Etornam Attioe and Ama Dogbellia

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Etornam and Ama (July 2008)


Name: Etornam Attioe and Ama Dogbellia
Ages: 16 years old and 17 years old
Gender: Females
Residence: Dagbamete


Etornam Attioe and Ama Dogbellia have both completed Junior High-school, and work part-time at the Drinking Spot. They don’t play drums but they sing and dance in the shrine, but they are not apart of any dance group in the village. They have learnt Ewe songs and other cultural songs in school. Their favorite music is hip hop, Sean Kingston, Celine Dion, West Life (five boys who sing love songs). They like to buy cassettes or listen to hip-hop on the radio, and watch or mimic the dance moves from the television. They like traditional music but prefer music like hip-hop because it is new whereas traditional music is music that they hear all the time. Each of girls have a radio and they watch Nigerian, Ghanaian and American films Etornam’s parents do not play anything, but her aunt plays the rattle, whereas Ama’s father plays the drums and he showed her how to play the drums. Their mothers also participate in the dancing and drumming at the shrine. Etornam practices traditional religion but she goes to a Catholic church sometimes to sing in the choir. Ama likes going to the Catholic Church as well and she decided to go on her own. Although neither of them plays the drums, they are trying to learn how to play. They hear the rhythms from the shrine and then they try it on the table tops in the bar. The girls talked about the different tempos of the drum pieces and how the dancers control the movement of speed. If the singers sing and the dancers dance slow, then the drummers will drum slowly. (Singers have the most control of the tempo) They said that different songs are played at the shrine each Sunday and the elderly people decide which song to sing. Their fathers teach the younger ones in the shrine and they have to learn ‘on the spot.’ The girls plan on going to university in the future they will move where they get accepted.

Interviewed by Hannah Searson and Leanne Arnison in July 2008

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