* * * * *
_Music._
The wild music of these people is scarcely to be brought within the
regular rules of harmony,[121] yet their airs have a sweetness and
animation beyond any barbarous compositions I ever heard. Few of their
instruments possess much power, but the combination of several
frequently produces a surprising effect. The flute is made of a long
hollow reed, and has not more than three holes; the tone is low at all
times, and when they play in concert they graduate them with such nicety
as to produce the common chords. Several instances of thirds occur,
especially in one of the annexed airs, played as a funeral dirge; nor is
this extraordinary considering it is the most natural interval; the
addition of fifths, at the same time, is rare. The natives declare they
can converse by means of their flutes, and an old resident at Accra has
assured me he has heard these dialogues, and that every sentence was
explained to him.
On the Sanko (see Drawing No. 5, and Specimen in the Museum) they
display the variety of their musical talents, and the Ashantees are
allowed to surpass all others. It consists of a narrow box, the open top
of which is covered with alligator, or antelope skin; a bridge is raised
on this, over which eight strings are conducted to the end of a long
stick, fastened to the fore part of the box, and thickly notched, and
they raise or depress the strings into these notches as occasion
requires. The upper string assimilates with the tenor C of the piano,
and the lower with the octave above: sometimes they are tuned in
Diatonic succession, but too frequently the intermediate strings are
drawn up at random, producing flats and sharps in every Chromatic
variety, though they are not skilful enough to take advantage of it. I
frequently urged this by trying to convince them they were not playing
the same tune I had heard the day before, but the answer was invariably,
“I pull the same string, it must be the same tune.” The strings are made
from the runners of a tree called Enta, abounding in the forests. All
airs on this instrument are played very quick, and it is barely possible
to make even an experienced player lessen the time, which quick as it
is, is kept in a surprising manner, especially as every tune is loaded
with ornament. They have a method of stopping the strings with the
finger, so as to produce a very soft and pleasing effect, like the Meyer
touch of the harp.
The horns form their loudest sounds, and are made of elephant’s tusks,
they are generally very large, and, being graduated like the flutes,
their flourishes have a martial and grand effect. It has been mentioned
in the Military Customs of the Ashantees, that peculiar sentences are
immediately recognised by the soldiers, and people, in the distinct
flourishes of the horns of the various chiefs: the words of some of
these sentences are almost expressible by the notes of the horns; the
following, uttered by the horns of a captain named Gettoä, occurs to me
as an instance
“O Saï tĭntĭntoo, ma yūāyĭä pa pa.”
O Saï great king! I laud thee every where, or exceedingly.
The Bentwa (see Drawing No. 6.) is a stick bent in the form of a bow,
and across it, is fastened a very thin piece of split cane, which is
held between the lips at one end, and struck with a small stick; whilst
at the other it is occasionally stopped, or rather buffed, by a thick
one; on this they play only lively airs, and it owes its various sounds
to the lips.
The Mosees, Mallowas, Bournous, and natives from the more remote parts
of the interior, play on a rude violin: the body is a calabash, the top
is covered with deer skin, and two large holes are cut in it for the
sound to escape; the strings, or rather string, is composed of cow’s
hair, and broad like that of the bow with which they play, which
resembles the bow of a violin. Their grimace equals that of an Italian
Buffo: they generally accompany themselves with the voice, and increase
the humour by a strong nasal sound.
The Oompoochwa is a box, one end of which is left open; two flat bridges
are fastened across the top, and five pieces of thin curved stick,
scraped very smooth, are attached to them, and (their ends being
raised,) are struck with some force by the thumb. I can compare it to
nothing but the Staccado nearly deprived of its tone.
The Ashantees have an instrument like a Bagpipe, but the drone is
scarcely to be heard.
The rest of the instruments can hardly be called musical, and consist of
drums, castanets, gong-gongs, flat sticks, rattles, and even old brass
pans.
The Drums (see Drawing No. 7.) are hollow’d trunks of trees, frequently
carved with much nicety, mostly open at one end, and of many sizes:
those with heads of common skin (that is of any other than Leopard skin)
are beaten with sticks in the form of a crotchet rest; the largest are
borne on the head of a man, and struck by one or more followers; the
smaller are slung round the neck, or stand on the ground; in the latter
case they are mostly played with the inside of the fingers, at which the
natives are very expert: amongst these drums are some with heads of
leopard skin, (looking like vellum,) only sounded by two fingers, which
are scraped along, as the middle finger is on the tamborine, but
producing a much louder noise. The gong-gongs are made of hollow pieces
of iron, and struck with the same metal. The Castanets are also of iron.
The Rattles are hollow gourds, the stalks being left as handles, and
contain shells or pebbles, and are frequently covered with a net work of
beads; the grimaces with which these are played make them much more
entertaining to sight than hearing.
I was fortunate enough to find a rare instance of a native able to play
the radical notes of each tune; he is the best player in the country,
and I was enabled to collect the airs now offered: with some of the
oldest date I have also selected a few of the latest compositions. Their
graces are so numerous, some extempore, some transmitted from father to
son, that the constant repetition only can distinguish the commencement
of the air: sometimes between each beginning they introduce a few
chords, sometimes they leave out a bar, sometimes they only return to
the middle, so entirely is it left to the fancy of the performer. The
observation made on the time of the Sanko may be extended to almost
every other instrument, but it is always perfect, and the children will
move their heads and limbs, whilst on their mother’s backs, in exact
unison with the tune which is playing: the contrasts of piano and forte
are very well managed.
The singing is almost all recitative, and this is the only part of music
in which the women partake; they join in the chorusses, and at the
funeral of a female sing the dirge itself; but the frenzy of the moment
renders it such a mixture of yells and screeches, that it bids defiance
to all notation. The songs of the Canoe men are peculiar to themselves,
and very much resemble the chants used in cathedrals, but as they are
all made for the moment, I have not been able to retain any of them.
To have attempted any thing like arrangement, beyond what the annexed
airs naturally possess, would have altered them, and destroyed the
intention of making them known in their original character. I have not
even dared to insert a flat or a sharp.
No. 1. is the oldest air in the whole collection, and common both to
Ashantees and Warsaws; I could trace it through four generations, but
the answer made to my enquiries will give the best idea of its
antiquity; “it was made when the country was made.” The key appears to
be E minor.
The old and simple air No. 2, is almost spoiled from the quick method of
playing it, but when slow it has a melancholy rarely found in African
music, and it is one of the very few in which the words are adapted to
the tune. I think it is decidedly in the key of C major. The noun
aganka, an orphan, is from the verb agan to leave. Oboïbee is a bird
that sings only at night, for which I know no other name than the
Ashantee. The Warsaw air, No. 3, also in C major, was composed in
consequence of a contest between the two principal caboceers of that
country, Intiffa and Attobra; one extremely thin and the other very fat;
Attobra ran away, and is derided by Intiffa in the following satirical
words:
Asoom cōōcŏŏrŏŏcōō ŏninny ăgwanny.
Asoom is a dolphin, which, as a beardless creature, is an epithet of the
strongest contempt. The literal translation is,
The big dolphin runs away from the small man.
No. 5, which I should conjecture to begin in E minor, and to end in D
minor, was occasioned by an English vessel bringing the report of a
battle, in which the French were defeated and their town burned. The
words are allegorical.
Abirrikirri croom ogah odum;
French town fire put in;
Ocoontinkii bonoo fum;
Great fighting man, wolf take you away;
Cooroompun coom agwun.
Cooroompun kills all goats.
Abirrikirri applies indiscriminately to all nations beyond the sea, as
Dunko does to all nations far in the interior. Cooroompun is a very
large insect of the genus mantis (soothsayer) frequently met with here,
and the natives believe that it kills the sheep and goats by
fascination, standing with its eyes fixed on those of the object, and
swinging its head and body from side to side without moving its feet,
until the animal falls in fits and dies.[122] Agwun is a noun of
multitude, comprehending all the goat kind.
A long tale accompanies No. 6. An Ashantee having been surprised in an
intrigue with another man’s wife, becomes the slave of the King, and is
obliged to follow the army in a campaign against the celebrated Attah,
the Akim caboceer mentioned in the history. The Ashantee army having
retired, this man either deserted or could not join his division, and
after concealing himself some time in the forest, was taken by a party
of Attah’s, whom he addresses in the following words:
Eqqwee odin ahi,
Panther bush here (belongs to)
Minăwoo! Minăwoo!
I die! I die!
Me’din adoo croom,
Bush now my croom,
Minăwoo! Minăwoo!
I die! I die!
Babisseäche Minăwoo! Minăwoo!
For woman’s sake I die! I die!
Attah m’incomie! Attah m’incomie!
Attah don’t kill me! Attah don’t kill me!
The man’s life, it was added, was preserved when he urged that he
understood how to make sandals. The key appears to be E minor.
No. 7, in G major, seems to convey the moral, that riches prompt mankind
to wickedness, the word “_makes_” is understood.
No. 9, became a common song in March last in praise of the present
Governor in Chief; who, in consequence of the famine occasioned by the
preceding invasion from the Ashantees, daily distributed corn to the
starving multitude: the words are even more incoherent and figurative
than the others, therefore I have not written them, but the meaning to
be gathered is, “Poor woman and poor child got no gold to buy kanky;
good white man gives you corn.” It will be observed that the air much
resembles No. 11, wherefore I suspect it is an alteration, and not a
composition; although the key seems to be G major, and it is impossible
to attach any key to the latter.
The dirge, No. 12, certainly in the key of C major, has been mentioned
before, but here I must add, that in venturing the intervening and
concluding bass chord, I merely attempt to describe the castanets, gong-
gongs, drums, &c. bursting in after the soft and mellow tones of the
flutes; as if the ear was not to retain a vibration of the sweeter
melody.
No. 13, in D minor, is played by only two flutes, and is one of the
softest airs I have met with.
No. 14, is an Accra fetish hymn, sung by one man and one woman, or more,
at Christmas:
Afĭnaïē pweë,
The year’s ends have met,
Gnōr woorra
Somebody’s child
Mŏrbee.
Take blessing.
“Somebody’s child,” means the child of a person of consequence,
reminding us of Hidalgos, “the son of somebody,” so applied in Spanish.
Its regularity is surprising, and its transition from G major to C major
is very harmonious.
No. 15, in G major, is a specimen of the Kerrapee or Kerrapay music,
which I have made a point of preserving, as it appeared to me superior
even to Ashantee. A young man acknowledges a crime he had attempted to
conceal:
Kennĕödvay nooblou adomevai,
Oh pity! the palaver is spoiled,
Noodooloo adomevai,
It is found, it is spoiled;
Ēnnŏblou;
Think for me;
Dootŏh mĕ pŏ mĕ blōh,
Elders, settle it for me,
Adăn vō,
I am at a loss,
Iëe!
Oh!
The following is a translation of a long Ashantee song, with little or
no air. The men sit together in a line on one side, with their sankos
and other instruments; and the women in a line opposite to them.
Individuals rise and advance, singing in turn.[123]
_1st Woman._ My husband likes me too much,
He is good to me,
But I cannot like him,
So I must listen to my lover.
_1st Man._ My wife does not please me,
I tire of her now;
So I will please myself with another,
Who is very handsome.
_2nd Woman._ My lover tempts me with sweet words,
But my husband always does me good,
So I must like him well,
And I must be true to him.
_2nd Man._ Girl you pass my wife handsome,
But I cannot call you wife;
A wife pleases her husband only,
But when I leave you, you go to others.
[Illustration: Music score
The oldest ASHANTEE and WARSAW AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
A very old ASHANTEE AIR.
Aganka oshoom noofa Oboibee oshoom noofa Aganka oshoomnoofa
Orphan cries at night · · · cries at night Orphan cries at night
wekirree wekirree oimiyow wekirree wekirree oimiyow wekirree
sad thing sad thing I’m sorry sad thing sad thing I’m sorry sad thing
]
[Illustration: Music score
WARSAW AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
ASHANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
FANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
AN ASHANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
AN ASHANTEE AIR.
Onoompah yahpah onompah yahpah onoompah yahpah
(Makes) Person do bad · · · · · · · · · ·
sicca sicca onoompah yahpah onoompah yahpah
gold gold (makes) person do bad · · · · · · · ·
onoompah yahpah Akim sicca onoompah yahpah.
· · · · · · Akim gold (makes) person do bad.
]
[Illustration: Music score
MODERN FANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
MODERN FANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
ASHANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
ASHANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
A FANTEE DIRGE.]
[Illustration: Music score
AN ASHANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
AN ACCRA FETISH HYMN.
Afinaiepwaëe gnorwoorra afinaiepwaëe
gnorwoorra gnorwoorra
gnorwoorra afinaiepwaëe gnorwoorra morbee gnorwoorra
gnorwoorra gnorwoorra morbee gnorwoorra
]
[Illustration: Music score
A KERRAPEE SONG.
Kenneovay nooblou adomevai Kenneovay nooblou adomevai
noodooloo adomevai ennoblou Dootoh me po me bloh adanvo Iëe
]
[Illustration: Music score
FANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
FANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
ASHANTEE AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
MALLOWA AIR.]
[Illustration: Music score
MOSEE AIR.]
[Footnote 121: “A few melodies in national music have been found
incapable of harmony; such as the two first bars of the second part of
the Irish tune called The Fair Hair’d Child.” Dr. Crotch.]
[Footnote 122: The power of fascination by the eyes, is believed and
dreaded in those parts of Africa as mortal, whether exercised by the
fetish priests against men, or by the cooroompun against animals. The
idea prevailed in Pliny’s time, but it was ascribed to the voice. “In
libro quodam Plinii naturalis historiæ legi esse quasdam in terrâ Africâ
familias hominum voce atque linguâ effascinantium. Qui si impensiùs
fortè laudaverint pulchras arbores, segetes lætiores, infantes
amœniores, egregios equos, pecudes pastu, atque cultu optimas,
emoriantur repentè hæc omnia.” A cooroompun will be found amongst the
specimens for the British Museum.]
[Footnote 123: I never heard this sung without its recalling Horace’s
beautiful little dialogue ode, (9. lib. 3) “Donec gratus eram tibi.”]