Oppong, C.

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RESEARCH REPORTS 63.
A N O T E  O N  
A  D A G O MRA C H IE F 'S  DRUMMER
by C  . Oppong*
A  b rie f account o f a career history co llecte d  from a 'Tim pano' 1 drum- 
beater,the only one resident in a royal terminus chiefdom in Western Dagbon, 
gives some ind icatio n  of modes of recruitment and train ing to specia list 
professions in Dagbon and the role of m usicians in the traditional p o lit ica l 
system.
Abu Akarem a's education was arranged and paid for by a royal ch ief, 
to whose line  his fam ily  was attached by ties of servitude and lo y a lty , since 
Abu's grandmother had been the serving maid of the ch ie f's  mother. The ch ie f, 
then head of a small v il la g e  in Western D agbon,arranged„ for a competent 
drummer to come there from time to time from another v il la g e  In Eastern Dagbon 
to teach Abu to p la y . This teacher had him self learnt to p lay 'in the south' and 
was paid for his se rv ices. O n ce  he had learnt the rudiments of the art Abu set 
off to travel from v il la g e  to v il la g e  in order to perfect his art by learning from 
other drummers attached to various royal chiefdom s. On this itinerary he spent 
five years in the c a p ita l, Yendi, to gain  experience from the drummers there.
At that time the king of Dagbon had four 'A karem a', who regularly played his 
two sets of 'tim pana' drums for him . Then he went on to stay two years ga in in g 
musical experience in Savelugu, the main ch ie f's  court in Western Dagbon.
Later with his accum ulated sk ill and experience he returned to his patron 
and sponsor and served him as his drummer, fo llow ing him to the present v il la g e , 
when the latter was promoted in the p o lit ic a l h ierarchy. In that v il la g e , where 
he was interview ed, Abu continues to serve his patron's royal successors.
This b rie f educational and career history shows several features which appear 
to be typ ica l o f the careers of Dagomba musicians in particu lar and education in 
general. But first a word about the distribution and use of the drums in question.
*Mrs. Christine  Oppong is a Research Fellow in Socia l Anthropology.
The ta lk in g  drum set is composed of a p°'r of single  headed membrano phones 
played with crooked sticks
RESEARCH REPORTS 64.
They resemble the Ashanti Atumpan and the G onja  Tim pam . They are said 
to have o r ig in a lly  come from Ashanti v ia  the G onja  from whom they were 
seized after v icto ry  in b attle . The drums of two places in Western Dagbon 
in p articu lar are reported to have come from G onja -  those of Kumbungu and 
Nanton . Their use is said to be restricted to the courts of royal chiefs o n ly , 
not commoner chiefs,and formerly only eight of the main royal chiefdoms are 
reported to have been able to own and use them includ ing Y e n d i, M ion,
Sa ve lu gu , K a ra g a , K p a tin ga , N anton, G ushe, Y e lz o l i ,  B im b illa , Kumbungu 
and Singa . In more recent times their use has spread, but the permission of 
the king should alw ays be given before they are acquired by any ind ividual c h ie f.
Formerly the major purpose of the drums was to summon the cap ita l and 
d iv is io n a l ch ie f's  fighting men to war. Now they are most prominent at the 
entrance to a royal ch ie f's  palace on Monday and Friday mornings and on other 
occasions when he sits in public to receive his subjects and strangers. At such 
times they both announce arriva ls  and events to him and those in ear shot or they 
drum his praise names and ancestry. The drum language is spoken in Twi but it 
may be both played and understood by people who are unable to speak Tw i.
Because of the drums' important functions in wars,both to assemble fighting 
men and to g ive  warnings of the approaching enemy, drumming of the 'timpana' 
is c lo se ly  associated with the m ilitary profession, but players are not only 
recruited from the m ilitary  ranks. Abu's example and other statements show that 
the pupil chosen to learn might w ell formerly be the ch ild  of a ch ief's servant 
captured in war or other c lie n t . Present examples show that players also teach 
their own sons. O n ce  an Akarema such a m usician,whether of slave origin or not, 
might aspire to gain  a m ilitary t i t le .
Two of the typ ica l features of Abu's history appear to be this mode of 
attachment of c lie n t m usicians' fam ilies to royals by bonds of loyal serv ice, 
stretching over two or more generations and the ties of loyalty  engendered by 
sponsorship of professional tra in in g, the relationship often being expressed in 
ge n e a lo g ica l terms. Several case histories demonstrate this pattern of early 
rearing and train ing under the surve illance  of a ch ie f and patron, an intermediate 
period of wandering in search of experience and knowledge and then a later 
return to serve a patron established in his p o lit ic a l career.
Spatia l and so cia l m obility often appear to be covariables in this so ciety, 
in which train ing in specia list sk ills  may involve residence with a tutor, kinsman
RESEARCH REPORTS 6 5 .
or other and intermittent trave llin g  over the whole kingdom in search of know­
ledge and exp erie n ce . In such a large cen tra lized  kingdom this m obilitv is one 
way of ensuring that the sk ills  and knowledge supporting the p o lit ica l hierarch; 
are the common experience of a ll  their practitioners and do not show wide 
variation from region to region.
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A note on a Dagomba chief's drummer

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A note on a Dagomba chief's drummer

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