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Yaa Amponsah and the Rhythm at the Heart of West African Guitar

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Yaa Amponsah and the Rhythm at the Heart of West African Guitar “You can’t run away from it! The melody will always appear!” Yaa Amponsah and the Rhythm at the Heart of West African Guitar A thesis submitted by Nathaniel C. Braddock in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Music Tufts University August 2020 Adviser: Jeffrey Summit © 2020, Nathaniel C. Braddock Abstract The song “Yaa Amponsah” is held by Ghanaian musicians as the key to all highlife music. However, Amponsah occupies two spaces: that of a specific song with folkloric and historical origin stories, and that of a compositional form—or “Rhythm”—from which countless variations have evolved over the past century. This thesis seeks to define Amponsah as a style where certain characteristics are not always clear but are continually present and recognizable cross-nationally. Using musical analysis and ethnographic interviews with West African guitarists, I explore the movement of Amponsah across generations and national boundaries, drawing larger conclusions that have implications for understanding the transmission of cultural practice and embedded cultural memory carried within a specific musical expression. The Rhythm makes impactful appearances in the music of neighboring countries, becoming entwined with the Mami Wata myth, further complicating our understanding of ownership and origin, and bringing this song to the center of a debate regarding ownership of folkloric intellectual property and the relationship between developing nations and global capital. i Acknowledgements My journey has been supported by numerous people, and I wish now to salute their love, friendship, and guidance. My wife Julie Shapiro and son Phineas have given the most during this process, but I also owe much to my parents Robert and Sarah Braddock whose respect of my independence enabled me to follow the less trodden paths. Thank you to my brother Jeremy whose excellent academic work sets such a high standard, and with whom I first played music. Thank you to my cousin, Susannah Smith, who has played Javanese gamelan since the 1980s—playing the gender barung at her apartment when I was a kid may have set me on this course. I would never have set out on the path of African guitar music if it had not been for those early Afropop radio shows produced by Sean Barlow, Banning Eyre, and Georges Collinet. As a fifteen-year-old I began recording cassettes of those shows and we’d listen to them in between Sonic Youth and Gang of Four records. In my sophomore year at Carleton College, I befriended the first ethnomusicologist I’d ever met (or heard of!), Jay Pillay, who confirmed that I was on the right path and gave me a couple fantastic records to dub. I am grateful to the Department of Music at Tufts University which has supported my graduate work. I am indebted to Professors David Locke, Richard Jankowsky, Stefan Pennington, and Jeffrey Summit, as well as to outside thesis reader Eric Charry of Wesleyan University. Additionally, I am grateful to my ii friend Emmanuel Attah Poku, lecturer and leader of the Kiniwe African Drum and Dance Ensemble whom I assisted in 2018 and 2019. Thanks to my fellow guitarist, Colter Harper, who let me crash on the floor of Fulbright House on the cool, green campus of the University of Ghana in both 2018 and 2019. I have worked with many incredible musicians, beginning in Chicago. My collaborators in the Occidental Brothers are a true family, and we have logged many notes and miles together—so a warm thanks to the master musicians Greg Ward, Makaya McCraven, Joshua Ramos, Marcus Evans, Antonio Carella, and Junius Paul. I’ve collaborated with many African musicians both in the OBDBI and in other projects, and wish to thank Daniel “Rambo” Asamoah, Kofi “The Black Trumpet” Cromwell, Samba Mapangala, Jonal, Mathew Tembo, Balla Kouyate, and Moussa Diakate for their friendship and sharing their cultures with me. Thank you to my brother Anthony Akablay. A special thanks to Mike Orlove, formerly of the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and now of the NEA, for his unwavering support of my work as an artist. Thanks to Brian Keigher who in 1995 unknowingly wrote me a permission slip to become the musician I am today. Thanks to my old boss at the Old Town School of Folk Music, Jimmy Tomasello, who put an African guitar class in the course catalog against my wishes, and to my students who compelled me to start a band. iii Finally, a second thank you to Rabbi Jeffrey Summit who, in addition to being my thesis advisor has offered tremendous emotional and spiritual support during challenges external to but concurrent with this project. In part a brother, in part an uncle, he has proven to be the Rabbi that every Quaker needs. This paper belongs to all of us. iv Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ ii Chapter I: Musical Analysis of Amponsah: the Iconic, the Interpretive ........................... 1 Echoes ............................................................................................................................. 2 Inside/Out ....................................................................................................................... 5 Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 12 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 16 Reflexivity ..................................................................................................................... 20 Terminology .................................................................................................................. 25 Chapter II: Histories Known and Unknown ..................................................................... 30 Coastal Exchange .......................................................................................................... 30 The Palmwine Rhythms ............................................................................................... 34 Fireman ..................................................................................................................... 35 Mainline .................................................................................................................... 36 Dagomba ................................................................................................................... 37 Ↄdɔ Nsan and Kwaa (Kwaw) ..................................................................................... 38 Yaa Amponsah .......................................................................................................... 40 Yaa Amponsah, the Lady in Question .......................................................................... 41 The Original Recording ................................................................................................. 46 Words ........................................................................................................................... 48 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 51 Chapter III: Paths of Transmission ................................................................................... 53 Guides ........................................................................................................................... 53 The Right Path .............................................................................................................. 60 Closing ........................................................................................................................... 68 Chapter IV: Musical Analysis of Amponsah: the Iconic, the Interpretive ...................... 70 Out of One, Many ......................................................................................................... 70 Koo Nimo’s Iconic Theme ............................................................................................. 73 I: Melody ...................................................................................................................... 75 II: Rhythm ..................................................................................................................... 80 III: Harmony .................................................................................................................. 86 v A Note on the Frame .................................................................................................... 95 Folkloric Representations ............................................................................................ 99 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 105 Chapter V: Dimensions & Extensions ............................................................................ 108 Other Voicings ............................................................................................................ 108 Other Voices ............................................................................................................... 121 Mami Wata in Ghana ................................................................................................. 129 Spirit Voices, and Issues of Ownership for
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