NOTES FURTHER NOTES ON GHANA'S XYLOPHONE TRADITIONS In a previous note in this journal I drew attention to evidences of musicality and musicianship among the Lobi and the Dagaba, two of the ethnic groups carrying xylophone traditions in Ghana. In the suc- ceeding paragraphs i offer a description - not a solution - of a problem that would confront anyone who might make a study of these traditions. In northwest Ghana, the area to which xylophone making and playing belong in Ghana and its immediate neighbourhood, the follow- ing ethnic groups must be counted among those who carry and sustain this tradition: Lobi, Wangara, Dagaba, and Sisala. The problem to be solved reveals itself in a number of questions: (1) Are these ethnic groups related in some way? (2) Can anyone of these be rightly regarded as the radiating centre for the xylophone traditions? (3) Which of them is likely to be the one? (4) Did this group originate the instrument,? (5) If it is not an autochthonous group, did its first immigrant ancestors possess the instrument? If answers to these questions could be found important lessons would be provided for those concerned with the origins of the African xylophone ; as well as for those concerned with the histories and cul- tures of the peoples of Ghana and its neighbourhood. The solution of the problem of origin concerning the xylophone in Ghana would require data from many different sources: from internal evidence as well as evidence external to repertoires, and from a comparative study of oral traditions and constructional and performing techniques. This data is not altogether available yet, and it must be given time to grow. T~. "Musicality and Musicianship North West Ghana" Research Review 2. Vol.2 No. 1 Michaelmas Term 1965 pp.42-45. (a) Rev. A . M. Jones. "Indonesia and Africa: The xylophone as a Culture-Indicator" in African Music vol.2 No.3 (Roodepoort; I960) pp.36-47. (b) M.D.W- Jeffreys. " Negro Influences on Indonesia" in African Music vol.2 No.4; 1961 pp.10-16. NOTES 63. In the meantime relevant data that have become available can be put together and the gaps and the possibilities they hold can be i n- dicated. One point to be borne in mind is the mixture and the con- stant influx of peoples in northwest Ghana. A district commissioner writes in the 1921 census Report of Ghana (page 132) "there is often no clear distinction between tribes. For instance Lobis, Dagartis ( i . e. Dagaba), Isalas, and Grunshis are very mixed up, and the i n- habitants of many compounds might with propriety be counted under either head or as a combination of both". Rattray also throws a hint on the fluidity of societies in this area. Writing in the early 1930's about the Lobi, he said, "Their real habitat is across this river (the Black Volta), in the Ivory Coast, whence members of the tribe are migrating to British Territory (Ghana) in ever increasing numbers." Conducive conditions for the inflow of musical traditions and the borrowing and adaptation of musical ideas are thus in existence in northwest Ghana. These conditions are reflected in the variety of xylophones and xylophone tunings. The Sisala have the largest xylophones, with seventeen keys held over a frame rising to about 2^ feet from the ground at its highest end and to about one foot at the lowest end. The side of its highest end is often covered with basket work made with leather straps woven over wooden spokes. The instru- ment has the same tuning as the 17 keyed instrument of the Dagaba, a slightly smaller instrument used in pairs. According to Sazu Ninkarq, a famous Lo-B?rifu xylophone maker, the Dagaba xylophone may have as many as 20 keys, but 17 is the more usual number. Like the Sisala instrument the Dagaba xylophone is sometimes, but not usually given a basket-work shield. The Lobi also make a xylophone tuned in the same way as the Sisala and the Dagaba instruments. But theirs is a much smaller instru- ment and has 14 keys. They call it the gyilgu when in general use and Kogyil when used at funeral (kuol). T. Rattray, Capt. R.S. The Tribes of the Ashanti Hunterianj Vol.IT (Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1932) p.425. 2. See the tunings and the scale .intervallic structures on the next page. 64. NOTES The Lobi possess two other xylophone types. The Losala, i . e. those Lobi domiciled in the Lawra area, use a large 14-keyed xylo- phone called Gyilm ? which they tune differently and always use in pairs. These are larger instruments than the gyilgu , but not as large as.the Dagaba type. The gyilmo is used at funerals, at spirit posses- sion (Baybens) whose songs mostly use twelve of the fourteen keys. The Lobrifor x y- lophone, called Bogyil, also has 14 keys two of which are regarded as bad keys and are never used. possession and other social dances. |t is always used in a pair, at spirit dances and at preharvest (soer) dances, - dances These xylophone types and tunings cannot, unfortunately be the used as identification marks. The Lobrifu, users of the Bogyil - 14-keyed instrument with two "bad" ones also use the kogyil or Gyilgu (the 14-good-keyed xylophone). The Wangara, speaking a language completely unintelligible to the Lobi, also use these two instruments. The Dagaba and the Sisala, two other groups speaking different langua- ges, can also communicate musically on their two xylophone types. But the Dagaba and the Lobrifor who speak mutually intelligible dialects cannot always communicate in music. When the Brifor plays his Bogyil, the Dagawo (singular of Dagaba) cannot enjoy it, because the tuning - J.e. around Gawo Lobi In northern Ivory Coast who speak a different language from the Lobrifor of Ghana, share with them the same xylophone tunings, musical repertoires and dances. the scale - is different. On the other hand the Miiwo-Lobi the Lobi capital in Upper Volta, and the M i i w o- - Thus what is suggested in the music is refuted in the linguistic situation. Musical traditions suggest, for instance, that the Sisala and the Dagaba must be ethnically related; their linguistic disunity suggests that we have no sufficient evidence in the music to draw such a conclusion. The difficulty is a real one; for one cannot dismiss either the conflicting musical evidence or the linguistic evidence and conclude that two groups with identical forms of one or the other must be ethnically related. The evidence before us does not suggest that the inertia of linguistic forms is more critical than that of musical forms or vice versa. In other words, we have not the means in the " « >• <\ KEYS NUMBERED • PPOM THE LOWEST NOTE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 • 14 (The Kogyll Tuning Is used also by the Dagaba and the Sisala) tOBI XYLOPHONE TUNINGS KOGYIL OH GYILGU BOGYIL GYILMO CPS 106 120 166 188 212 244 284 332 376 424 504 576 664 CENTS 214 316 241 220 208 243 • 263 270 215 208 299 231 246 CPS 110 136 150 198 236* 236 292 308 392 392* .464 576 616 760 CENTS 367 447 213 304 _ 369 92 418 _ 292 374 116 364 x Gyilsoona I.e. Bad tone* CPS 82 98 105 128 146 166 200 212 268 300 328 396 432 520 CENTS 308 119 343 228 222 323 101 406 195 154 326 151 321 NOTES 65. available data to judge whether music or language is the more per- manent heritage. There are adjacent neighbours in our examples which have retained divergent musical traditions against a common linguistic background, as there are also adjacent neighbours which have retained distinctive languages against a common background of musical traditions. We are thus unable yet to resolve the first point in our five- point problem. The difficulties here are not necessarily insoluble. There are yet wide unexplored fields which might offer clues. BuJ the present difficulties are valuable pointers to the danger of pro- claiming links and ascribing origins too soon in comparative studies of this kind. A.A. Mensah.