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CREATIVE PROCESSES IN AKAN MUSICAL CULTURES: INNOVATIONS WITHIN TRADITION by Eric Odame Beeko Dip. Mus., National Academy of Music, Winneba, Ghana, 1984 Post-Dip. Mus. Edu., University College of Education, Winneba, Ghana, 1988 B.Ed. Mus., University of Cape Coast, Ghana, 1996 M.Phil. Mus., University of Ghana, Legon, 2000 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree University of Pittsburgh 2005 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Eric Odame Beeko It was defended on April 19, 2005 and approved by Dr. Mary Lewis Dr. Nathan Davis Dr. V. Kofi Agawu Dr. Joseph Adjaye Dr. Akin O. Euba Dissertation Director ii This work is copyright, and no part of it may be reproduced by any process, manually or electronically, without the written permission of the author. Copyright 2005 by Eric Odame Beeko iii CREATIVE PROCESSES IN AKAN MUSIC: INNOVATIONS WITHIN TRADITION Eric Odame Beeko, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2005 The aim of this dissertation is to explain the creative processes in composition and performance of traditional music, and the subsequent innovations that emerge out of these processes in the musical traditions of the Akan people of Ghana. The study is premised on the fact that, traditional musicians in the Akan culture, like most people on the surface of the earth, also have the natural capacity to consciously or unconsciously effect changes in their environments, play significant roles in most human-initiated change processes, and make contributions to both the material and institutional aspects of their culture, as their creative sensibilities or tendencies continue to bring about various forms of innovations from time to time. Based on this fact, the present study is oriented more toward the creative activities of individual composer-performers in the Akan society who are believed to be making profound contributions through their creative activities, consciously or unconsciously and directly or indirectly, to sustain the entire music traditions of Akan. Akan traditional music is transmitted orally and musicians literally compose the music either before or during performance; the music that they produce is either entirely new or a partial re- composition of pre-existing music. Accordingly, the study investigates the processes by which new ideas are generated and added to existing ones. It examines how Akan traditional musicians, working within the constraints imposed by the artistic parameters of the culture, consciously and subconsciously generate new ideas as they reproduce, reconstruct, reorder, and reinterpret the existing musical elements through their creative processes, and as a result bring about innovation iv in the tradition. These innovations are a necessary factor for sustaining the tradition, and for making it relevant to every period. Although the Akan culture is the primary focus of this study, it, however, highlights several issues—relating to creativity, change and innovation—that may also concern many cultures of Africa. Therefore, by using the Akan culture as a premise, what the study also seeks to establish is that, an approach to the study of social change in relation to African art in general cannot focus on institutions without taking into account the human creative activities. The human creative tendencies that reveal both the innate capacity (the personality) and the culturally acquired knowledge are of primary relevance in understanding both change and continuity particularly in Africa, and generally in any oral tradition. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE...................................................................................................................................... xi 1. CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ......................................................... 1 1.1. Aims and Objective......................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Geographical Scope of Study.......................................................................................... 3 1.3. Defining the Research Problem ...................................................................................... 7 1.3.1. The Change-Continuity Issue with Respect to Creativity....................................... 9 1.3.2. The Nature-Nurture Issue with Respect to Creativity........................................... 12 1.3.3. Summary of the Research Problem....................................................................... 14 1.4. State of Research on Compositional Processes ............................................................ 17 1.5. Theoretical Framework................................................................................................. 21 1.6. Research Methodology ................................................................................................. 23 1.6.1. Data Collection ..................................................................................................... 23 1.6.1.1. Fieldwork ...................................................................................................... 23 1.6.1.2. Library and Archival Studies........................................................................ 27 1.6.2. Data Transliteration and Transcription ................................................................. 29 1.6.3. Data Analysis and Interpretation .......................................................................... 30 1.6.3.1. Analysis of Verbal Interview......................................................................... 30 1.6.3.2. Analysis of Music .......................................................................................... 31 1.6.3.3. Interpretation of Sources .............................................................................. 31 2. CHAPTER TWO: THE SOCIO-CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF THE AKAN TRADITIONS............................................................................................................................... 34 2.1. Introduction................................................................................................................... 34 2.2. Ethnological Account of the Akan................................................................................ 35 2.2.1. Akan Linguistic Structure..................................................................................... 35 2.2.1.1. The Akan and the Kwa Family...................................................................... 35 2.2.1.2. The Akan Language Groups ......................................................................... 36 2.2.2. Akan Family Structure.......................................................................................... 38 2.2.3. Akan Philosophical Thought................................................................................. 40 2.3. Akan Socio-Cultural Processes..................................................................................... 44 2.3.1. Processes of Change and Transformation............................................................. 45 2.3.2. Processes of Appropriation and Reinterpretation ................................................. 47 2.4. Akan Socio-Cultural Systems....................................................................................... 49 2.5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 51 3. CHAPTER THREE: THE DYNAMICS OF THE AKAN MUSIC TRADITIONS ............ 53 3.1. Introduction................................................................................................................... 53 3.2. Processes of Creativity: Development and Transformation of the Music Traditions... 54 3.2.1. The Institution of the Music Traditions ................................................................ 54 3.2.1.1. The Social Interactions ................................................................................. 55 3.2.1.2. The Socio-Musical Events............................................................................. 56 3.2.2. The Emergence of Music Groups and Associations............................................. 59 3.2.2.1. Emergence of Unofficial Music Groups ....................................................... 60 3.2.2.2. Formation of Official Music Groups ............................................................ 61 3.2.3. The Emergence of Musical Types ........................................................................ 61 vi 3.2.3.1. The Creation and Development of the Musical Types.................................. 62 3.3. Products of Creativity: Structures in the Music Traditions .......................................... 68 3.3.1. Musical Groups..................................................................................................... 68 3.3.1.1. Category “A” Groups................................................................................... 68 3.3.1.2. Category “B” Groups................................................................................... 72 3.3.1.3. Category “C” Groups .................................................................................. 75 3.3.2. The Artistic Forms ................................................................................................ 82 3.3.2.1. The Narrative and Symbolic Forms.............................................................. 82 3.3.2.2. Narrative-Symbolic
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