Ewe-zangers en slagwerkers uit Anyako (Ghana)

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Ewe-zangers en slagwerkers uit Anyako (Ghana) · The Ewe are a people in south-eastern Ghana and in the neighbouring countries of Togo and Benin. Anyako lies in the Ghanaian part of that region, in the Volta Region, and is known for its living musical tradition. The singers and drummers from this village are not a band in the Western sense of the word. They are community musicians who sing and drum at festivals, ceremonies and dances, as has been done there for generations.

Music and breakthrough

The piece in School of Rock is a 1972 field recording of Atsiagbekor. This is a dance with a military background, which is also performed in the area around Anyako. The music is based on rhythm: several drums and an iron double bell each play a pattern of their own, and those patterns coincide on a fixed cycle. A lead drummer gives signals to the dancers, and the singing works in call and response, with a lead singer answered by a group.

Influence

Ewe music matters for the history of pop because it shows how rhythm in West Africa is built from layers that cross one another. That principle of thought, polyrhythm instead of a single beat, returns later in much music that came out of Africa and the African diaspora. A field recording like this shows the source without studio or processing.

Listening

• 
  Atsiagbekor (veldopname) · Ewe-zangers en slagwerkers uit Anyako (Ghana), 1972
  Apple Music ↗

See also

• West African music traditions