Gankoqui

Gankogui ( ewe, plural gankoguiwo ), also gankoqui, ewe and fon gakpavi, gakpevi, is a double hand bell with no clapper, which is played in the music of the Ewe in the south of Ghana and among the Fon in Togo and Benin imaging as a clock percussion instrument. The two different sized metal bells of Aufschlagidiophons are struck with a wooden stick. The large drum orchestra, the double bells form the indispensable rhythmic backbone, in certain rituals, they have a magical significance.

Design and dissemination

Ghanaian Idiophone

Come in Ghana - as in many areas of Africa south of the Sahara - metal bells with and without clapper used. In the single bells without clappers there are two types: some are in the form of a long narrow funnel and kept at the upper end between your fingers. In the Ewe in Togo they are called gakokwe. The other Idiophone consist of a boat-shaped bent segment of a circle, which is held like a rising flower in the palm, without touching the sides. The latter instrument, wrought iron is, in the Ewe atoke (or toke ), it brings like the gangkogui a certain pitch out and is used among other things for the background rhythm in the Hatsyiatsya songs and the Gahu dances. The Latin American cowbell has a closed form as the gakokwe and lies in the hand like a atoke.

In Ghana, there are also spherical or conical bells that are worn on the middle finger and struck with a ring on the thumb. In northern Ghana iron forks are known with attached cymbals. For fine rhythmic structure serve pumpkin rattle, bats and calabash shells, which reversed in the north are lying struck with the fingers on the floor. In the south is used gourds as water drums, the Akan beat them with his hands, the Ewe with sticks.

Simply bells, iron forks, cymbals, and rattles from the Gold Coast are shown next to drums and a raft zither on an anonymous engraving from the 18th century, under the heading " Musicalische instruments on the Gold Coast " is not clearly shown. The illustrations were prepared according to the records of Jean Barbot (around 1670-1720 ), who had seen the instruments near the present-day capital of Accra.

Double bells

Simple, forged bells were already before 800 AD known in a large area between West Africa and Zimbabwe; between the 11th century and the middle of the 15th century can be in central Africa, the first double bells prove. They consist of separately manufactured bells that can be connected in two different ways: via a semicircular temple bells in Northern Ghana with the Dagomba and Mamprusi are interconnected. In Nigeria and Congo such Ironing double bells are regionally Ngonge, Ngongi, ngunga or called engongui. In the Lunda in the south of Congo they call lubemb. With the black slaves, African music also came to Brazil, where the double bell Agogô is played in dance music.

When the stem double bells on the other hand, including the gangkogui part, both parts are tapered to a stalk on which they are welded together at an acute angle. Handle double bells were classified as " Guinea- type " and are also common in neighboring peoples of Ewe. The Ife in Atakpamé they call ango. The Edo ( Bini ) in Southwest Nigeria using both types of double bells: The iron Ironing bells call egogo eregbeva ( from egogo - " bell ", egbe - "body" and eva - "two" ), 20 to 30 centimeters long, just ritually used handle bells, brass or bronze as the hot up to 150 centimeters long, simple iron bells simply egogo.

The distribution of double bells extends from Mali to the west, where the Dogon the gangana worship as a ritual instrument, Nigeria and the Congo to Zimbabwe and Angola ( bow-shaped gogo ). Well, would for the Central African Republic between the northern and southern region, some examples of dual bells find, among other things, photographed Gerhard Kubik 1964 at Sangha River, the large standing double bell ( tatum ) of a chief who was probably forged at the turn of the 20th century had. Four of the 295 mid-16th to mid- 17th century cast and musical instruments containing Benin bronzes of the Kingdom of Benin - artful groups of figures on rectangular relief panels - show double bells. The palace guards of the Fon in Dahomey were called panigan after the name of the double bells ( panigan, also kpanlingan ), which they beat, while three times daily at the time of the annual festival ( huetanu ) and every morning during the rest of the year on ritualized manner without errors a had to declaim text.

The obvious cultural significance of the double bell has led to Erich Moritz von Hornbostel beginning of the 20th century the African einbaute double bells in his Kulturkreislehre and an Indonesian origin suspected. Indeed, there is in Southeast Asia no formal counterpart to the double bells. Only the boat-shaped atoke and similar slot bells in Gabon have a resemblance to the Javanese gamelan played kemanak of, both of which are also usually in pairs.

Ghanaian double bells

The gankogui are forged from iron sheet and hammered. A bell is significantly larger than the other, thus two playable tones give approximately the interval of a third. On behalf of the Easy bell gakokwe (also gakoko ) is ga for " metal ", and ko represents the Anschlagston for an onomatopoeic syllable repeated several times. Gankogui could kogo, " page ", include, so refer to a side-hinged bell. The word gakpavi for the double bell is made up of ga, in turn, " metal ", kpa, "on the back" and vi, "child" together. The different sizes of bells led to the classification as a " mother - and - child - type."

After a usual method of preparation scrap iron pipes are brought on a hearth glow. Once the tube is glowing, the blacksmith strikes from it, to a rectangular plate is obtained. The plate comes again to red heat in the fire and is subsequently knocked out thin. After reheating two corners are bent and folded over to the inside. In the same way, a second plate. Between the two plates is a template made ​​of hard wood, the smith is now the plates by striking form from all sides and forge together at the edges. The wood interior, meanwhile, begins to inevitably burn. The initially along curved corners are beaten in the length and give the stem. A second, equally produced bell is welded to the first on a stick. A small loop at the end of the handle is used to attach a cord.

Play and use

The player holds the gankogui with the left hand on the handle and strikes with a wooden stick in his right hand. The instrument is played standing up or sitting down appropriately. Sets the seated players gankogui immediately after the attack on his thigh, he can dampen the finish. The big bell also rests on his leg when he with his stick strikes the small bell from the wrist.

Ewe music consists mainly of percussion instruments, including several different large barrel drums (the biggest: atsimevu, supportive drums: the deep sogo, the average kidi and the high kagan (u)), the vessel rattle axatse and bells belong. The smallest einfellige barrel drum kloboto (or klodzie ) is special dances reserved. The whole, all the dances accompanying drum orchestra consists of the clock giving Idiophongruppe in the background, the rhythm of drummers and, separately, the third musical range, associated with the clapping song. The 1959 standard published works by Arthur Morris Jones made the music of the Ewe for many years to the classical model of West African drumming and the book title to reflect occasionally the core of African music in general. To this day, many experts have dealt with the rhythmic structures of double bells and drums.

The object of the double bell is to specify the basic stroke and other divisions of the clock and provide a temporal orientation during the entire performance for the other, polyrhythmic playing orchestral musician. It functions the same in this respect of a metronome. According carefully must be the training of gankogui player. He does not beat the even cycle times, but patterns that consist of eight to twelve beats ( pulses) and to be constantly repeated. In the background area the rattle is added axatse, with its downward strokes duplicates the bell and with the up- beats fill the time in between the. This rhythmic foundation is named after a probably early 1960s introduced by Ghanaian ethnomusicologist JH Kwabena Nketia term time-line pattern. Accordingly, the rhythmic, muffled drumbeats distributed asymmetrically about the underlying, regular sequence of elementary pulses of bright metallic - sounding double bells. Based on the gankogui is also spoken by bell pattern. The standard pattern with twelve pulses for a bell reads:

As a mnemonic syllables: kong - kong - ko - kong - kong - kong - ko

In the accompanying music to the Hatsyiatsya songs that are sung at the beginning of certain entertainment dances, come up to 16 before gankoguiwo. Popular Ewe dances are listed in each condition Agbadza, entertainment and dance Gahu the former warrior dance Atsi Agbekor. The Agbadza dance begins with Hatsyiatsya songs, which follow the specific dance songs.

In funeral processions are four to six gankoguiwo usual. The traditional funeral dance Nyayito called after him organizing Federation mostly older people. These are grouped loosely around the two heads of the Federal dance, the song composers ( Hesino ) and the master drummer ( Azaguno ). While the songs and dances of other societies are regarded as their own property and may be performed only by each member, it is allowed each participant of Nyayito dances to sing the melodies of the Federation and to play certain instruments such as the gankogui, even the otherwise the master drummer reserved for large atsimevu. For Nyayito Orchestra include the entire list of drums and Idiophone already listed.

Yeve (or Tohono ) is among the Ewe of the cult of the god of thunder Adzogbo, which is related with the thunder god Shango the Yoruba and Xevieso of Benin. Whose cult is secret, by the members of an initiation and the learning of a particular cult language is required. They also have to buy the needed items for the ceremonies expensive. A substantial part of the cult consists of dances that are listed on a dance floor in front of the cult house. The seven yeve dances are accompanied by the typical drum orchestra.

In Accra today occur musical groups, which combine traditional styles of music and instruments of different ethnic groups with new compositions and present in concerts. This creates a multi-ethnic music as it is maintained in the National Dance Company. In this way, the xylophone gyil the Dagara and Lobi in the north of the country can gome with the deep sounding box-shaped drum and barrel drum kpanlogo of Ga on the coast with the bamboo flute atenteben from the center of the bell gankogui and the rattle axatse meet the Ewe.

Within its range in West and Central Africa were iron bells as metal trumpets and kettle drums ( kakaki as examples or naqqara in Hausa ) to the insignia of chieftainship. There they were occasionally beaten by women. Play As with the Ewe iron bells in other peoples involved in secret societies, where they protect against evil spirits, and also in family rituals and funeral processions. On the southern and northern Sahara border to include in the popular religious rituals of Muslim societies metal vessel collapses ( qarqaba ) this function.