University of Alberta West African Music Ensemble
Here you will find daily records of what was covered in class, as well as links to specific things we learn, such as dances or drums.
Contents
July 10, 2006
The circle represents life and community
- Life is a cycle.
- Most Ewe dances are in a circle.
- There is a connection between the physical and metaphysical--the living and the dead are related.
Gota
- The dance's basic movement.
- The beginning drum signal
- The drum signal to change from the basic movement to improvised dance with your partner.
Gahu
- The bell pattern: low high high high high
- The rattle pattern: pum pa ti pa ti pa ti pa
- The basic steps: right right left left
Call & Response
July 11, 2006
Gota
- review of the basic movement, the drum signal to change
- the drum signal to freeze
- Tomorrow Wisdom wants to see good improvised dancing with partners.
Gahu
- This dance was called the airplane dance by the old colonial masters. It can happen at any occasion, but especially for recreation. This is the dance where boys go to show off to get the most beautiful girl & vice versa (Wisdom).
- We reviewed the basic step.
- We learned variation one, variation two and variation three.
Call & Response
July 12, 2006
Introduction
- Circle call & response
- The leader calls: Circle, circle.
- The group responds: Big circle.
- While responding, the group gets into a circle and holds hands until the circle is the right size.
Gahu
- We reviewed the three variations we learned yesterday, and the bell, rattle, sogo (& kagan) parts, and the master drum calls for these three variations.
- Wisdom showed us how to do the Ewe upper body movement.
- We learned variation four and variation five.
- Video of the 5 Gahu Dance Variations
Call & Response
July 13, 2006
Call & Response
Gahu
- slow Gahu & transition to fast Gahu
- Osee loo
- Pe pa see
Introduction to drums
- Boba-lead drum in Gota & Gahu
- Atsimevu-lead drum in Gahu & Atsiagbekor
- Kaganu-Bobobor, Gota, Gahu, Atsiagbekor
- Kagan-Bobobor, Gota, Gahu, Atsiagbekor
- Sogo-Gahu
- Kidi-Gahu, Atsiagbekor
- Kloboto (also known as Kroboto)-Atsiagbekor
- Totogi-Atsiagbekor
- Kpanlogo drums-Kpanlogo
- Talking drum
- The lead drum communicates to the dancers what they are supposed to do
July 17, 2006
Gahu
Songs
Dance
Drums
- sogo, kidi & kagan parts
July 18, 2006
Warm-up
- Story circle: One person starts a story, and each person around the circle contributes a few sentences until the circle is complete.
- Wisdom and Nicole demonstrated the Atsiagbekor (aka Agbekor) war dance.
Gahu
- We reviewed the Gahu dance today from beginning to end.
Atsiagbekor
- We learned the basic movement. Step-Cross-Step-Cross/hop
- We learned the "To te ga de ge" movement, which ends each variation.
- We learned variation one: "To to crang crang"
Drum test
- Today after the break, Robert gave a drum test. Each student was tested on one Gahu drum part, chosen randomly by Robert. All students demonstrated knowledge of how each part goes.
- Robert and Wisdom mentioned that some students need to learn how the rhythm of the drum fits into the bell part.
Video
The video from today's class is split into 10 minute segments. The links for these are below.
July 19, 2006
Warm-up
- Today Wisdom led a warm-up using a lot of Atsiagbekor movements.
Atsiagbekor
Dance
- We reviewed the basic movement, to te ga de ge & the first variation (to to crang crang) without drums.
- We learned two new variations:
- a de-ge-den to (ewe upper body movement in 4 directions)
- kito ge-den-ga (slash-slash-slash-jump forward-hop back-hop back-hop back-hop back)
- Wisdom demonstrated these variations with the drum language.
Drums
- We learned the bell pattern (gangkogui): Low Hi Hi-Hi Hi Hi Hi-
- We learned the rattle (axatse): Pum pa ti pa-pa ti pa ti pa ti pa-
- We learned the kagan: _ ka-gan _ ka-gan _ ka-gan _ ka-gan
Video
Click here to see the five Gahu dance variations. (7 minute video)
The Video from today's class is split into 10 minute segments. Links to each video are below.
July 20, 2006
Video
Here are some video clips for things we learned today:
- Atsiagbekor Dance Variations
- Atsiagbekor Kidi Drum
- Atsiagbekor Kloboto Drum
- Atsiagbekor Totogi with bell & rattle
- Atsiagbekor Totogi
- Gahu Complete Dance
- IMPORTANT Variation FOUR (who stole the drumbeat?) in this video is incorrect. The hand movement should be the OPPOSITE of what you see here. Please see Gahu Dance Variations for the correct drum signals and movements for each variation.
Warm-up
- stretching
- Seniwa
- circle circle
- ha ha ha ha
Atsiagbekor
- We reviewed the bell, rattle and kagan patterns
- We learned 3 new drum parts: Totogi, Kloboto (aka Kroboto) and Kidi.
Gahu
- We did the whole dance, from beginning to end.
- See Gahu Dance Variations' for the CORRECT drum calls and variation movements.
- See Gahu Complete Dance for the correct opening and closing of the dance.