Significance of dance in Ghanian culture

Dance is the life of the African. It permeates all their social and ceremonial activities. To the African, dance is a way of thinking, living and communicating.

It forms an integral part of all vital facets of the life cycle. We dance during childbirth, naming ceremonies, puberty, rites, marriage, religious ceremonies, festivals etc. Dance teaches customs and history. Dr Kwame Nkrumah brought Africans together through dance.

The Adowa dance is the most widespread and most frequently performed social musical type of the Akan speaking people of Ghana.

The dance originated through the movements made by the antelope, hence the name given to it.

The story behind the dance states that, there was a once a queen mother in Ashanti called Abrewa Tutuwa.

She suddenly fell ill in the cause of her reign. The Obosom (gods) was consulted and a request for a live antelope was to be used for the sacrificial rites. It was alleged that, the asafo companies were promptly detailed to the forest to look for the animal. On coming back, the people saw to their amazement the antelope jumping and making very strange movements.

The people in an attempt to imitate the movement of the animal as a sign of celebrating the queen mother’s health started the Adowa dance.

The dance was hence started by the Asafo companies. Since the animal was sacrifice for the queenmother, the musical type soon was taken over by the elderly women making the dance becoming women’s performance in several Akan communities.

The few men that are seen basically handle the musical instruments. Adowa in present day content can be located in Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Kwahu, Akim, and some parts of Akim, Abuakwa and among the coastal Akans-Fantes where it is known as Adzewa (Adewa).

 

The dance has an economic significance to the people, in that the costumes such as kente are hand woven by the people. The regalia or ornaments such as anklets, golden rings and earrings etc. are produced by the goldsmith.

The drums and other instruments used are from the woodcarver and the blacksmith respectively. This keeps the people in of the community in business and provide livelihood for them.

The culture of the people is also preserved through the dance.

ADINKRA SYMBOLS; A FORM OF ART IN GHANA

Adinkra symbols where developed by the peoples of Ghana and Cote' d'lvoire for use in decorating fabric and can be traced back to the 17th century. Over time, the number of symbols grew. In modern times, they have been used for every-day wear, as well as for special occasions.

The word "adinkra" means goodbye because originally clothes adorned with Adinkra symbols were only worn during ceremonies to honor the dead. The symbols worn on the mourner's clothing expressed the qualities attributed to the deceased.

The symbols are created by cutting a stamp out of the thick skin of a calabash gourd. The stamp is dipped in dye, made from tree bark, and then repeatedly pressed onto cloth to create patterns. Adinkra provides a remarkable display of the values of the Ashanti people, developed over many generations. The tradition continues to flourish in Ghana, today.

Each adinkra symbol has a unique name and meaning derived either from a proverb, a historical event, human attitude, animal behavior, plant life, forms and shapes of inanimate and man-made objects. Their meanings of motifs may be categorized as follows: Aesthetics, Ethics, Human Relations and Religious concepts.
 Some Adinkrah symbols;
  NSOROMA

" child of the heavens [stars] " symbol of guardianship
SEPOW "The dagger or executioner's knife" Symbol of justice and punishment.

HOW THE USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA BY THE CITIZEN JOURNALIST AFFECTS THE ACTIVITIES OF THE TRADITIONAL PRODUCTION HOUSES AND HOW TO STRATEGIZE TO MEET THIS CHANGING TREND IN THE MASS MEDIA

 EUGENE ADU AYEH

PAPAYAW ASAMOAH

 STELLA ELORM BIGSON

 ISABELLA KONADU AGYEMANG

 ANIMAH NKANSAH DOROTHY

Starting in 59 BC, Julius Caesar had a daily sheet called Acta Diurna (daily event) posted around Rome. In the mid1400, Johannes Gutenberg first used a printing press. Later on, in the early 1900’s, radio technology was perfected with motion picture technology closely behind. By 1930, the popularity of radio was spreading, whilst some people were catching the first television broadcast. Throughout the1930’s, 40’s and 50’s television progressed and ultimately worked its way into family rooms and kitchens across the United States.

With the launch of Facebook in 2004, the founding of YouTube in 2005, the creation of twitter in 2006, social media is more extensively used for the dissemination of information and news to the public by the public. These technologies have allowed for even greater peer-to-peer engagement and interactive public, organization and mobilization of support, collating voters’ data by the electoral commission, and the basic function of disseminating messages.

The advent of new media has strongly affected the way through which information is spread to the masses both negatively and positively. Citizen journalism is made possible as lay members of the public play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information to the public. In order to understand who a citizen journalist is, let’s take an insight into what citizen journalism is all about. The term citizen journalism refers to a wide range of activities in which ordinary people contribute information or commentary about news events through the use of social media like twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google plus.

The traditional media, which is also known as “the old media” deals with the old ways and procedures of gathering, analyzing and disseminating news and information through the hands of professionally trained journalists using the “few to many news approach”. That is, a few qualified/trained journalists manufacturing news for the masses to consume.

The new media involves the active use of the internet. This is in the sense that the World Wide Web facilitates the effective functionality and fluent interactivity. From influential bloggers to community networks and activists, this new technology or new media activity offers new competition for the main stream media. These groups are becoming an alternative source of news as well as another option for politicians, businessmen or other public figures to bypass the older media forms and outlets to take their message to their supporters or followers. This is because the new media provide a wide range of advantages.

First of all one can tweet and check the status on their phones, this is because the internet is available at the back of our pocket, and there’s no need to wait for the morning newspaper to get news. Therefore the new media presents the audience with absolute convenience. For instance channels like RTE, SkyNews, FOX and CNN have a bar at the bottom of the news with headlines of news and when breaking news occurs it covers it also with the internet we have. Also it’s affordable in the sense that you don’t need to place an expensive call using mobile phone credit to reach someone on the other side of the continent but using Skype free calls on the internet or watsapp text messages which are less expensive. Now you don’t need to drive all the way to a news stand to get a newspaper which is now two Ghana Cedis (2GHC). As if to add insult to injury, these new networks and individuals are also now acting as a check on the traditional media, questioning their accuracy, standards and focusing a new transparency. With the common news on the internet, citizens begun to have a vast array information available to them without having to search too strenuously or wait for schedule broadcast or speeches.

But, it is important to note that the activities of citizen journalists through the new/social media platforms are rather making old/traditional media to loose grounds and influence. This factor can be attributed to the somewhat “slow” process traditional media houses go through to gather, edit, and publish information; as compared to the use of blogs and websites by citizen journalists to quickly publish news and information to reach out and interact with his/her audience.Also, the key feature of interaction makes it easier for new media users to share, comment, and reproduce news and information.

In response to the changing trends of media production, traditional media houses are putting initiatives in place to correct the problems posed by the new media. These initiative include;

·         Corporate retraining of traditional journalist staff for them to adapt to the use of the internet and the social media.

·         Building online presence through the creation of blogs and Facebook accounts in order to still reach their audiences who are inclined to the social media. For instance, myjoyonline news portal on Facebook is a mechanism put in place by Joy FM to reach their audiences who enjoy going on the internet.

·         Creating room to accept views from their readers, listeners and watchers where issues from daily news are put on the internet for the audience to comment. Open forum on Metro TVs is a typical example of how Metro TV get the views and comments of their viewers, TV3 also has in place the viewers’ comment section.

·         Accepting news from the citizen journalists instead of challenging them and trying to set them to the background. So CNN’s iReport is a typical example of such, where they accept stories from the ordinary citizen and treats it using journalism ethics. Actually it can be accessed using an application on any smart phone, hence the citizen can report at any time and any location.

The old media in this case, if they want to avoid extinction by the advent of the new media and technology in the name of the social media, should make sure they stick to the strategies above and explore more strategies. They should not try challenging the course of the new media but see it as an avenue for developing the traditional media.

REFERENCES;

TODDAND.COM/2006/11/23/A_BRIEF_HISTORY_OF_TRADITIONAL_AND_SOCIAL_MEDIA/

HTTP://NEWMEDIAGIJ.WORDPRESS.COM

HTTP://BING.COM

BEADS

 

A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as glass, plastic, or wood, and that is pierced for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 millimetre (0.039 in) to over 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter. A pair of beads made from Nassarius sea snail shells approximately 100,000 years old, are thought to be the earliest known examples of jewelries.^. Beadwork is the art or craft of making things with beads. Beads can be woven together with specialized thread, strung onto thread or soft, flexible wire, or adhered to a surface e.g. Fabric and clay.

Traditional glass beads of Ghana are often referred to as Krobo beads, the Krobo Mountains being the main area of production. These beads are made from recycled glass. Bottles and other glass items are first washed and sorted by colours. They are then broken into small fragments for making translucent beads, or pounded with a metal mortar and pestle, and sieved to get a very fine powder for making powder glass beads. Glass powder of different colours is obtained using ceramic dyes.

Beads may be divided into several types of overlapping categories based on different criteria such as the materials from which they are made, the process used in their manufacturing, the place or period of origin, the patterns on their surface, or their general shape.

Beads can be made of many different materials. The earliest beads were made of a variety of natural materials which, after they were gathered, could be readily drilled and shaped. As humans became capable of obtaining and working with more difficult materials, those materials were added to the range of available substances. More recently, synthetic materials were added. In modern manufacturing, the most common bead materials are wood, plastic, glass, metal, and stone.

In many parts of the world, beads are used for symbolic purposes, for example: use for prayer - e.g. rosary beads, use for anti-tension devices, e.g. worry beads, use as currency e.g. Aggrey beads from Ghana, use for gaming e.g. owari beads for mankala, Greek komboloi beads as in Crete. It also provides employment opportunities; it serves as decoration, fashion, provides income, tourist attraction, foreign exchange and lastly promotes Ghanaian culture.

 

wood carving

West Africa is rich in arts and craft, and so much can be found in Ghana. Arts for sake do not traditionally exist in Africa. In Ghana, you can find beautiful hand woven textiles, old and new beads brass works gold jewellery, ceramics, paintings, sculptures, and wood carvings. Such items can be found in places like centre for national culture also called the arts centre, AACD the African Market, Village market, Wild Geeko, Sun Trade Beads, Global Mamas and others.

There are many others forms of wooden carvings that do not only play a significant role in ceremonial and traditional life, but that have an aesthetic value as well. Look at the carvings at the top of chiefs and linguists staffs, each embedded with symbolism.

The ubiquitous akwaaba fertility dolls come in many different shapes, sizes and styles. There are also many masks and sculptures available. Masks are often copies from other African cultures as there is no tradition of mask making among the tribes of Ghana. 

 Another symbol used by artiste in Ghana is the adinkra. A particular textile associated with Ghana is the adinkra cloth, which bears symbols by the same name. The cloth is generally associated with funerals and special celebrations. However, the symbols can be seen everywhere, from walls to candlestick to tro-tros. Each one has a name and meaning, as well as an aesthetic appeal.

This artefact is an example of the adinkra symbol.it is called “Gye nyame” in the local dialect of the Asante in Ghana, translated as “Except God”. Thus nothing is impossible without God.

Beads also play an important role in West African life. They are worn to signify special occasion, wealth and status. Today most artistes in Ghana add brass and beads to decorate their carvings.

THE VILLAGE MARKET

This is a craft market along liberation road. Here you will find makeshift kioks resembling a shanty town. Nevertheless this quiet community has created some of the most artistic and beautiful works of arts, wooden adinkra symbols, traditional stools, decorated coffins, exquisite carvings. There is a whole community of skills and talented indigenous craftsmen, a visit into the village itself bring one close to the artist at work. In other to take pictures one must either buy an artefact or pay a stipulated fee.

Directions: Located along liberation Road on your left from max mat at 37 next to Opeibia house and before the traffic light of silver stare tower.