A Drummer's Testament: Dagbamba Society and Culture in the Twentieth Century
A Drummer's Testament is the product of a collaborative ethnographic project.
The principal authors are John M. Chernoff and Alhaji Ibrahim Abdulai.
Principal collaborators are Kissmal Ibrahim Hussein, Benjamin Danjuma Sunkari,
Mustapha Muhammad, Alhaji Mumuni Abdulai, and Daniel A. Wumbee
Dedicated to Musicians and Friends of Musicians
Notes on Project status and draft chapter updates
Table of Contents <HTML / PDF>
Chapter portals and sample draft chapters currently in PDF format:
Book I: The Work of Drumming
Part 1: Alhaji Ibrahim's Introduction to the Work (Chapters 1-8)
Part 2: The Work of Drumming (Chapters 9-13)
Part 3: Music and Dancing in Community Life (Chapters 14-20)
Part 4: Learning and Maturity (Chapters 21-22, 24)
Book II:
Part 4: Religion and Medicine (Chapter 22)
Maps:
Map of Ghana 1977 PDF / JPEG
Map of Northern Ghana 1977 PDF / JPEG
Map of Dagbon 1977 PDF / JPEG
Expanded Table of Contents <PDF>
Supporting Materials
A DRUMMER’S TESTAMENT: Dagbamba Society and Culture in the Twentieth Century
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Guide to Pronunciation <PDF>
JOHN CHERNOFF'S INTRODUCTION
Preamble: Trees
Dagbon: Close from a Distance
Relative Systems
The Anthropological Heritage
Dagbon: Closing the Distance
The Ethnographic Seed
The Translation
The Creative
Testament
The Receptive
Notes
Book I: THE WORK OF DRUMMING
Part 1: ALHAJI IBRAHIM’S INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK
1: The Benefits of Friendship and Why We Should Do the Work as a Group
2: The Dagbamba Way of Living in the Villages and in the Towns
3: The Sense of Dagbamba and Their Living in the Olden Days
4: Respect and the Dagbamba Way of Living Together
5: The Way of a Stranger and How a Stranger Should Live in Dagbon
6: How Dagbamba Send Messengers
7: The Debt of the Stomach
8: Patience, Truth, and How We Should Do the Talks
Part 2: DRUMMERS AND DRUMMING IN DAGBON
9: The Work of Drumming
10: The Respect of Drumming and How Drumming Started in Dagbon
11: Drummers and Other Musicians of Dagbon
12: How We Make Our Drums and Gungons
13: How a Drum Is Beaten
Part 3: MUSIC AND DANCING IN COMMUNITY EVENTS
14: Proverbs and Praise-Names
15: The Praise-Name Dances and the Benefits of Music
16: How a Person Should Dance
17: Baamaaya, Jera, Yori, Bila and Other Dances of Dagbon
18: Takai and Tora
19: Funerals
20: Muslims’ Funerals and Chiefs’ Funerals
Part 4: LEARNING AND MATURITY
21: How Children are Trained in Drumming and Singing
22: Traveling and Learning the Dances of Other Tribes
23: Drum Chieftaincies
24: How Drummers Share Money
Book II: OLD TALKS: DRUMMERS, CHIEFS, HISTORY AND RELIGION
Part 1: CHIEFTAINCY
1: The Forbidden Topics of Drumming
2: How Drummers Search for the Old Talks
3: Old Talks: The Origins of Dagbon
4: Naa Shitɔbu and Naa Nyaɣsi: The Founding of Dagbon
5: The Yaa-Naa and the Elders of Yendi
6: The Organization of Chieftaincy
7: How Princes Get Chieftaincy and Go to Hold a Town
8: How Chiefs Judge Cases
Part 2: HISTORY
9: The Drum History (Samban’ luŋa)
10: The First Gonja War: Naa Dariʒɛɣu and Naa Luro
11: Naa Zanjina and the Coming of Islam
12: The Second Gonja War: Naa Zanjina and Naa Siɣli
13: The Cola and Slave Trades: Naa Garba and Naa Ziblim
14: The Pre-Colonial Era: Naa Andani and Naa Alhassan
15: Modern History and the Chieftaincy Crisis
Part 3: FESTIVALS IN COMMUNITY LIFE AND THE WORK OF DRUMMERS
16: Festivals: The Fire Festival
17: Festivals: The Damba Festival
18: Festivals: Kpini, Ramadan, and Chimsi
19: The Role of Greetings in Festivals and Daily Life
Part 4: RELIGION AND MEDICINE
20: The Dagbamba Belief in God
21: Islam, Muslim Elders, and the Strength of Islam
22: The Pilgrimage to Mecca
23: Traditional Religion: Soothsayers and Diviners
24: Traditional Religion: The Priests of the Earth
25: Traditional Religion: Gods and Shrines
26: Medicine
27: Drummer’s Medicines
28: Diseases and Medicine
29: Madness
Book III: IN OUR LIVING
Part 1: ECONOMIC LIFE
1: Farming in Dagbon
2: How Dagbamba Farm Yams
3: The Work of Guinea Corn
4: Rice Farming
5: Groundnuts, Shea Butter, and Kpalgu
6: Markets
7: Modern Types of Work and Problems of Economic Development
Part 2: FAMILY
8: Family and Lineage
9: How a Family Separates
10: What Makes A Family Strong
Part 3: CHILDREN
11: The Benefits of Many Children
12: How a Child is Given Birth
13: Special Types of Children
14: How Children Are Raised
15: How Girls Grow Up in the Villages
16: How Boys Grow Up in the Villages
Part 4: HOUSEHOLDING
17: How Dagbamba Marry
18: Bachelors
19: Why Dagbamba Marry Many Wives
20: Home Economics
21: Marriage and Love
22: The Life of Women
23: Sex and Jealousy in the Polygamous Household
24: Divorce
Part 5: OLD AGE
25: Widows
26: How Dagbamba Regard Old Age
27: The Life of Old People
Part 6: CONCLUSION:
28: Alhaji Ibrahim’s Reflection on the Work
SUPPORTING MATERIAL
WITHIN THE TEXT:
Photographs
Tables and Figures as readers’ aids for data-intensive chapters
Chapters I-9, I-14, III-8
Figure 1: Alhaji Ibrahim's Father's Line <PDF>
Figure 2: Alhaji Ibrahim's Mother's Line <PDF>
Figure 3: Early Tamale Drumming Leaders <PDF>
Chapters 1-14 through 1-22
List of dances <PDF>
Yaa-Naas of Dagbon: Genealogical Chart <PDF>
Yaa-Naas of Dagbon: Chronological Charts <PDF>
END MATTER:
Glossary of Dagbani words used in the text
Annotated Bibliography on Dagbon
Index 1: Persons, titles, towns, tribes in the text
Index 2: Proverbs, praise-names, dances mentioned in the text
Index 3: General content and subject index
Map 1: Ghana: principal towns and cultural groups cited PDF / JPEG
Map 2: Northern and Upper Regions of Ghana: major towns cited PDF / JPEG
Map 3: Dagbon: towns and villages cited PDF / JPEG
SUPPLEMENTARY:
Recordings of selected drumming and music to accompany the text
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