studying traditional drumming at kopeyia village, ghana, west africa

As a musician I feel a responsibility to contribute positive connections among the world's peoples through the performance, study, and sharing of music and dance, activities that express the deepest levels of culture and meaning. Part of this commitment is research in global arts and culture. In this era of rapid change, uncertainty, and irrationality, the best antidote to violence and oppression is the human community, interdependence, and caring fostered by human creativity in the arts.

Since 1981 I have done research with master artists on culture and music in African, Asian, West Asian, European, and indigenous American traditions. My first goal is to play in each tradition with integrity. In Africa, I live with the people in villages, and experience their drumming, dance, and songs. After living with a melody, dance movement, or drum rhythm over a period of time and sensing its deeper meaning, and with permission from the people with whom I have studied, I try to share my understanding with others through written articles or books, compact discs, or video.

Since the music derives from cultures other than my own, most visual and audio formats, and, when possible, performances and workshops resulting from our research, are in conjunction with a master artist. The music belongs to the people of those cultures, so compensation for my work is shared with them.

Presentations

In addition to performances, books, other writings, CDs, and DVDs, I share the results of my work with people through residencies, lectures, and interactive workshops on world music and jazz throughout the world. I have done residencies and presentations in Africa, China, Korea, the Philippines, Europe, and North America. I travel to west Africa most years to perform and do research, collaborating with master artists and the people of various villages, including the Dagbe Cultural Centre at Kopeyia Village, Volta Region, Ghana, Bernard Woma’s Dagara Music Center at Midie Village near Accra, Ghana, and musicians from the Kumasi Cultural Centre in Ghana’s Asante Region.

Anyone interested in my work or in studying drumming, dance, song, language, culture, or weaving in a West African village may contact me at royaljhartigan@yahoo.com.

Colleagues

I have been honored to study and work with master artists form across the globe: African music and dance with Freeman Kwadzo Donkor, Abraham Kobena Adzenyah, Helen Abena Mensah, Samuel Elikem Nyamuame, Martin Kwaakye Obeng, Godwin Kwasi Agbeli, Emmanuel Kwaku Agbeli, C. K. Ladzekpo, and Kwabena Boateng; Javanese Gamelan with I. M. Harjito, Sumarsam, and Pak Kanto; South Indian Solkattu with Tanjore Ranganathan and Ramnad Raghavan; Korean Pungmul with Eunha Pak; Philippine Kulintang with Danongan Kalanduyan; Chinese percussion with Li Zheng-gui, Kin-woon Tong, and Wen-guang Wu; Cambodian Sampho drumming with Sam ang Sam; Vietnamese clapper percussion with Chan Le; Native American percussion with David Park McAllester and Paul Hadzima; Gaelic percussion with Dennis Waring and Gina Dunlap; Turkish bendir with Frederick Stubbs and Feridun Ozogren; Dominican percussion with Anthony Viscioso; Haitian drumming with David Yih; European concert percussion with Peter Tanner; rudimental percussion with Robert Waltermire, Thomas Dietlin, and Clifford Adams; tap dance with Ray Hart and Hazel Hartigan; African American traditions with Lenny McBrowne, Clifford Jarvis, Max Roach, Edward Blackwell, Reggie Workman, Archie Shepp, Frederick Tillis, Horace Clarence Boyer, and Roland Wiggins.

Publications

My original research culminated in a 1700-page work, Blood Drum Spirit: Drum Languages of West Africa, African America, Native America, Central Java, and South India with thirty ninety-minute audio cassettes and The Drum: Concepts of Time and No Time (1983) a 400-page work with twenty-one ninety-minute audio cassettes, both with UMI/ProQuest (www.proquest.com).

Subsequent studies resulted in a 111-page book with compact disc (CD), West African Rhythms for Drumset with Ghanaian master artists Abraham Kobena Adzenyah and the late Freeman Kwadzo Donkor (Warner Brothers 1995; Alfred 2004). This project focused on four West African dance drumming traditions - Sikyi, Adowa, Gahu, and Akom - and the adaptation of their elements into the drumset.

My ongoing research has produced two other books with digital video disc (DVD). Dancin' on the Time (Tapspace 2006) deals with 2-, 3-, and 4-way coordinated drumset independence and layers of time over 254 pages. Its DVD presents the layers of time in an African drum ensemble, tap dance, and other world traditions from Asia and the Americas. West African Eve Rhythms for Drumset, 365 pages of text, notations, pictures, and adinkra symbols, examines four traditional dance drumming pieces from the Eve people, Akpese, Gadzo, Kinka, and Adzohu, their rhythms, structures, songs, drum language, and meaning.

I have also contributed a number of articles, reviews, and production/editing of a book:

Articles

“The American Drum Set: Black Musicians and Chinese Opera along the Mississippi River,” in Afro-Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural Connections between African Americans and Asian Americans, eds. Fred Ho and William Mullen, Duke University Press, Durham, NC, June 2008

"The Beijing Midi School of Music's Modern Music Festival in May 2006 and royal hartigan's Blood Drum Spirit Ensemble Tour in Southern China" and "A Field Trip to West Hunan Province, P. R. China: Daliuzi and Wei Gu Percussion Music," with ethnomusicologist Weihua Zhang, publication pending

“Jazz in Beijing,” with Weihua Zhang, Music in China, 2004

“Ongoing Report from Beijing,” with Weihua Zhang, Music in China Vol. 3 No. 2 October 2001

“Ghanaba and the Heritage of African Jazz,” The Annual Review of Jazz Studies 9, 1999

“The Heritage of the Drumset,” The African American Review spring 1995

“Let Me Play My Drums,” transcription and article; and “The Role of the Drumset in Ghanaian Highlife,” transcription and article, Percussive Notes, Vol. 31 No. 4, April 1993

Book Reviews/Editing

“Thinking in Jazz - the Infinite Art of Improvisation,” by Paul Berliner, The Annual Review of Jazz Studies 9, 1999

“New Musical Figurations – Anthony Braxton’s Cultural Critique,” by Ronald M. Radano, World of Music, Vol. 37(2) 1995

Editor and producer, percussion book by Clifford Adams of Pittsfield, MA, Rudiments on Parade, June 2004

Selected Research History

My work has taken me to many parts of the world. Since 1981 I have studied music, dance, and culture with master artists, both in the U. S. and internationally, including the percussion traditions of West Africa, South India, Java, Sumatra, Philippines, China, Japan, Korea, Ireland, Persia, Turkey, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Native America, and the African American diaspora.

Here are a few of my research activities:

March 1991 - field research in West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Accra and Kopeyia village, Ghana West Africa

March 1993 - Associate at Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL, research in Korean Pungmul drumming and dance

August 1994 - field research in traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Kopeyia village, Ghana West Africa

July/August 1995 - field research in traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Kopeyia village, Ghana West Africa

July/August 1996 - field research in traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Kopeyia village, Ghana West Africa

August 1997 - field research in traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Kopeyia village, Ghana West Africa

August 1999 - field research in traditional Chinese percussion and culture, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Beijing

June 2001 - field trip to Seoul, South Korea, research in traditional music, dance, and culture with master artists at the Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts

July 2001 - field trip to China, performances and workshops for Chinese jazz musicians and students at the Beijing Midi Contemporary Music School and the China Conservatory

June 2002 - field research, audio and video recording of traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Anyako village, Ghana West Africa

May/June 2005 - field research, audio and video recording of traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Anyako village, Ghana West Africa

May 2006 - field research in traditional Chinese Da Liuzi percussion and Wei Gu music, dance, and culture, West Hunan, China

June 2006 - field research, audio and video recording of traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Kopeyia, village, Ghana West Africa

October - December 2006 - J. William Fulbright Scholar through the U. S. State Department at the University of the Philippines; teaching African music and dance and African American jazz traditions, conducting preliminary research in traditional kulintang/palibunyan ensemble music of Mindanao and Kalinga music of the Northern Provinces

May/June 2007 - field research, audio and video recording of traditional West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Kopeyia and Midie villages, Ghana West Africa

January 2009 - field research in West African traditional drumming, dance, song, and culture, Mampong Town, Asante Region, Ghana, West Africa

June - September 2009 – Asian Cultural Council Scholar at the University of the Philippines, conducting research in traditional kulintang/palibunyan ensemble music of Mindanao and Kalinga music of the Northern Provinces

October-December 2009 - review and analysis of the Kete royal court music and dance from the Asante people of Ghana, Togo Atsia social dance drumming of the Eve people of Ghana Togo, and Benin, West Africa; lead and support drumming and adaptations to the drumset in the African American tradition

December 2009/January 2010 – analysis of Fred Ho’s scores for Michael Jackson Tribute Thriller, and development of a drumset/percussion part for CD recording.

Spring 2010 – continued review, analysis, and adaptation of traditional West African lead and support instrumental parts for drumset, including Asante Kete, Sikyi, Eve Togo Atsia, Agbeko, Akpese, Adzohu, and Dagbamba Bambaya music; review of traditional Philippine kulintang music of the Maguindanaon people of Mindanao and bamboo and gong music of the Kalinga people of Luzon.

May/June 2010 – field trip to Mampong Asante, Ghana, West Africa, for research on Asante Kete dance drumming with Kwabena Boateng and Yao Daniel Okyere.

June/July 2010 – field trip to northern Luzon highlands, Philippines for research on bamboo and gong music, song, and dance of the Kalinga people with Alex Tumapang and his ensemble

July/August 2010 – work with master artists Aga Mayu Butocan and Kanapia Kalanduyan at the University of the Philippines, Quezon City, towards adaptations of traditional kulintang music into African American jazz styles

Fall 2010 - analysis and arrangement of the percussion parts for Fred Ho’s new composition, Sweet Science Suite, in honor of Muhammad Ali: Movement I, Shake Up the World; Movement II, Float Like an Afro-Asian Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee!; Movement III, No Vietnamese Ever Called Me Nigger; Movement IV, Rope A Dope (Self-Love/Revolutionary Ontology), and Movement V, Worthy of All Praises Most High; Continued analysis of Asante Kete and Eve Togo Atsia, Adzohu, Akpese, and Agbeko dance drumming and adaptation for drumset.

Winter/Spring 2010-11

- continued my review and analysis of the Kete royal court music and dance from the Asante people of Ghana; Togo Atsia, Misagodzi, Sovu, Adavu, Anlo Kete, and Fofui dance drumming of the Eve people of Ghana Togo, and Benin, West Africa; lead and support drumming adaptations to the drumset in the African American tradition

- began a project to record video excerpts of my world music adaptations into the African American tradition, create an archive for research and sharing with students, scholars, composers, and performers, and put them up on the www.youtube.com website for linking to my www.royalhart.com website and for connections to musicians, scholars, and listeners across the world

- continued my review and analysis of traditional Philippine kulintang music of the Maguindanaon people of Mindanao and bamboo and gong music of the Kalinga people of Luzon, and their adaptation to drumset into African American traditions

- presented my research in a paper, Connecting the Voices of the Philippine Magindanaon Kulintang and African American Jazz Ensemble at the Northern California Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, with master artists Danongan Kalanduyan and Hafez Modirzadeh, at San Francisco State University, 5 March

- gave a workshop on my study of African instrumental music, dance, and song at DeAnza College in Cupertino, CA, 11 March

Summer 2011

June/July - research in traditional Asante culture, music, song, language, and dance at Mampong, Asante Region, Ghana, West Africa; our focus included Kete, Adowa and Akom dance drumming; performance of Adowa at Mampong funeral, 4 June

July/August - performances, workshops, and master classes in world music and African American traditions, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China, 23 July-14 August. workshops and lessons in African American jazz styles included those at the Beijing Midi School for Music in Haidian on 26, 29, and 31 July, and 12 August, as well as African drumming, song, and dance at the Dashanzi Arts Center for the Sambasia ensemble on 27 July. performances included a concerts on 30 July at the Old Bookworm Cafe, 6 and 7 August at the Blue Midi Festival at Rizhou, 9 August at the CD Blues Cafe, and 11 and 13 August at the East Shore Live Jazz Cafe August - presentations and performances in the Philippines with my blood drum spirit ensemble took place 16-28 August. these included a residency at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City, 15-22 August and related activities at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, with master classes, open rehearsals, lecture-demonstrations, lessons, and recitals in Abelardo Hall:

- 16 August, open rehearsal in new concepts for jazz ensemble, 1-4 pm; African music and dance rehearsal 6:30-8 pm..

- 17 August, presentation and performance on Indian and African traditions in Jazz, 8:30-11:30 am; master class with the U.P. Big Band, 2:30-4:30 pm, and rehearsal in African music and dance, 6-8 pm..

- 18 August at the University of Santo Tomas, presentation on world music in jazz, 1-3 pm; African American music history 4-6 pm.

- 19 August at the University of Santo Tomas, presentation for Music education students and faculty, African and African American dance, song, and drumming.

- 20 August at the University of the Philippines, open rehearsal with African and African American traditions.

blood drum spirit was the featured ensemble at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Jazz Festival in Manila 23-28 August; activities included master class/demonstrations and concerts in African American music history:

- 23 August, 1-3 pm, presentation on early music - the African heritage, spirituals, hollers, work songs, clapping plays, ragtime, stride piano, tap dance, New Orleans styles, and swing in the multipurpose room (MPR); concert 8 pm in the main concert hall (MCH).

- 25 August, 1-3 pm, presentation on 1940-1970 - bebop, hard bop, modal styles of John Coltrane, 'free' jazz, cultural/political consciousness of Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Charles Mingus, and the fusion innovations of Miles Davis, MPR; Concert at 5 pm, MCH.

- 26 August, 1-2 pm, presentation on 'free'/experimental jazz, MPR.

- 27 August, 1-3 pm presentation on African jazz, MPR; concert 8 pm, MCH.

- 28 August, 8 pm, concert of original compositions and arrangements, MCH.

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Fall 2011

continued my review and analysis of the Kete royal court music and dance, Adowa, Akom, and Sikyi music from the Asante people of Ghana; Togo Atsia, Misagodzi, Sovu, Adavu, Anlo Kete, and Fofui dance drumming of the Eve people of Ghana Togo, and Benin, West Africa; as well as lead and support drumming adaptations to the drumset in the African American tradition

continued my review and analysis of traditional Philippine kulintang music of the Maguindanaon people of Mindanao and bamboo and gong music of the Kalinga people of Luzon, and their adaptation to drumset into African American traditions