Towards a 21stcentury African traditional musical drama_ Anansegorndwom

Abstract

The creative aspect of art music in Ghana and Africa as a whole has focused primarily on the composition of either choral or few instrumental forms. There is, however, comparatively less compositions that combine theatrical elements to an eventual performance. This thesis then explored, established and created a nonlinear musical drama which is a culturally contextualized musical arc that integrates scenery, properties, lighting, sound, costumes and make-up to be performed on stage or filmed in a movie style. It sought to establish a conceptual model for composing a musical drama which is characteristically African – Anansegorndwom – to give directions to modern art music composers to create such works intended for wide audience. Through exploratory bibliographic, discographic, narrative analysis and creative designs, data were collected using both principal and ancillary methods, including theoretical research, interviews and document analyses. 16 Folktales were collected using non-directive interview from four participants who represented the four major linguistic communities in Ghana: Akan, Ewe, Ga and Dagomba and four of the stories were selected purposefully for the novelty. Similarly, 19 folksongs as well as some indigenous instrumentation were gathered purposefully through documentary search. The study brought into existence not only a conceptual model for composition but also a musical artifact called Hɛn Anansesɛm (our story), a musical drama of African identity that conveys our existing stories than just delivering the sound elements in our folk traditions. It is concluded that the novelty created is an explicit demonstration of how the African and Western musical idioms can be fused together in one composition without losing both musical identities. It is, therefore, envisaged that art music composers begin to use the model to add to the repertoire of African musical dramas while the film industry and institutions of performing arts assist in its production to add to the modern means of relaxation in the 21st century.