Hip Life Music: Re-Defining Ghanaian Culture (1990-2012)
' ! HIP LIFE MUSIC: RE-DEFINING GHANAIAN CULTURE (1990-2012) ISAAC RICHARD NII KWAKU AKRONG A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN MUSIC YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA OCTOBER 2012 ©ISAAC R.N.K. AKRONG, 2012 I I . ! ,, . Abstract African music is full of life ... we have different ethnic groups, different languages and cultures, moods, shades; it's so dynamic, and we have a message. (Diana Hopeson, p.c. 2006) My research documents the hip life popular music story from 1990 to 2012, from pre- through post-inception, as driven by rapper and dancer Reggie Rockstone. The histories of European colonization in Ghana, and its shaping. By highlife and American hip hop (via globalization) into hip life music are explored through an insider's lens. This is evidenced by the traditional influencing of the popular culture of hip life. In this 22-year development period, I interconnect the domains of ethnomusicology, African/cultural studies, cmthropology, popular music studies, and dance ethnography, drawing on relevant theories. The few studies dedicated solely to hip life in the ethnomusicology discipline at this time precipitate this study. Artist apprenticeship, social impacts, formal education and peer transmission are explored against the backdrop of authenticity, reception, transculturation and mimetic models that shape th(~ meanings of the discussions (traditional versus popular musics). The creativity, subgenres, and related agencies are treated here as well. Hip life has come to stay as Ghanaian popular music. It invokes the tradition's transformations into the modem: as evident in the works of artists from Obrafour, Obour, Tinny, King Ayisoba to Rockstone, the message of African storytelling through rap is deeply hinged on the anchors of the ancient court practice of libation ceremonies.
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