RESEARCH  REVIEW  NS VOL.6  N 0 .2 1990

"WORDS, MUSIC, DANCE AND PARODY IN CONFUSION:
THE PERFORMANCE  OF NZEMA AVUDWENE  SONGS"

Kofi Ermeleh Agovi

Introduction

In an earlier article on African  performance  situations,11  drew attention to the number of
such  occasions  in  the  African  setting  and highlighted  the relationship  between  aesthetic
considerations and creative communication in African performances. I am obliged in this paper
to return  to the same  subject because  it offers  the opportunity  to examine  more  closely the
validity  of  the concept  of performance  as a complex,  'single  unit' event  as it applies  in the
African  context  As I found  in the previous  study, there are broadly  speaking,  three kinds of
performance situations in African society. The first, is the performance occasion which  focuses
attention on the individual  artist who is regarded as the primary originator of the occasion. This
is also the case  with  the narrative performer,  including  vocational  and recreational  groups of
singers, musicians and dancers. These  groups may perform  on their own in accordance  with
demands for public exposure and acclaim.

On the other hand, these same groups may also be required by tradition to perform as part of
stated ceremonial  occasions.  Since  they  are not regarded  as the focus  of attention  on  these
occasions,  their  role  is  often  restricted  to providing  creative  support  in the sense  of  either
'enhancing* or 'embellishing' the occasion. On the occasion of a title-taking ceremony among the
Ibo, for example, groups such as praise singers, dancers and musicians may be invited, hired or
compelled to  perform  out of  loyalty  to persons  being  so honoured.  During  such  occasions,
creative performances provide only background support, conscious of their subordinate position,
hence the degree of creative assertiveness becomes comparatively marginalised. This is not the
case with the third and most complex performance situation where a number of related creative
performances  are brought together in the same  contiguous  location. Each  event is a focus of
attention, and together, they constitute the performance complex.

This third performance situation is the subject of this paper. Such situations have  continued
to fascinate  me because  of their complexity.  I have  often  been  intrigued by their sources of
coherence  from  the point  of  view  of  the audience.  What,  for example,  are the criteria for
regarding  such occasions as unit  cultural performances?  Are we to accept without reservation
Milton Singer's implied assertion that all performances reveal coherent experiences because they
display  inherent  characteristics  of  "a definite  time  span,  an organised  program  of  activity,
performers, audience, place and occask>n?"2  in other words, are such notions of performance in
western culture adequate to apply to these complex African performance situations? As Beverly
Stoeltje  has quite rightly  observed,  although  die "performance-centred  approach  permits the
recognition  of  common  features,'  one cannot  deny  'the very  distinctive  features  of  each
performance form and the wide cultural variation they exhibit from one place to another."3 it is
in  recognition  of  this  tact  that  this  paper  seeks  to  stress  the relevance  of the inter-cultural
perspective to performance studies in the sense of drawing attention to ackfitionaT considerations
which  would lead to a more comprehensive  view  of the performance  concept across  cultural
frontiers.

This paper  was  first  presented  at  a  seminar  in  Indiana  University,  Bloomuigton  under  the
auspices  ofthe  African  Studies  Program, in its 1990 Performance  Studies  Program.  The author
would  like  to convey  Ms gratitude  to Prof. JJt.  Nketia  and Prof. Richard  Bauman for  making
useful suggestions  fc  the preparation  of the  paper.

Background

The Avudwene  performance  is one of the most significant highlights of the Nzema  Kundum
festival. The latter is an annual event  It takes place at the end of the rainy season and is rooted
in  the  harvest period of  August  to  October of  every  year.  During  this  time,  Ahanta-Nzema
speakers  along  the  coast  of  South-west  Ghana,  who  spread  from  Sekondi-Takoradi  to
Half-Assini,  set aside one week to celebrate the festival.  Since the people regard the Kundum
festival as an instrument of collective expiation, every effort is accordingly made to involve the
whole community and its network of socio-political and artistic institutions. Events, cereirtonies
and creative performances  in the festival  are organised as a renewal of  shared knowledge and
experience (Nketia,  1990:80) and it is in this sense that the Avudwene  performance becomes  a
significant segment of the festival.

In the  Jomoro  District of  Western  Nzema,  this performance  marks  the final  phase  of  the
festival and it takes two days to accomplish.^ It is made up of the same events on each occasion.
There are songs, dance and musk  and comic  sketches. Although each single event has its own
set of performers, audience and space allocation (often times not clearly demarcated, as we shall
see),  it  is  the  central  event  of  songs  which  unites  or  is  perceived  to  unite  the  overall
performance.

During the actual performance, there is a high incidence of audience mobility. Although seats
are provided for traditional dignitaries, invited guests, and members of the public, participants are
also  very  much  aware  of  their freedom  to  move  from  one  event to  the other. Thus  audience
loyalty tends to be  unstable since  its retention is correspondingly  dependent on  the quality  of
each event Moreover, while the song, music and dance events are pitched at given locations, and
therefore are more likely to enjoy a 'stable' audience participation, the actors of comic  sketches
have no recognised location. They move about through the various audiences until they  finally
settle with the music and dance event

All these factors create the impression of a highly  volatile performance situation in which  a
sense  of  a  "coherent  performance"  is  difficult  to  locate.  But  this  is  precisely  what  the
performance  is  expected  to  impart  to  its  participants.  In  a  sense,  this  is  inevitable  because
performers, actors and audiences are bound to derive a sense of meaning  from such  disparate
performances.  It  is  their  privilege  to  realise  their  idea  of  the  performance  situation  as  a
homogeneous  experience  and  following  from  this, define  their relationship  to it  in  terms  of
relevance. Consequently, a central thrust of this paper is to analyse the different  ways in which
such processes are achieved or realised in the performance  situation of  the Nzema  Avudwene
song texts.  And, in order to do so effectively,  I propose now to look closely at the nature of the
various events which make up the total performance.

"EKOA"  or  Comic  Sketches

This  is  the visual  representation  of  social  types, institutions and professions.  The mode  of
depiction is through the exaggeration of human features, costume and props. Among the Nzema,
this event is known as Ekoa, an old Nzema word which means "satire" or "the ridiculous", hence
the familiar expression associated with this event is "be le p€  £koa" -  "they are satirising."

Qcoa  is  undertaken  by  individuals  or teams  of  individuals  on  their own  initiative.  Such
individuals obviously  possess  dramatic talent and a strong sense of  the ridiculous. Nketia has
identified  their acts as  "wandering acts" in Ghanaian  traditions of performance,^  particularly
those associated with festivals  such as the Kundum.  In the performance under discussion,  fee
actors of the flboa lend to to use dance as the immediate tool to enliven, animate and act out their

chosen roles and intentions. Through the dance and music, the tkoa  performers literany take
advantage to Taring to life'what t a^ want tossy or conwy to ttoaudi^^

purposely e»agg<iratrri, as  tfcciesreeinpto^wl^a^
AMxmgh aB such styBsod renwantatioiis aw intended to create tewghtw, hence the emphasis on
distortions  in  bearing, connate,  make-up and praps, each  tkoa  act also harbours  serious
attentions of historical reflection and contemplation.

Historical tberaes of the cfa» lend to emphasise origiwof findies. This is partictilarly true
of alien popolatioas, especially those of suspected stare ancestry fiom the SafadRegioa of West
Africa, who still experieace problems of full integration into Naema society. Such atolches have
the effett of cotnpriifa^ reflection on what seeing to be an h^
of Nzeraa society. In the same way, traditional  political figures, teachers, women, itinerant
fortune-teBers and traders are popular subjects of these satirical sketches. These people and their
representative  institutions are criticised or ridiculed on the basis of a strong awareness of social
change. Strange ideas, practices and changes that are initiated by or attributed to these agencies
become the focus of  intense satirical sketches in the tkoa.  In all these depictions, one can
perceive clearly a groping towards a sense of the grotesque in spectacle. This is used as a means
of  'unveiling1  sensitive  social  and historical  issues  in  the society.  While this  sense  of  the
grotesque  may  evoke  gales  of  laughter,  to  the  extent  that  spectators  so  regaled  may
spontaneously give out monetary rewards as tokens of appreciation, it also at the same time
reformulates reality in a way that quietly disturbs, arousing the spectators' consciousness to an
awareness that is often repressed. The ability of any tkoa  sketch to evoke such consciousness
through-laughter is a mark of its effectiveness and success with the audience. Interestingly, this
sense of the grotesque is even more readily apparent in the verbal satire that characterises the
Avudwene songs.

Avudwene  Performance

I have already written extensively about the significance of the Avudwene songs in other
contexts.6  There is no doubt mat on the occasion mat the Avudwene is performed in relation to
the ekoa and Kundum music and dance, the audience consider the Avudwene as the central event
For it enjoys the largest seated audience. All important institutions in the society, including
representatives of the traditional state, are obliged by tradition to be seated and be attentive to the
songs. There is also a strong contingent of owners of tape recorders who literally besiege or
invade me arena to record the texts. While this is a new feature of the occasion, it certainly goes
to emphasise the paramount significance of the Avudwene in relation to the other events. As a
word-centred event, it carries a certain moral power and energy often associated with verbal
performances in Africa. Patrick R. NcNaughton (1988:7) has observed mat songs of Mmde bards
are more man inspirational. "They are instrumental. The power in them can inhabit an audience
and literally drive it to all manner of acts." Although Nzema participants may not be driven to
'all manner of acts' by the words of the Avudwene, mey nevertheless revere the performance for
its power of sarcasm and die potential for stinging social commentary. Through the satirical
power of the word, the world view, ideas and convictions of Nzema participants are, for the
duration of the performance, verbally distorted and reconstituted skndtaneousry. The design of
•distortkm'and'reconstitotion'cfreaHtybe
of participants to new levels of moral awareness.

The AvwnweK is performed  as a coOective creative endeavour. The iEiwioile (or poet) fkst
originates the texts and crafts mem into a synthesis of language and thought; his verbal creation

is subsequently taken over by the Kodokuma, a team of poet-cantors, who sit in front of the
stagers to direct and control the verbal periormance. In these days, these poet-cantors record the
porfs words in a written form, in a notebook that is used to remind arefprod the memory of the
cantorsJ The poet-cantors (who may be four or five in number) recreate the Ewmenlc's texts in
speech rhythms intended to parallel song rhythms. The poet-cantors take turns to recite the texts
in a speech form to fazAwuakama singers, who then project the composed texts in a variety of
tonal  forms which may incorporate elements of song, recital, chant and speech.

Where the singers £ul to grasp the words ckarly, it is their privilege to ask for a repetition.
In some instances, lack of clarity on the part of a poet-cantor may result in a great deal of
frustration,  m much me same way, members of the audience may also be frustrated when they do
not hear the words properly, and may therefore intervene to offer advice on the quality of voice
projection.  The  same  audience  may  be  moved  to  shout  words  of  encouragement  and
congratulations to the performers if they are pleased or satisfied with clarity of expression and
audibility,  including  especially,  the  depth  of  language  use  and  imagery.  Through  these
"interventions", the performance is shaped and directed. The performers themselves as well as
members of  the audience  are free  to  contribute  to  mis process of  creatively  'shaping' the
performance; and although such interventions may be frequent and some of them unpleasant,
revealing  levels of anger and frustration, they nevertheless serve to strengthen the integrity of the
performance driving it to new levels of energy, credibility and vitality.

As already indicated, a dominating presence in this event is the sense of unremitting satire
that pervades  the entire performance.  Although  mere are various dimensions  to  the  song
performance with regard to theme, complexity of thought and language structures, most of the
audience eagerly look forward to the satirical depictions. When the texts begin to address these
aspects, one notices visible signs of renewed interest, anticipation and keen involvement on the
part of the audience. This is evidently the case because laughter and applause abound. Women are
satirised;  individuals  are  ridiculed;  institutions  are  brought  to  public  shame  for  their
shortcomings, and in all these pre-occupations, a sense of social criticism emerges as a result of
unacceptable changes and departures from the normal values and expectations of the community.
This feature is known as Nzadwene  - satirical songs  - which is done in a language that is
comparatively simpler and easier to understand.

As the singers perform, they are not unmindful of their links with the music and dance that is
pitched just behind them. They become conscious of the thundering rhythms of the Edomgbole
master  drum.  The  Edomgbole  master  drum  is  the  'lead  cantor'  of  the  ensemble  of
instrumentalists who provide the musical framework for the dance movements. The rhythms of
the master drum dictate the flow of dance movements and prescribe the appropriate moods which
should accompany the movements. But equally important, the Edomgbole master drum also
provides the basic beat for the songs. The group of singers - thcAwuakama -  normally consist
of about ten to twelve performers. Each of mem holds on to a long vertical pole with his left
hand, leaving the right hand free to dramatise and interpret the texts through appropriate gestures.
In between the rendition of the texts, however, these singers listen carefully to the prevailing
rhythm of the master drum in order to measure the rate and pace of their intended utterance; the
rhythm also provides a psychological lmk between them and the dance and music event.

K u du  Mask  and  Dance

The Edomgbole master drum is also central to the dance movements. Its distinct language
consists of 'directives' as to what dancers should do in the dance arena, fa other words, the master
drum continually "talks" to the dancers, compelling them to move, restraining, controlling and

liberating  them  all  at  the  same  time.  Since  the test  of  the  instruments  are mainly  bells,
whistles, dry seeds, bamboo planks, rattles and small drums, it is the big Edomgbole master
drum alone that is me sole medium for creative dialogue with the dancers. It is this dram whose
strokes  radiate  vitality  and energy  enabling  participants  to dramatise a  range  of  complex
emotions.

In roe actual drama of me dance, participants both male and female, are made to dattingiiish
between two broad movement rhythms, tbefast wad slow. These are not mutually exekwive. The
slow rhythm gives rise to a fixed dance form in which emphasis is placed on stylised walking
movements. Its slow pace permits dancers to relax and to relate to each other as they dramatise
"team daace." In mis  setting, mere is no room  for deviation. All  the dancers move in  one
direction, anti-clockwise, in a clear attempt to express their collective sense of social ceheskxi.
There is also no harry as the slow rhythm imposes a sense of majesty in which each dancer is
obliged to relate to the other "decently". This is instantly disrupted when the fast rhythm is
introduced. AH the dancers are swept into seeming disarray, the pattern of movement flow  is
disrupted and the emphasis is shifted on individual action and improvisation. The individual's
movements and actions at this point become unique to him alone, completely  distinguished
from what others may do. He is  allowed  the freedom to exhibit lewd-likc  and uninhibited
movements to generate laughter, for the enactment of laughter becomes the central preoccupation
of all the individual dancers. Imaginary dance motifs are introduced. Exaggerated scenes and
episodes suggesting unabashed sexual intent in courtship and romance are depicted. Aggression,
jealousy and social mannerisms are enacted. Regardless of roe content of me dance movements,
all roe dancers aim at creating and evoking laughter. In effect, the fast rhythm distorts normal
dance movements, permitting individual dancers to descend into a momentary world of creating
laughter where values of decency, self-control  and social relatedness are suspended. Thus the
transition flora slow to fast rhythm finds a dramatic parallel in the attempt to distort and recreate
reality in the daace arena. It is in this situation mat tkoa actors also take the advantage to reveal
their close affinity  with the dance and music performances. Indeed skoa actors highlight the
comic nature of the occasion when they use such rhythms to reveal their true intentions through
parody and exaggerated movements. Thus a significant characteristic of roe fast rhythm is its
specific emphasis on obscenity and licentiousness which is intended to generate laughter.

Linkages  in  the  Performance

It may be postulated mat the three events which make up the overall performance reveal one
dominating conceptual  idea. This is the drive towards comic laughter through verbal satire,
m
the overall performance, is a serious one. Bakhtin (1981:23) captures the seriousness of laughter
in art in the following words:

..Laughter demolishes fear and piety before <m object, before a world, making of

j

f

f^ 

invesdgadmofk.Lcmgkterisavitalfaaorinlayingdownth<Upre^
fearlessness  without  which it  would be  impossible  to  approach  the  world
realistically.  As  it  draws  an object  to  itself  and makes it familiar,  laughter
delivers  the object  into the fearless  hands of investigative experiment - both

g^

Such a  concept  of  laughter is significant  in  African  creative  performances  because  it  is

Afttaai metthtUf  <roptoy& the grotesque w  exaggeration as a means of celebrating temporal

reversal or turmoil of human life, in which, as we have tried to show in our analysis of the
Avudwene performance, cherished values, ideals and facets of human experience are distorted and
reconstituted as a form of renewal of human experience, and as a critical means of underlining
meaning and relevance. Sound spectacle, movement spectacle, and visual spectacle, as elements
in the Avudwene  performance,  clearly  emphasise  laughter  as  a  common  framework  for
perceiving such situations as a unified experience.

The idea of a unified, coherent experience is further stressed by the underlining aesthetic of
the performance. This may be identified as the principle of creative fusion or the use of different
media of expression in support of a centrally-organised  and overriding idea.9 in the events
analysed, we realise that visual, verbal and kinetic modes of perception are brought together and
made to relate to each other through a process of  fusion  in which  one creative  medium or
structure supports die other in an interlocking chain of reinforcement. The audience is basically
aware that each event is essentially  concerned  with dramatising the same theme through a
different creative route. They are not confused or misled by the multiplicity of  simultaneous
events. As they move from one event to the other, they become aware of the tact that sound,
movement, words and visual parody reinforce each other in one grand metaphor of 'chaos' and
'order* that is part of their lives. Hence, the high incidence of audience mobility  during the
performance is the result of a desire to "take in" aspects of the same experience.

At a deeper level,  however, one can  also consider the fact  that each of  these  media of
expression in the performance is concretely associated with an important faculty of man - his
ear, feeling and sight - faculties which co-exist in man and help to realise the totality of his
being. 10 Underlining the principle of creative fusion, as isolated in die events of the Avudwene
performance, therefore, may be discerned an assumption, an aesthetic assumption, that man
integrates and imposes order on his sensory perceptions. And it is this ability to impose order on
his random perceptions that is dramatised in the outer arena of the Aviunvene performance.

Conclusion

By emphasising the thematic factor in this complex performance-situation, I have tried to
suggest that participants use such occasions to re-state their real Me concerns. Their perception
of meaning and relevance, as conceived in creative performances, has to do with issues that
vitally concern human life. It is as if each performance has to advance life in the qualitative
sense.

Yet, at the same time, the relationship between art and life is not communicated as a mere
functional enterprise. It has to do also with an aesthetic principle whose focus  is man. This
arises from me principal consideration that the manner of eommonicating felt life must be based
on what man continually does in relation to his senses and in relation to the perception of reality
in his environment The requirement of continually imposing order through his senses seems to
parallel man's ingenuity in using his 'creativity' to 'communicate' what is eternally significant,
meaningful and relevant to him. The concept of performance in me African context therefore
recognises the significance of man's perceptions as a unifying factor in his attempt to express
reality as a renewal of shared knowledge and experience in his relationship to others.

Rcnmccs

1.  See KLE. Agovi, (1988) "The Aesthetics of Creative Communicatioo in African Performance
Situatioos" in Research Review NS Volume 4, No.l, Legoo: Institute of  African
Studies, p.3.

2.  This quotation a  taken from Beverly Stoeltje and Richard Bauman's article (1988) on "The
Semiotics  of  Fblkloric  Performance"  in  The Semiotic  Web  1987  (New  York:
Mouton de Gruyler) p. 589. They attribute it to Milton Singer (1972),  WhenaGreat
Tradition Modernizes (New York: Praeger).

3.  Beveriy Stodtje and Richard Baumm (1988), TlKSemwtics of  FoBdorePerf^^

The Semiotic Web 1987. In this same article, they also include cdturd performances
which "differ around roe world" (p. 595).

4.  The two days of  the same performance is bated on a long standing tradition. Daring mis
phase of  the Kundum  in  the Jomoro  District,  the  town  of  Bonyere  take  their
song-texts, dancers and comic sketches to the town of Ezinlibo on Thursday of the
Kundum week. The following day, that is on Friday of the UTwirfHW week, the town
of Ezinlibo also 'reciprocate1 the gesture by taking their version of the same events
to Bonyere. According to this tradition, the two towns are supposed to ridicule and
satirise each other, but in effect, their activities are also expected to cover historical
events, problems and issues of the whole Jomoro District

5.  J.H. Nketia (1965) Ghana - Music, Dance and Drama: A review of the Performing Arts of

Ghana (Accra: Ministry of Information) pJJl.

6.  See Kofi Agovi (1979) "Kundum: Festival Drama among the Ahanta-Nzema of South West
Ghana." Unpublished PfaJX dissertation. Institute of African Studies, University of
Ghana, Legon, pp. 230-277. See also Kofi Agovi (1980) XX Actors, Performers and
Audience in Traditional African Drama" in Presence Afiicaine No. 116, pp. 141-158,
and Kofi Agovi (1989) "Oral Tradition and Social Change in Contemporary Africa"
in The Ancestor's Beads: Crosscurrent, Volume 2, Nos. 3 -4  (Hamilton Outrigger
Publishers) p. 45-46.

7.  This feature reminds of the literary situation Ruth Finncgan (1982) extensively describes in
her article, "Oral Literature and Writing in the South Pacific" in Oral and Traditional
Literatures: Pacific Quarterly Moana Volume 7, No.2 (Hamilton, New Zealand:
Outrigger Publishers) pp. 22-23.

8.  M.M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays (Austin, University of Texas Press,

1981) p. 23.

9.  This  is  extensively  discussed  in  Kofi  E.  Agovi  (1988)  "The  Aesthetics  of  Creative
Communication in African Performance Situations" in Research Review NS Volume
4,  No.l.

10.  This  is  the  subject  matter  of  an  article  on  "The  Philosophy  of  Communication  in
Traditional Ghanaian Society: The Literary and Dramatic Evidence" in  Research
Review Volume 5, No.2,1989.

Works Cited

McNaughton, Patrick R. 1988:  The Monde Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power and Art in West

Nketia,KwabenaJJL 

1990:  "Contextual  Strategies of  Inquiry  and  Systematization"  in

Africa. Bloonungkn: Indiana University Press.

Holoquist, Michael (ed.)  1981:  The Dialogic  Imagination: Four Essays by M.M. Bakhtin.

Ethnomudcology, VoL 34, No. 1.

Austin: University of Texas Press.

7