Traditional Dance

The Damba celebration is praised by the boss and people groups of the Northern, Savanna, North East and Upper West Regions of Ghana. The name Damba in Dagbani, Damma in Mampruli and Jingbenti in Waali.  THE DAMBA CELEBRATION PRAISED BY THE BOSS The celebration is commended in the Dagomba lunar month of Damba, reporter onding to the third month of the Islamic schedule, Rabia al-Awwal. Damba is commended to stamp the birth and naming of the Holy prophet, Muhammad, yet the real substance of the festival is a glorification of the chieftaincy, not explicit Islamic themes. The celebration is arranged into three sessions; the Somo Damba, the Naa Damba and the Belkulsi. The people in the north have different types of dance and the Damba dance is one of them. THE DAMBA TRADITIONAL DANCE IN PERFORMANCE BY: NANA ASARE

Winneba was founded in 1515 by the Efutu settlers under the leader Osimpa, hence, the name Simpa Efutu which is also the dialect spoken in Winneba.  According to the history, the name Winneba originated from sailors who plied along the Atlantic Coast and who were often aided along the bay by  favorable winds.  From their constant use of the words windy bay, the name Winneba was coined. THE ASAFO COMPANY Winneba has a number of music and dance forms but the famous is the Asafo traditional dance which is performed with three drums and gong gong beating.  It is mostly the men who do the clapping and singing just to keep the rhythm and the tempo, but the dancing is non – restrictive. It is also known that women can perform the Asafo traditional dance very well even though, it is a warrior dance and for that matter it has to be performed and danced by men. THE WORRIOR DANCE BEING PERFORMED The Asafo dance is a t...

THE BORBORBOR DANCE  It is believed that the root of this dance form has been embedded within the culture of a village called Wusuta located around the Volta Lake in Ghana.    Francis Nuatro an ex-police officer belonging to a village called Kpando first developed the musical genre called “Borborbor”.  Borborbor is the most popular style of recreational music in the Volta Region.  It links traditional drumming rhythms with proverbial lyrics that frequently include Christian themes. It is the ultimate blend of old and new.    Borborbor is often played at celebrations and funerals.  Borborbor drummers weave moderate beats while women dancers and singers revolve around them.  Women singers carry two white handkerchiefs that they twirl in the air at the end of a drumming period. And also this dance , involves ladies tweaking with their backsides. A bugle may be used to add spice to the music. There is usually one song l...

The dance "Agbadza" , is a dance performed by the people of Togo, Benin and the western part of NIgeria. When we come to Ghana, we have the Ewe tribe of the Volta Region performing the "Agbadza" dancee. The dance is not usually performed by the whole tribe of Ewes. We have th  Anlo's, who are the patrons of the dance, the Avenors , the Tongu's and some part of th  Wedome people performing this dance of "Agbadza ." " Agbadza " has many rhythms  likened to it. We have the Misornu, Agee, Awuna, Kinka, Atokoe, Adzida, Adzidasogbo, Atsafu, Atsiagbekore, Madedzi and Atrikpui. All these are rhythms likened to " Agbadza ." All these rhythms are performed using the same set of local instruments since without these instruments, the dance cannot be performed to perfection. The instruments include, a set of four drums, a "gakogoe "- which is a two conical metal joined to a tiny rod of metal at the base. The two sides ar...

the flag of  Ghana map of Ghana showing regional demarcations Ghana              and   traditional        dances Ghana as a nation, has many ethnic groups across. A country with many different languages with the Akans being the majority of about 49 percent tribal group representation. The country has 64 different languages in all and all the groups have their unique culture and traditions. as a matter of fact, all the tribes have a festival they celebrate and this is where and when they exhibit their peculiar or unique traditional dance forms which are mostly the musical type. It is also a fact that the people do not only enjoy and entertain themselves with these daces on festive occasions, but under other special functions. In this write up we would like to give a brief background to just a handful of the dance forms Ghana has which include:  KPANLOGO, ASAFO, AGBADZA, DAMBA, GOME, B...

According to my grandmother, who comes from Dodowa, the Dipo dance was originated from 'Klo Yomi' which means Shai Hills, where their forefathers came to settle after they came from Nigeria. The whole story was of a man who married two wives at that time, the first wife of the man got pregnant and gave birth to a male child. After a few weeks the man and his wife agreed and circumcised the baby. The couple and the neighbors were very happy they circumcised the baby because their perception was that, the baby has been cleansed or sanctified all the people in the community came together to celebrate and offer gifts to the baby and the mother. This drew the man’s attention so much on the wife and the baby boy, which became a legacy for all the people in the community that all their male children must be circumcised Later the second wife also got pregnant. But instead of giving birth to a boy as she wished for, she gave birth to a girl. Due to her bitterness and je...

Dance in many cultures is performed to arouse emotions, social communication and spiritual fulfilment.  Traditional dancers are mostly with indigenous people, therefore, any art form emanating from the indigenes is perhaps likely to be termed as traditional. Gome is an offshoot from kpanlogo which is referred to as the dance of the youth.  Gome is a Ghanaian dance associated with the Ga ethnic group, who are traditionally located in the greater Accra Region of Ghana.  THE DANCE IS ON WITH AN INTERESTING DISPLAY It is one of the oldest musical types performed by the coastal Ga people of Ghana, which was introduced by Accra fishermen from the Fernando Po Islands in the early eighteenth century.  Originally, Gome was performed exclusively by fishermen after their expeditions to celebrate their catch.  GOME DANCER PERFORMING IN THEIR STYLE Warm-up songs prepare the voices of the participants, motivate the dancers, and set the...

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