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.

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

• Kini wee

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

• Akpa

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

• sagbe de kini

July 13, 2006

Call & Response

• Tso Boi

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

• Osee loo
• Se Adzo
• Gahu ee

Dance

• basic movement
• slow to fast transition
• Pay pa se

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.

• 18-01
• 18-02
• 18-03
• 18-04
• 18-05
• 18-06
• 18-07
• 18-08
• 18-09
• 18-10
• 18-11
• 18-12

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 (or will be) below.

• 19-01
• 19-02