My Music, My Language, My Identity; Traditional and Contemporary Music of the Dagbamba

Abstract:

The paper seeks to examine traditional and contemporary Dagbamba music in Dagbamba personal and public identity. It is my goal to also analyze the various ingredients that go into the music played in this setting, and look at the social functions they play. I will argue that the two forms contrast only in style, but they do complement, rather than compete against or even conflict with each other.

This paper further juxtaposes the two broad genres (old and new[1]) by doing diachronic and synchronic analysis of with the This then, is a diachronic and synchronic analysis of Dabamba music aim to arrive at common threads that connect these forms.

The two broad categories of music from Dagbaŋ shall be considered in this paper: traditional "drum"[2] (and fiddle), and pop music sung on the local scene in the Dagbanli language.