A Comparative Study of the Lives and Works of Selected Ghanaian Female Musicians from 1980-2010

Abstract

Ghanaian female secular musicians are underrepresented in the literature on Ghanaian music. This project fills this gap by focusing on the lives and works of some selected Ghanaian female musicians. The work concentrated on the lives of ten female musicians in the secular field. Using qualitative methods such as interviews and participant observations, the study sought to investigate music consumers’ perception of who female musicians are and how they live their lives; the challenges female musicians face as women in a male dominated field and the themes that female musicians raise in their songs. The study also took its objectives further to take a comparative look at the lives and works of selected female musicians. The study thus grouped and selected musicians into two categories, the first group from 1980-1999 who are referred to as ‘older generation’ and the second group from 2000-2010 who are referred to as the younger generation. The findings indicated that consumers’ perception of female musicians bordered on the negative. This is a replication of historical stigma which has always been present in the lives of women musicians who have taken to the stage as secular performers. However, the study discovered that such perceptions were as a result of ignorance on the part of music consumer’s whose only access to the musicians is through information from the media. Perceptions however differed for older and younger musicians. On themes in the songs of selected female musicians, it was found that similar themes such as love which run through the songs of women from 1980- 2010 were handled differently for the two generations. It was also found while themes like marriage and motherhood were present in the songs of older musicians, they were absent in those of younger musicians. In the same vein, emerging themes like fun were discovered in the songs of younger musicians but absent in songs of older musicians. This study will enhance our understanding of women’s work in especially in male dominated field and how such spaces are negotiated. In general, it contributes as an addition to the literature on popular arts in Ghana.