Globe Corner Blogs

Raven Map of Texas

I have recently returned from Austin, Texas.  Everyone says the greatest things about Austin, and I have no complaints.  I’m sure it was lovely.  I bet it was spectacular.  Maybe it would’ve been my future home.  I will never know. I went to Austin not to see the city and its sights…I went to dance!!

There I was on stage in front of 2000 lovely people, or so I assumed, but the lights were so bright!  Not too bad right?  There is a catch though, this was the opening night for the world’s largest drum convention called The Percussive Arts Society International Convention. PASIC asked the Berklee West African Drum and Dance Ensemble to perform the first ceremony of the convention.  So as a drummer and dancer, I was in front of 2000 other drummers and I hoped and prayed that we were all on the beat.

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Berklee West African Drum and Dance Ensemble --photo by Jess

For such a small country, Ghana sure does have a lot of distinct musical traditions, each marked by unique rhythms, instruments, and dance styles. I learned all this first hand when I saw the GCB’s favorite bike-riding, drum-playing, book-selling employee, Dan, perform with the Berklee West African Drum and Dance Ensemble in a show titled Ghana: A Musical Landscape, directed by Joe Galeota.

At the store, we often hear about Dan’s love for West Africa, drumming, and dancing – but hearing about it (no matter how enthusiastic he is) does not compare, even slightly, to going to a show and seeing his entire ensemble, including native Ghanaians, perform for nearly two hours.

The show, which was exhausting just to watch, showcased six traditional musical styles from different regions of Ghana – Kete, Bamaaya, Yilla/Guola, Bewaa, Adzogbo-Todzo-Le, and Kpanlogo. For each style, the dancers wore the traditional dress to provide a more complete portrait of Ghana. Besides just seeing Dan in his dancing element, a highlight of the show was the gyil solo by Bernard Woma, lead drummer of the National Dance Company of Ghana. The gyil is a type of xylophone constructed using wooden bars hung over various sized gourds (see photo when post continues).

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