“The Road Is Blocked”: Symbolisms of Sound and Silence in Ga Hɔmɔwɔ- A Teshie Perspective

Abstract

This dissertation explores the symbolisms of sound and silence in a ritual code of silence in the Hɔmɔwɔ festival as commemorated by the Ga people of Teshie. The dissertation further explores the ritual code’s impact on the festival’s traditional musical performance and how together, they renew the social-political and religious lives of the Teshie community. The Ga ritual code of silence, has been (and continues to be) described as ‘ban on drumming and noise-making’, and a period of quietude for Ga deities. From my ethnographic research findings, it is evident that the ritual code is not merely a ban on drumming and noise-making or a period of quietude for Ga deities. Rather, it is a frame within which the Ga society inspects itself based on Ga notion of sound, silence, and noise. In Teshie, for instance, traditional musical performances (called Kpashimɔ) that occur during the observance of the ritual code are perceived as constituting silence. In this research, I argue that a study of the symbolic meanings of sound and silence in the Teshie Hɔmɔwɔ festival can impact our understanding of how and why the ritual code of silence is the required frame needed for the inspection of the community during the celebration of the Hɔmɔwɔ festival. This dissertation employs the Trichotomy II of Peircean semiotics to analyse the religious ceremony (that institutes the ritual code of silence) and song texts of some Kpashimɔ songs. The intent is to interpret the ceremony from the community’s perspective and to further demonstrate how the community inspects itself through traditional musical performances believed to constitute silence. Edward Cone’s theory of silence as frame for music is the second theory this dissertation has adapted. It is aimed at demonstrating how the ritual code of silence uses traditional musical performances to frame the main Hɔmɔwɔ event.