack of violence, with her current Global Peace Index ranking of 43rd being superior to everywhere else in West Africa.12 The country is therefore prone to neocolonialist forces such as globalisation, with transnational corporations looking to expand by taking advantage of developing countries, undermining Ghanaian traditions and self-sufficiency. The presence of telecommunications companies in Ghana, such as Vodafone

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