African Musical Hybridity in the Colonial Contexto: An Analysis of Ephraim Amu´s "Yen Ara Asase Ni".
Steven Spinner Terpenning
- Illinois-XXU : University of Illinois Press, 2016.
- páginas 459-483: ilustraciones en blanco y negro.
- Tres veces al año
- vol. 60, no. 3 (2016)
- Ethnomusicology. Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology ; no. 3 .
- Estados Unidos. Society for Ethnomusicology. .
This essay describes how the creative hybridity of "Yen Ara Asase Ni," a choral composition by Ephraim Amu, contributed to the emergence of national consciousness in Ghana. Originally composed for a colonial ho- liday in 1929, this piece spread through schools, radio broadcasts, and live performances, and was heard throughout the country around the time of independence. Based on postcolonial theory, secondary sources, archival re- search, and interviews, I present a history and analysis of "Yen Ara Asase Ni" that demonstrates how it disrupted colonial categories, such as religion and culture, and prepared the way for an independence movement informed by Pan-Africanism and Christianity.