Ewe drumming

Ewe drumming refers to the drumming ensembles of the Ewe people of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The Ewe are known for their experience in drumming throughout West Africa. The sophisticated cross rhythms and polyrhythms in Ewe drumming are similar to those in Afro-Caribbean music and late jazz.

Ewe drumming is very diverse and is played in many slightly different ways. For example, an Ewe musician from Togo may play a piece or instrument slightly differently from the way a Ewe from Ghana does. The Fon people of Benin are another example of this variation. They construct their villages, towns, and cities on water, and because of this, they do not play the same upright drums other Ewe play. Instead, they place large gourds on water as drums.

An Ewe drumming ensemble consists of several drums, a bell, and a rattle. Each ensemble usually has a master drum, an iron bell called a gankogui, and a group of secondary drummers.

The gankogui, also known as a gakpevi, is a bell, or gong instrument played with a wooden stick. It is made out of forged iron and consists of a low-pitched bell (often referred as the parent bell) and a high-pitched bell (or the child bell, which is said to rest on the bosom of the protective parent), which are permanently bound together. The gankogui is the skeleton, backbone, and foundation of all traditional Ewe music. The gankogui player must play steadily and without error throughout the piece. The gankogui player must be a trustworthy person, and is considered blind if they do not have a concrete understanding of the instrument and its role in the drumming ensemble. In a drumming ensemble, a gankogui player uses no variation.

The time span of one bell cycle establishes the temporal period of the music, although some phrases cover several bell cycles. The regulative time point—“the one”—is the instant of maximum, although quite temporary, stasis. In each bell cycle, it is the moment towards which the ensemble thematic cycle moves. The bell phrase guides the tempo, aligns the instruments, and marks elapsing musical time into bell cycle units.

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