Zibo Music – Processes And Effects Of Christian Indoctrination Among The Northern Ewes

Abstract

Zibo music is a distinct musical genre in the Asogli area in the northern part of the Volta Region. This musical tradition has experienced important transformations in the last decades as some practitioners move it from its original secular status to a sacred one. The study is premised on the fact that musical traditions like all other aspects of culture also have the natural capacity to consciously or unconsciously effect changes in their performance modes. Taking a constructivist approach, this study aims to respond to the following questions: 1)what developments necessitated the incorporation of zibo ensemble into the Christian liturgy in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church at Ho? 2)What are the main historical developments of the zibo ensemble? 3)What specific processes were involved in co-opting zibo ensemble into the church? And 4)What are the effects of the Christian indoctrination on the zibo group and the individual members. The study uses theories of Diffusion and Innovation by E. M. Rogers (1962) and Structural Set Analysis by Willie Anku to trace the channels of Christianization and analysis of zibo musical structure. This work, based on ethnographic research, historical, cultural, and musical analysis, demonstrates that: 1)The arrival of the missionaries in Ho has greatly impacted the religious activities of the natives of Ho and contributed to the Christianization of zibo. 2) Zibo was not associated with paganism and so, like other recreational forms of traditional music, has easily moved into the church. 3) Zibo and other recreational forms of local music are informal and associated with the youth and so have changed more easily than the more conservative and formal musical forms associated to ritual and court institutions. And 4) Whereas among the northern Ewes there was a lot of Akanisation from the 19th century, the case of zibo presents a Ga – Eʋe musical syncretism.