Ewe

An Ewe drum ensemble at the funeral of Togbe Afede Asor II in Ho, Ghana
Photo by Kathie Zaccaria
Copyright 2002

Today the Ewe people are located on the southeast corner of Ghana, east of the Volta River in an area now described as the Volta Region. Ancient Ghana was located in what is today known as Mali and Mauritania. The Ewe are thought to have migrated south from Egypt to their present area around the 13th century. They are divided geographically between Ghana and its eastern neighbor, Togo. This area was colonized by the Germans and was originally called Togoland . After the German defeat in World War I, the Ewe homeland was split between France and England. Most Ewe can trace male ancestors to their original villages and make their territorial divisions along those lines. Extended families are the most important units of Ewe social life. Ewe have never supported a hierarchical concentration of power within a large state. Mawu is the Ewe Supreme Being and is remote from daily affairs. Se is a word for law, order and harmony; Se is the maker and keeper of human souls; Se is destiny.

The Ewe have a reputation for great drumming. Ewe believe that if someone is a good drummer it is because they inherited a spirit of an ancestor who was a good drummer. It is their destiny to drum. Music and dance are a force in cementing social feeling among members of an Agbekor society.

In general, Ewe drums are constructed like barrels with wooden staves and metal rings. It is also possible to obtain fine drums that are carved from a single block of wood. They are played with sticks and hands and often fulfill roles that are traditional to the family. The child or baby brother drum, kagan, usually plays on the weak beats in a repeated pattern that links directly with the bell and shaker ostinatos. The mother drum, kidi, usually has a more active role in the accompaniment. It responds to the larger sogo, or father, drum. The entire ensemble is lead by the largest drum, atsimevu, or grandfather drum. The hierarchy of the drums is grandfather – father- mother – child, mirroring the society that they are apart of.

Songs
Songs are more prevalent in the southern sector. In the north the songs are not that prevalent. Mostly just flutes and drums.

Libations
When a libation is poured on the ground you pour three times:
• Ancestors
• Life
• Yourself

Chiefs
Chiefs are elected by consensus and get advice from elders. They should have their heads covered in public.

The chief is holding the seat
"Togbe Akpe" Thank you Togbe

A chief in the village of Adidome at the Outdooring of a new Paramount Chief
Photo by Kathie Zaccaria
Copyright 2000

The chiefs are not allowed to drink in public. The people see the chief as the communicator between the every day world and the world of the ancestors. The chief must always keep a clear mind. Usually only chiefs can pour libations but sometimes at a durbar a linguist performs the role. When something personal is needed and no chief is around you can do it yourself.

Traditional chiefs have a black stool. The white stool is for honorary chiefs. Traditionally chiefs are not suppose to see the face of a corpse. He takes part in the funeral once the corpse is buried or inside the coffin. He is not to have any contact with the corpse. Those without a black stool can see the face of a corpse. They have been made a chief to be honored for what they have contributed to a village. There are rituals they cannot take part in because they are not a real chief.

Linguist
The staff of the linguist is particular to the chief that he is attached to. A pineapple is significant and can have several meanings:
• The chief is sweet; a good person who brings people together.
• A good family will never be uprooted.
• There is no good turn without effect.
• Fruit that never goes dry.

Kente
The Ewe believe that Kpetoe is the best place for Kente cloth. In the Asante wars against the Kpetoe area they captured weavers, it may have been prisoners of war from the Asante/Ewe wars that taught the Asante how to weave. The history was rewritten so that the Asante say they learned weaving from a spider. Kente might be a contaminated word for the Asante. The toe goes up and down on each foot during the weaving process. Ken means to open in Ewe and te means to press. The Ewe say the word Kente describes the weaving process of the feet.

African Names
Asante, Fante, Dagomba, Hausa and Ewe use a system of giving the first name of a child as the day of the week that the child was born. Do you know what day of the week you were born?

Three things that you have to know before you can learn a dance.
• Geographic area
• History
• Profession (farmers, hunters, fisherman)

Adevu (Ade - hunting, Vu - dance)
A professional dance that celebrates the hunter.
Your hunter friends will perform this dance for you for two reasons.
• Big animals (buffaloe, lion, hyena, not a pig or a grasscutter) have souls so the hunter
gives the animal a funeral so its spirit won’t come after the hunter.
• The second reason is that the hunter was able to outwit a big animal.


A Hunter's Association performing Adevu in Alavanyo, Ghana
Photo by Kathie Zaccaria
Copyright 2001

Agbadza
back row from left to right
Kaganu, Kidi, Sogo

front row from left to right
Gankogui (double bell), Axatse (rattle)

Agbadza is traditionally a war dance but is now used in social and recreational situations to celebrate peace. War dances are sometimes used as military training exercises with signals from the lead drum telling the warriors to move ahead, to the right, go down, etc. They also helped in preparing the warriors for battle and upon their return from fighting they would act out their deeds in battle through their movements in the dance.

A girl dances Agbadza in Afiadenyigba, Ghana
Photo by Kathie Zaccaria
Copyright 2001

Atsiagbekor
back row from left to right
Atsimevu (tall drum), Kroboto, Sogo, Kidi, Kanganu

front row from left to right
Gankogui (double bell), Axatse (rattle)

This dance is a contemporary version of the Ewe war dance Atamga - Great (ga) Oath (atam) - in reference to the oaths taken by people before preceeding into battle. The movements of this present-day version is mostly in platoon formation and are not only used to display battle tactics, but also to energize and invigorate the soldiers. Today, Atsiagbekor is performed for entertainment at social gatherings and at cultural presentations.

Atsiagbekor Translations
Aye, Aye - Go, we are ready, encouragement
A ee kwo - Congratulations
Me edavo - We stretch out our arms (weapons)
Yea, me aw we - We will fight, we will do it

Ho-Asogli performing Atsiagbekor

Atsia
Atsia in the Ewe language means style or display. The Atsia dance, which is performed mostly by women, is a series of stylistic movements dictated to dancers by the lead drummer. Each dance movement has it's own prescribed rhythmic pattern, which is synchronized with the lead drum.

Akpese
This dance later developed into Borborbor.

Borborbor
The Ewe-speaking people in the central and northern parts of the Volta Region of Ghana cultivate Borborbor. Borborbor might have originated in the Kpando area and is said to have been created by the late Mr. Francis Kojo Nuadro. He is thought to have been an ex-police officer who returned to Kpando and organized a group in the middle to late 1940’s. It has its roots in the Highlife popular music of Ghana and other West African countries. Borborbor gained national recognition in the 1950’s and 1960’s because of its use at political rallies and the novelty of its dance formations and movements. It is generally performed at funerals and other social occasions. This is a social dance with lots of room for free expression. In general the men sing and dance in the center while the women dance in a ring around them. There are two types of Borborbor, a slow and a fast. The fast Borborbor is believed to come from the Kpando area and the slow version from Hohoe. The slow one is called Akpese and the fast one is termed to be Borborbor. Lolobi-Kumasi is known for doing a particular fast version of the slow version.

A Borborbor Group in Lolobi-Kumasi, Ghana
Photo by Kathie Zaccaria
Copyright 2000

Gabada ("Counterfeit," It is the wrong type of iron)
The dance was originally juju and not a social dance. In the old days men were more abundant than women so the men used juju to charm the women to attract them. The dance was done after the juju had worked.

Agahu
Agahu is one of the many secular music associations (clubs) of the Ewe people of Ghana, Togo, and Dahomey. (Gadzok, Takada, and Atsiagbeko are other such clubs). Each club has its own distinctive drumming and dancing, as well as its own repertoire of songs. A popular social dance of West Africa, Agahu was created by the Egun speaking people from the town of Ketonu in what is now Benin. From there it spread to the Badagry area of Nigeria where migrant Ewe fisherman heard, adapted, and eventually took it to Ghana.

In Agahu when you have two circles the men stay stationary with their arms out and then bend with a knee forward for the women to sit on. They move all around the circle until they arrive at their original partner.

Gota
Gota uses the mystical calabash drum of Benin, West Africa. It was originally called "drum of the dead" and was played only at funerals. It is now performed for social entertainment. The most exciting parts of Gota are the synchronized stops of the drummers and dancers.

Tro-u
Tro-u is ancestral drum music that is played to invite ancestors to special sacred occasions at a shrine. For religious purposes a priest or priestess would be present. There are fast and slow rhythms that can be called by the religious leader in order to facilitate communication with the spirit world. The bell rhythm is played on a boat shaped bell but the southern sector uses a double bell. The three drums must have distinct pitch levels in order to lock in.

Sowu
Sowu is one of the seven different styles of drumming that belong to the Yewe cult, adapted for stage. Yewe is the God of Thunder and lightning among the Ewe speaking people of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Yewe is a very exclusive cult and it's music is one of the most developed forms of sacred music in Eweland.