A
Drummer's Testament
A
DRUMMER’S TESTAMENT:
Dagbamba Society and Culture in the Twentieth Century
Collaborators and Research Associates
Summary and Expanded Tables of
Contents
Project Status
Guide to Pronunciation
Currency Note
Acknowledgments
Maps
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 Treasure
The Receptive
Volume 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
Way of 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: Greetings and
Respect in Dagbon
7: How Dagbamba Send Messengers
8: The Debt of the Stomach
9: Patience, Truth, and How We Should
Do the Talks
Part 2: DRUMMERS AND DRUMMING IN DAGBON
10: The Work of Drumming
11: The Respect of Drumming and How Drumming
Started in Dagbon
12: Drummers and the Other Musicians of Dagbon
13: How We Make Our Drums and Gungons
14: How a Drum Is Beaten
Part 3: MUSIC AND DANCING IN COMMUNITY EVENTS
15: Proverbs and Praise-names
16: Praise-Name Dances and the Benefits of Music
17: How a Person Should Dance
18: Baamaaya, Jera, Yori, Bila and Other Group Dances
of Dagbon
19: Takai and Tɔra
20: The Work of Drumming: Funerals
21: Muslims’ Funerals and Chiefs’ Funerals
Part 4: LEARNING AND MATURITY
22: How Children are Trained in Drumming and
Singin
23: Traveling and Learning the Dances of Other
Tribes
24: Drum Chieftaincies
25: How Drummers Share Money
Volume 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
Part 4: RELIGION AND MEDICINE
19: The Dagbamba Belief in God
20: Islam, Muslim Elders, and the Strength of Islam
21: The Pilgrimage to Mecca
22: Traditional Religion: Soothsayers and
Diviners
23: Traditional Religion: The Priests of the
Earth
24: Traditional Religion: Gods and Shrines
25: Traditional Religion: Medicine
26: Drummer’s Medicines
27: Diseases and Medicine
28: Madness
Volume 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 Problems of Children
14: How Children Live When They Are Young
15: How Girls Grow Up in the Villages
16: How Boys Grow Up in the Villages
Part 4: HOUSEHOLDING
17: How Dagbamba Marry
18: The Life of Bachelors
19: Why Dagbamba Marry Many Wives
20: How Dagbamba Feed Their Families
21: Hoe a Husband and Wife Love One Another
22: How Women Work and Help One Another
23: Sex and Jealousy in a House
24: How a Husband and Wife Separate
Part 5: OLD AGE
25: Widows
26: The Life of Old People
Part 6: CONCLUSION:
27: Alhaji Ibrahim’s Reflection on the Work
SUPPORTING MATERIALS
WITHIN THE TEXT:
Photographs
Tables and Figures as readers’ aids for data-intensive chapters
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 tribes cited
Map 2: Northern and Upper Regions of Ghana: major
towns cited
Map 3: Dagbon: all towns and villages cited
Outline
of chapter contents
SUPPLEMENTARY:
Recordings of selected drumming and music to accompany the text