Drumming In Ghana

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Postby zaragenca » Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:06 pm

This was a subject from another forum which I'm bringing here..The question was how the drumming get into actual location called Ghana?....'Oke for all the brothers specially the one from Ghana,the drumming was taken to that location which is known today as Ghana by The Prince Nana,(from the Yorubas/Civilization in actual Nigeria), this was even before they were called Assante,(at that time the kindom was calles Araras which different denominations which I don't want to mention right now)...This Prince was one of the first migration out of Ile/Ife,(Nigeria),during the reigning of the Yorubas chief,(Oduduwa)..The Yorubas also set up Dahomey,(Abomey),which was a location for trade and they would sent caravans with the trade from Ile/Ife, to that location to trade with the Araras,(in the actual location of Ghana)...During the colonozation of Portugal of West Africa,(Akan/Tribe),Portugal set/up the San Jorge de Mina/fort in 1481,in that location,(Ghana),which was called the Gold/Coast and transported thousend of people from,Fernando Po island,Bioko Island,Guinea and Sierra Leone to that location,(Ghana),(creating still more classifications of tribes there), for the work in the golden mines and later the transportation of slave to the trans/atlantic trip to America....They were originally called Fon/Ewe people before being called Asante,by the portugese which was englinized to Ashanty by the British..Dr. Zaragemca
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Postby davidpenalosa » Tue Sep 26, 2006 9:20 pm

zaragenca wrote:...the drumming was taken to that location which is known today as Ghana by The Prince Nana,(from the Yorubas/Civilization in actual Nigeria), this was even before they were called Assante,(at that time the kindom was calles Araras...

Zaragemca,
Could you please cite at least one source for your claim that there was a "kingdom called Araras"? As far as I know, the word "Arara" is a New World term. I have not heard it used concerning the Fon in Africa, only the Fon in Cuba.

There's plenty of official sites on-line concerning the ethnic make up of West Africa. For example, this site:
www.atidekate.com/AborProfile.html

says this about the ethnic make up of Ghana:

"The majority of the residents are Ewe, an ethnic group that is found mainly in the Volta Region (the most eastern "state" in Ghana) and that makes up about ten percent of the national population. This group extends into southern Togo and shares a close ethnic heritage with the Fon of Benin and the Yoruba of Nigeria."

I'm open to the possibility that there was a kingdom called "Arara", I just need to find a corraborating source. Thank you.
-David
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Postby zaragenca » Wed Sep 27, 2006 5:58 pm

You are welcome,Araras was the name of those tribes before being called,(Ghana),by the British and ,(Assante),By the Portugeses,the corroboration is on the people which came from both places Yorubaland and the Araras themselves which set up the Cabildos,(The first african cabildo which ever was set up in Cuba was the Araras Cabildo,also my Godfathers said that the first Yorubas/people which arrived from Africa were also talking abut the Araras,(and mentioning the differents name in relation to the region)...also Fon, is an african expression which mean,(Cienaga),which is what that location was at that time...Ewe, come from the Yorubas lineage which I mentioned before.Dr Zaragemca



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Postby davidpenalosa » Wed Sep 27, 2006 7:40 pm

Zaragemca,
I simply asked you to name at least ONE source in support of your claim that there was a "kingdom called Araras"? That's all. Can you site a source? I don't think so, but here's your oportunity to prove me wrong.
-David
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Postby zaragenca » Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:16 pm

the sources are those people which came to Cuba from Africa,(unless you want to debate with them,which would be too late anyway).Dr. Zaragemca
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Postby guarachon63 » Wed Sep 27, 2006 8:18 pm

Somehow I knew a citation would not be forthcoming... :)

One of the best analyses of the Arará in Cuba I have seen is in Rogélio Martínez Furé's book "Dialogos Imaginarios."

The book is not easy to find, but parts of it can be found in a draft of an unauthorized English translation at the cubanmusic yahoo! group.

Furé goes into great detail in his chapter on the Arará, but here is the relevant part:

But although it is certain, as Alfred Metraux maintains, that "the word radá or aradá comes from the name of a kingdom or a village in Dahomey, Aradá, authors such as Rómulo Lachatañeré and overall, Aguirre Beltrán, have shown that not all the captives called Arará came from the city of Ardrá (Ardá, Aladá).

I am attaching the file as well. I have the other two, regarding Iyesá and Bríkamo, if anyone is interested.

Saludos


Attachment: http://mycongaplace.com/forum/eng/uploa ... s_pt_I.doc
===================================
http://esquinarumbera.blogspot.com
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Postby zaragenca » Thu Sep 28, 2006 4:47 pm

That is ok with me,but I'm talking about the people which knew the name of the different territories of the Araras,(dominion),the drumming/patterns,culture,etc....I learned the Araras drumming pattern and I did the same that Jesus Perez, (with confronted the Bata in Nigeria with the Yorubas and have the confirmation of the authenticity),..I was confronted with two drummers from Guinea,(Djun/Djun and Djembe),not rehearsal,...not talking of we are going to play this,or we are going to play that,not pryor listenning of their CD's or way to play....just playing and listening all the changes,(calls), which the Djun/Djun was doing,the place was packed,(including mt students),45 minutes of fire,(three differents patterns for them to know that it was legitimate,again Jesus Perez did it with the Yorubas in Nigeria,and I did with the Guinean,and later senegales,and later getting drummer students from Africa,that's the best way to debate with the drums.Dr. Zaragemca
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Postby davidpenalosa » Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:15 pm

[quote="guarachon63"]..as Alfred Metraux maintains, that "the word radá or aradá comes from the name of a kingdom or a village in Dahomey, Aradá,

Thanks for that reference. There's quite a difference between a kingdom and a village.
another quote from the article:

"..not all the captives called Arará came from the city of Ardrá (Ardá, Aladá)"

A city called Ardrá seems like a very plausible source for the term. This would support the idea that the use of the terms "Arara" and "Rada" to identify the Fon people is a New World practice.
-David




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Postby davidpenalosa » Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:24 pm

[quote="zaragenca"]..I learned the Araras drumming pattern ...,..I was confronted with two drummers from Guinea,(Djun/Djun and Djembe),
... it was legitimate,again Jesus Perez did it with the Yorubas in Nigeria,and I did with the Guinean,and later senegales,and later getting drummer students from Africa.

What I'm gathering from this is that you played Djun/Djun and Djembe with two drummers from from Guinea. If this is somehow your source for the origins of Arara, it would account for your confusion. As has been pointed out here before, Djun/Djun and Djembes from Guinea belong to an entirely different ethnic group and region of Africa, far from the Fon, Ewe and Yoruba.

There is also no trace of Guinean drumming in Cuba.
-David




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Postby congastu » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:52 pm

I agree david that there is no obvious link between the Madinka [djembe/dun-dun] rhythms and afro-cuban forms, although its interesting that some sangban [middle dun dun] lines are played EXACTLY like cascara and son clave, while others [eg, Macru] resonate with the timbales of the danzon. [Incidentally, the djembe line for MACRU is closely echoed in the bell for MARACATU].

This could well be coincidence, there are echoes of 3/2 clave phrasing in folkloric rhythms from all over- even the irish bodhran, and of course it doesnt mean to say that they originate from the same place.

It is also quite easy to trace the route of the madinka [whose roots are in guinea, senegal, gambia, mali, burkina faso- all that area] to the new world and see it resurface in the american blues rather than carribean rhythms.

However, im still scratching my head about the djolof, who come from the same area but play in a completely different style to any other tribe and who assimilated afrocuban music with [to my mind] more success than anyone else. The sabar drums of the djolof are reminiscent of both brazilian repinique [in how you play]and cuban timbale solos[in what you play- or dont], but i cant find mention of them anywhere across the ocean.

again, david and berimbau might be the guys to help me- what happened to the djolof when they were forced across the sea? Does their music resurface at all, or was it lost?

thanks in advance!

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Postby congastu » Thu Sep 28, 2006 11:53 pm

Sorry, i meant to say mandinka!!!
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Postby davidpenalosa » Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:22 am

congastu wrote:1.
..its interesting that some sangban [middle dun dun] lines are played EXACTLY like cascara and son clave, while others [eg, Macru] resonate with the timbales of the danzon. [Incidentally, the djembe line for MACRU is closely echoed in the bell for MARACATU].

2.
It is also quite easy to trace the route of the madinka [whose roots are in guinea, senegal, gambia, mali, burkina faso- all that area] to the new world and see it resurface in the american blues rather than carribean rhythms.

3.
The sabar drums of the djolof are reminiscent of both brazilian repinique [in how you play]and cuban timbale solos[in what you play- or dont], but i cant find mention of them anywhere across the ocean.
what happened to the djolof when they were forced across the sea? Does their music resurface at all, or was it lost?

Congastu,

1.
The son clave pattern and the maracatu bell pattern are widespread African rhythmic motifs. It’s difficult to draw a specific correlation between these motifs as they are played in the New World and particular African ethnic groups because of how widespread they are.

The Brazlian maracatu bell pattern, the Cuban bata toque "Ochossi" and the Puerto Rican plena are all based on the same rhythmic motif.

|oXoXooXo|ooXoooXo|

If reduced to the absolute fundamental strokes, we get a motif that’s present in many more rhythms.

|oXoXoooo|oooooooo|

2.
That theory is the conventional wisdom and it makes sense to me. As I understand it, the first slaves that were brought to the New World mostly came from the "Slave Coast"; that stretch of west African coast encompassing Guinea, Senegal, Gambia and Burkina Faso. Slaves from this area eventually became the elders of the slave culture with some status. They were pilots on slave ships and house slaves. The drums of these ethnic groups seem to have not survived, but elements of their rich stringed instrument tradition (kora, etc.) are present in the Americas.

Later, Congolese slaves from the interior were sold along the coast further south in Dahomey. The origins of the great drum traditions of the New World: Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico and Brazil began in that era.

3.
The character that ties the sabar, repinique and timbales together is their timbre. I think that’s the main reason you perceive a similarity. True they are lead drums playing clave-based patterns, but there’s a great distance between the savanna of Sene-Gambia and the forests of the Congo River Basin. What’s amazing to me is that so many diverse ethnic groups over such a vast distance share the same governing principle of rhythm (what the Cubans call clave).

I think that the Sene-Gambia drumming has been lost, or mutated to such an extent that it’s impossible to credibly claim any New World rhythm exhibits qualities of a Sene-Gambia "resurfacing".
-David
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Postby congastu » Fri Sep 29, 2006 9:14 am

thanks david

that was really well put, and echoes a thought that has grown in my own head- that sadly the great diversity of african traditions and peoples never survived the crossing, not only from senegambia but all along the west coast. How many diffferent groups are there in what is now ghana and nigeria alone? maybe this explains the somewhat puzziling nature of a certain eminent doctors assertions!!

BTW, i just dug out Kim Atkinsons videos on Mozambique to transpose some of the stuff to bateria for our youth orchestra- nice cameo by yourself. I love the way kim teaches and explains, gently but with authority. More please!
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Postby davidpenalosa » Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:44 pm

congastu wrote:BTW, i just dug out Kim Atkinsons videos on Mozambique to transpose some of the stuff to bateria for our youth orchestra- nice cameo by yourself.

Stu,
Thanks, I'm not very happy with my performance in that video, but I was happy to contribute. Kim was my first conga teacher in 1976. Since that time we have stayed in touch and helped each other out on projects. Do you have both volumes of the Mozambique videos?
-David
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Postby zaragenca » Fri Sep 29, 2006 5:17 pm

Again brother David,you are confusing what I mean,I learn this patterns with the people which belong to the araras lineage in Cuba and confronted with this people from Guinea without knowing them and it was recognized by them and also by the Senegal/Drummers,(and still drumming with a Djembe/Djun-Djun teacher from Guinea,(when I go to Galveston)...For you knowledge the whole territoty of that Coast was called Guinea,and Guinea Coast,(before being giving the name of Ivory Coust Gold Coast and Slave Coust by the Portugese,Your are talking about Senegal,Ghana,etc.etc.,those name were given after the colonization of Africa by the European...so again for you information Guinea was a name used for that area before been called with those individual names.Dr. Zaragemca
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