INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND CULTURAL VALUES IN EWE MUSICAL PRACTICE: THEIR TRADITIONAL ROLES AND PLACE IN MODERN SOCIETY

[摘要] Among the Ewe, music is the pivot around which indigenous cultural practices revolve. Ewe musical texts, the focus of this research, are embedded with and are dynamic in the transmission of indigenous knowledge and values. Besides being a repository of knowledge and artistic traditions, through music, musicians document, preserve, and transmit indigenous knowledge and reenact the historical, social, and political structure of the Ewe. Ewe musical texts do not only possess documentary value but also represent the exercise of the imagination of composers. In this century, however, this role of music and the resulting cultural values faces a great challenge. Modern global cultural transformations continue to influence Ewe cultural elements. Furthermore, the mass commodification of the arts in modern times has affected the educational and cultural functions of Ewe arts and continues to reduce them to a state of entertainment. Due to these influences and challenges, some Ewe youth currently are ignorant about their cultural heritage, and are therefore, losing their cultural identity. This study, therefore, is in response to the need for examining the aspects and functions of Ewe indigenous knowledge system, values, and musical practice and to help policy makers to create and promote awareness and use of indigenous knowledge and values among Ewe youth and scholars. It investigates Ewe indigenous knowledge and cultural values embedded in Ewe musical practice and the extent to which musical practice preserves and transmits them. The study explores the relationships between music and related arts and how their interactions affect preservation and transmission of knowledge. It documents traditional songs and analyzes the extent to which musical texts express, preserve, and transmit knowledge and suggest steps that will promote the awareness and use of indigenous knowledge and values, and their harmonization with modern culture. The study examines musico-linguistic practices: as vehicles of philosophical concepts; that establish analogies between artistic creativity and procreation; that underscore Ewe concepts of triality, democratic principles, moral and humanistic values.The study is a modest contribution to ethnomusicological literature demonstrating how music strengthens other domains of culture, and how indigenous knowledge can find relevance in modern society.

[发布机构] the University of Pittsburgh

[效力级别] Africa