The Dagbon Hiplife Zone in Northern Ghana

The Dagbon Hiplife Zone Dominik Phyfferoen University of Ghent Cultural Anthropology [email protected] International Conference on New Music Concepts (ICNMC 2019) Outline • Background of the study • Field methodology • The dynamics of music making in Dagbon society • • • • Introduction to the traditional idioms of music making The contemporary idioms of music making The Hiplife Zone The organization of the local informal music industry Outline • The Dagbon Hiplife Zone • The organization of the local informal music industry in Tamale • Developing contemporary idioms of music making • Hybridity and postcolonial studies • The Northern Ghanaian Artist as cultural identity • Distribution of Dagbon music in Cyberspace • Musiga Tamale • Challenges and some results of the Tamale music questionnaire Map of languages Focus of the research • RMCA: Royal museum for Central Africa Tervuren Belgium. 1999-2001 • ICAMD: International Centre for African Music and Dance – Ghana. Fieldwork in Dagbon 2000-2004. • DEKKMMA: Digitalisation of the Ethnomusicological Archive at the Royal Museum for Central Africa 2004 -2008. • MIMO: Digitaliasation of meta data Musical Instruments Online, 2009-2011. • UGENT The Dagbon Hiplife Zone in Ghana. Embodied music interaction, 20142020. • 5 The significance, objectives and outcome of the documentation project • To document a section of the traditional idiom of music-making in Dagbon and preserve it for posterity and making it available to a wider public in Ghana and the world at large. • To contribute to the scholarly study of music-making in Ghana by providing comparative data from the Northern Region of Ghana which at that time was still a relatively un - explored area, compared with the Southern part of Ghana. • To contribute to the study on the dynamics of music-making in Dagbon society , seen from the angle of embodied music interaction. • Breaking down the theory of embodied music interaction for educational purposes. audio-visual recordings Dagomba Mamprusi Efutu Sissala Frafra Fanti Bimoba Ashanti Kassena Lobi Bono 1161 85 76 35 34 33 29 24 23 21 19 Audio Data 10000 Recordings - 1000 100 10 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Series1 116 85 76 35 34 33 29 24 23 21 19 People Archiving • • • • Field recordings: audio video and interviews. Audio: hard disk recording → backup DAT & CD. RMCA → editing → mastering → DEKKMMA → database. http://music.africamuseum.be (2004 – 2007) Archiving (2005 – 2007) • • • • Video: Beta cam and DVCAM. Photographs: ca. 4200. Field notes: 36 volumes. Musical instruments. • Translations of lyrics, history etc. Processing room (2005 -2007) Audio – Visual Archive (2005 -2007) • http://www.africamuseum.be/en/research/di scover/human_sciences/culture_society • http://music.africamuseum.be/ • http://music.africamuseum.be/english/index. html • http://www.africamuseum.be/en/research/di scover/news/prima Methodology Core categories of music -making in Dagbon Society • Male and female – Court music-dance: – Ritual music-dance associated with musical clans e.g. Jera, dimbu, bamaaya, Jinwar’ paga. – Festival music-dance e.g. Damba, • Tindana music and dance • Music-dance making for entertainment – Highlife, Simpa, Tora etc. – Hiplife Transformational processes in Dagbon music A representation of the traditional idioms of music-dance making Music and dance in Dagomba Society • Male and female music and dance • Court music – Ritual music – Musical clans • Tendana music and dance • Music and dance for entertainment – Highlife – Hiplife … Traditional idioms of music-making in Dagbon TRADITIONAL IDIOM OF MUSIC MAKING IN DAGBON Court music-dance Gingaani, gonje, zuu waa, takai, akrama bangumanga MALE MUSIC-DANCE Ritual music –dance Ritual music-dance associated with extended family clans Tindana music-dance Music-dance associated with extended family clans and professions Music-dance associated with annual festivals The Hiplife Zone Kambonsi, dimbu, jera, bla, Bamaaya, nyindogu, kate waa, nagboli, baga Tolon Djakboo, ziem, tindana waa Tohi waa, nakogi waa, macheli waa, wanzam waa Damba, ziem, Music-dance for entertainment: Hiplife, highlife, simpa yila reggae, contemporary highlife, gospel music FEMALE MUSIC-DANCE Court music-dance Ritual music-dance associated with extended family clans Tindana music-dance Jinwara paga, kate waa Tindana waa Music-dance associated with annual festivals Damba, damba yila Traditional music-dance for entertainment Tora, luwa, bihi waa, simpa, bihi yila Hiplife, highlife, simpa waa, contemporary highlife, gospel music etc. The Hiplife Zone The traditional idiom of music making The traditional idiom of music making The traditional idiom of music making The traditional idiom of music making COMPONENTS MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS First component Song with handclapping. Handclapping as an important accompanying musical instrument during songs and dances. Second component The presence and the use of a variety of drums. Third component The use and wide range of musical instruments, including the varied forms of membranophones, idiophones, chordophones and aerophones. Fourth component The use of musical instruments in the form of orchestral groups, solo instrumental performances and as accompaniment to song. Fifth component The use of body percussion as a musical instrument during songs and dances. The lyrical use of proverbs in the song texts as a musical intercultural phenomenon. The use of tone language/ drum language in instrumental and vocal music. Sixth component Seventh component Eight component Traditional music-dance is a highly hybrid cultural phenomenon, cultural transformational processes, continuity and change forms the basis of traditional African music-dance found in that part of Africa. Ninth component The use of call and responds techniques in the musical form. The call and responds singing style. Expressive components: The intensity factor in African music-dance. Embodied music interaction, simultaneous multidimensionality in rhythmical structures, African hemiola style , concept of a moveable one. Tenth component Defining the traditional African idiom of music making in Dagbon • Defining the traditional idiom of music making. • Traditional music in this part of Sahelian Africa is hybrid from its origin and has in most of the cases an ritual undertone. • The invention of traditions (Ranger) • The concept of ‘Traditional music’ and ‘traditional high cultures’ was invented by the colonial masters to empower major and dominant cultures (tribes) over minorities groups. Defining the traditional African idiom of music making in Dagbon • The African idiom of music making: Alan Merriam. • With the African idiom in music making in Dagbon, we mean the homogenous form of structural recognizable characteristics which we could observe and record on tape both at the local courts, the traditional music in the various villages, the cult music and dances of the Tendanas and the urban popular music found in the City of Tamale. • These musical phenomena are always presented during the music and dance performances and are repeatability returning,- in variation forms, during these performances and the field recordings we were able to realize. Defining the traditional African idiom of music making in Dagbon • The various African indigenous characteristic and musical features that we could record and identify are the stylistic basis of the musical organization in its supporting tradition that we here identify here as “The African Idiom” in music making in Dagbon. • There is a common ground of recognizable musical qualities that are reflected in the music and dance of Dagbon and also reflected in the music and dance in other parts the Northern Region of Ghana. • This recognizable musical characteristics are not language bound and are not ethnically tied. There are musical parameters and properties irrespective to what ethnicity or language the music and dance belongs. Defining the traditional African idiom of music making in Dagbon • The African idiom in music making is essentially an aggregate of mutually related traditions which can be distinguished in certain particular from the music of other geographical and cultural areas in the Sudan Savannah Belt of Africa. • Some common features shared by the different musical traditions of African people have been broadly defined by musical scholars as Merriam, Nketia, Waterman, Chernoff, Agawu and others. Alan Merriam distinguishes four types of phenomena that are primordial components in defining the African idiom in music making. • The African Idiom in Music, is an excellent article by Alan P. Merriam that discusses a common ground for African musical characteristics in Sub – Saharan Africa. Merriam, A.P., The African Idiom in Music, in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 75, No. 296, 1962, pp. 120 – 130. COMPONENTS MUSICAL CHARACTERISTICS First component Song with handclapping. Handclapping as an important accompanying musical instrument during songs and dances. Second component The presence and the use of a variety of drums. Third component The use and wide range of musical instruments, including the varied forms of membranophones, idiophones, chordophones and aerophones. Fourth component The use of musical instruments in the form of orchestral groups, solo instrumental performances and as accompaniment to song. Fifth component The use of body percussion as a musical instrument during songs and dances. The lyrical use of proverbs in the song texts as a musical intercultural phenomenon. The use of tone language/ drum language in instrumental and vocal music. Sixth component Seventh component Eight component Traditional music-dance is a highly hybrid cultural phenomenon, cultural transformational processes, continuity and change forms the basis of traditional African music-dance found in that part of Africa. Ninth component The use of call and responds techniques in the musical form. The call and responds singing style. Expressive components: The intensity factor in African music-dance. Embodied music interaction, simultaneous multidimensionality in rhythmical structures, African hemiola style , concept of a moveable one. Tenth component Core categories of music -making in Dagbon Society • Male and female – Court music-dance: – Ritual music-dance associated with musical clans e.g. Jera, dimbu, bamaaya, Jinwar’ paga. – Festival music-dance e.g. Damba, • Tindana music and dance • Music-dance making for entertainment – Highlife, Simpa, Tora etc. – Hiplife Court music Akarima Gonje One string fiddler •Yamba Naa •gonje •gagle •gonje yila State drummer •Akarima Naa •timpani •dawule Kikaa Horn player Lunsi Tomtom beaters •Namo Naa •Lung Naa •Sampahi Naa • Taha Naa •lunga •gungon •lung yila Daangbee-lana Baansi Court musicians Singers Storyteller-poet •Baanga: praise singer Lunsi 32 Lunsi at the court Lung Sarigu Lung Sarigu Kambon Waa Kambon Waa • • • • • • Kambon waa of the Dagomba: warriors dance. The kambon waa is an adopted dance of the Ashante of Southern Ghana. It is established at the court of every chief in Dagbon. The man dressed with a kenté - dress is the Kambon Na, the chief of the warriors at the court. Ashante Kotoko: Ashante Kotoko o kuw pim a pim baba Naa Gariba. The Porcupine warriors of the Ashante. Kill a thousand warriors, and a thousand will come. 37 Narratives and local proverbs • The use of narrative and proverbs in Dagbon has a direct influence on the creation of dance grooves and performances of these dances. • Proverbs show how narratives and language syntax may structure embodied interactions with music. Consider the narrative of Na Gariba, which is about the great chief Gariba, the twentieth Ya Na (king) who ruled over Dagbon (ca. 1740) (Staniland, 1974:19). • Proverbs can be conceived as reflecting the Dagbon community’s philosophy about life. Proverbs are the condensed nuggets of wisdom used by the local chiefs and elders at the local courts in given judgment and settling disputes as well as in daily interaction of all kinds like musical songs and poetry. They belong to the public domain in Dagbon. Musical instruments at the court Musical instruments at the court Court music Court music Speech mode of drumming • The speech mode of drumming is characterising by a steady flow of beats, often lacking in regularity of phrasing, but using a two – tone framework. The rhythms are played in groups that are separated from each other by pauses of long durations. In speech mode drumming, narration is the ultimate goal (Nketia, 1957:29). • For more information on this fieldwork please see: Recording: MR.2005.1.39-1 at the website of http://music.africamuseum.be and http://music.africamuseum.be/instruments/english/ghana/ashanti/ashanti.html. The use of tone language • The same narrative of Na Gariba is also played on the kikaa at the court in Yendi. The kikaa is a side blown horn made of yomanvaa wood (Grewia venusta) with a thumb whole and is used at the court in Yendi to annunciate the coming and the presence of the Ya Na. The kikaa is also used as a signal instrument on the battle field when the Paramount chief is around. • The kikaa is an adopted musical instrument coming from the Ashanti land. It was introduced in Dagbon in Pre – colonial time. The language that was used at the time for communication was also an old type of Twi, an Akan language. To hear the recording sound of the kikaa performing please see: Recording: MR.2002.4.1-22 at the website of http://music.africamuseum.be.). The use of tone language • To sum up, influences of the old Twi language and the use of the Akan proverbs are still present in the different performances of the narrative of Na Gariba. • Elements such as the lyrical use of the proverbs (which are tied to rhythmical phraseology and expressive components such as timbre and melodic contour of the ambitus of the melodies) are transformed in a cultural idiom of music making in Dagbon. • The above examples illustrate clearly in which way the embodied interaction with music is based on concrete actions, narratives, and linguistic structures can influence the musical actions. Jera dance Jera waa • • • • • • Jera is a ritual (religious) circle dance. It is performed during festivals and funerals and ceremonies. Jera dance is accompanied by drums, raffia rattles and two flutes. The instrumental accompaniment of the percussion instruments are particularly striking, as it is very polyrhythmic, and is composed of several small rhythmic cells. The yuwa flute is played in hocketus figures, one are two flutes alternating as one musician starts of and plays a pattern, followed by the second. Instruments: Lung bla Gungon bla Fienga Chagla Kalamboo Siyalim Costume: Kulgu Kukpa Lagkpahra 47 Jera dance Takai dance Takai dance Bamaaya Bamaaya waa • • Bamaaya: River valley. Intruments: Kalamboo Lunga Gungon 52 Bamaaya costume • • • • • • • Mokuru Gmandugu Chagla Tipara Darna Bouwa Kafani 53 Bamaaya Bamaaya • Bamaaya, a fertility ceremonial dance is an anticlockwise circular male rain dance performed by a group of men dressed in mokuru, a woman skirt wearing tipara, earrings, gmandugu a black hat made of baboon skin, a waste belt and chagla, ankle rattles. In the traditional idiom the dance is performed during annual festivals funerals and occasions of entertainment for the local chiefs. • A Bamaaya dance consists of different sections, usually three to four, which are merged into a medley. Each section relates to a particular proverb and dance movement. The sections are not vast bust there is a certain ranking. Bamaaya • A standard Bamaaya dance medley can start with a pure Bamaaya, followed with Tubankpuli and Kanton but always ends with a Nyakboli. Tuubankpuli, is a local proverb and means: “as long as you're not satisfied [eating food], you cannot join the dance”. • Nyakboli (meaning: “bad cow”) is always the last section in the Bamaaya dance because it is a fast dance which demands allot of physical energy not only from the dancers but also from the drummers and the kalamboo players (a side blown flute). Bamaaya • Different aspects of the narrative are embodiment, such as the use of the upper torso during the dance, the use of body language mimics and shouts, the use of different head movements, the shaking of the body in synchronization with the lunga drumbeats and the kalamboo flute hochetus playing technique, the beating and stamping of the bare feet to the ground that produces a rattling sound (by the chaglas - a pair of metal ankle rattles) - a secondary cross rhythm, ululations of the female group members, and the audience. Bamaaya • These aspects of embodiment are always present and they can be clearly identified. • They occur in interaction with the accompaniment of the drummers, the used of the lunga masterdrummer with tone language, the supporting drums, and the kalamboo flute players. In addition, the audience acts as a cultural resonator for the musical performances and embodiment of the dances. Without the audience, there would simply be no Bamaaya music-dance performance. Dimbu Dimbu Bla Bla Nyindogu Jinwarpaga Jinwarpaga Tendana waa • • • • Tendana waa: Dance of the earth priest. It is a fertility dance, performed for the local god “Djakbo” of Tolon → a Lion. The ritual: - short introduction. - long central part. - short decay. Instruments: - lunga: hourglass shaped drum. - Gungon: double - headed cylindrical drum with timbre. - handclaps and singing. 66 Damba Yila Tora Tora Luwa Ziga Simpa ensemble • Simpa is an adopted dance from de Ga people of Southern Ghana. • In Dagbon Simpa dance is a youth recreation dance. • The name “Simpa” itself, is the local name for “Winneba”, one of the Fanti port towns in which “highlife” was born. • Simpa ensemble: - a lead singer - a choir - 4 young female dancers - percussion ensemble 72 Simpa group Tamale Cultural ambivalence The location and structure of the popular urban music business • Scale 1/50.000 Sheet 0901 C1 (North C-30/ R-111-NW) Tamale Metropolis The location and structure of the popular urban music business The location and structure of the popular urban music business Local street vendor Music ownership in Africa MUSIGA Cultural transformation processes Northern Ghanaian Artist Northern Ghanaian Artist Northern Ghanaian Artist Digital distribution channels The Hiplife Zone The Hiplife Zone • The concept of the Hiplife Zone derives directly and organically out of the fieldwork done in Tamale and is used by the Northern Artists to describe their own music- dance hybrid identities relating music-dance productions. • The creation of the “Hiplife Zone” in Northern Ghana had to be done to distinguish the urban contemporary idioms of music making in the Northern Regions of Ghana from the Southern music- dance idioms of music making. • The Dagbon Hiplife Zone contain the urban popular idioms of music making including the traditional idioms who creatively blended and transformed into these new idioms of music making. The Hiplife Zone • The term " The Hiplife Zone" stands on its own and has little connection with the local hip-hop variant called Hiplife music. • The Dagbon Hiplife Zone is an imaginary filter, a liminal timespace, a cultural in-betweenness in which the traditional idioms of music making interact, transform and blend with new hybrid urban Afro- American, Western into a local urban Afro-pop idiom of music making. In short that is what we mean with the phenomenon “Hiplife Zone”. The Hiplife Zone • It is a time – space liminal transitional imaginary zone of cultural interaction, an intangible transitional zone of cultural in-betweenness. • The liminal space of cultural in-betweenness were all these transformations are taken place, is a tolerance zone of cultural and musical interactions. It is an imaginary space, based on a mix of cultural values, customs an habits of the music and dance performances in that culture including musical agreements, aesthetical values of the music and dance performances and the cultural expectations of the local people. The Hiplife Zone • • • • The theory assumes that the “Hiplife Zone” lies in the intersection of these new cultural transformations and that it goes hand in hand with the construction of new cultural identities, sometimes called 'Neotribes'. The term “Neo–tribes” (Maffesoli,1994) is used to identify contemporary music and dance subcultures and club cultures in Tamale. Neo-tribes are groups of musicians, dancers, actors, and performers whose cultural backgrounds are situated the intangible zone between different idioms of music making. This zone is open to all cultural interpretation and cultural interaction between musical performers (Bhabha, 2011). It is unpredictable as to who the musicians, actors, performers may be, what subject of transformations will take place, what cultural position he or she may take up, and how and when these musical transformation might emerge. The phenomenon of cultural interweaving elements from one culture into another is usually related with the terms “acculturation”, “cross-cultural influence” and “hybridity” ( Bhabha, 1994). Cultural transformation processes • A model of cultural transformation • The few examples of narratives and language influences in embodied interactions with music, and the context in which globalization affects the traditional idiom of music/dance making, are indicative of processes of cultural change. • These processes affects different forms of traditional arts, including handicrafts, music and dance, architecture, and literature. • As the examples show, the traditional arts contain already many elements from different cultures and this resulted in a cultural idiom that provides inspiration for new changes due to the urban “ Hiplife Zone”. The changes are manifold and complex but they give a unique insight in how cultural dynamics works. It is therefore of interest to try to identify elements are due to change. Local transformation processes • Local transformation processes • Local transformation processions are transformations that take place within one musical culture, such as a traditional idiom of music making that is transformed and rearranged into a urban idiom of music making. • For example, a hiplife song “Sharatu” from the group Abada which is sung in the Dagbani language mixed with Pidgin English and jabber talk. On other example is the jinjelin song “Simdi Nyaanga” from the Ghana legend Fusieni Tia. • He was one of the first pioneers to fusion music and dance from the tradition idiom with synthesizers, westerns trumpets, brass horns and drum computers. The song simdi nyaanga is sung in the local Dagbani language and mixed with disco elements and elements from rap music coming from the foreign music idiom of music making. The Hiplife Zone • The cultural transformation model that we extract from the analysis of our field data in Northern Ghana does not make use of ethnical group’s our tribalism and ethnicity, but refers to pre-colonial and postcolonial musical cultures in this area. • In this approach, we no longer adopt the prevailing idea that ethno-linguistic anthropological classification of languages in the Northern parts of Ghana can be applied the music and dance classifications and culture. Instead, our model emerges from field data. • In presenting our model , we will introduce three concepts of cultural transformation processes and then illustrate them with examples from the field work. Jinjelin Local transformation processes Jinjelin music Local transformation processes Local transformation processes • Section 1 and 5 are showing the Savannah syncopated rhythms in the lead vocals. • Section 2, 4 and 6 shows the syncopated rhythms in the jinjelin accompaniment. • The section 3 shows the syncopated rhythms in the played timeline of the dawule, a singe bell. • These syncopated rhythms have a direct impact on the body movement of the dancers. The urban idioms of music making Local transformation processes Sharatu Local transformation processes Kuraya Kuraya Kuraya Kuraya • Kuraya kuraya is a song based on a play game of stones played by boys. The beating of the stones to the ground is reflected in the melodic ostinato pattern of the song. • Kuraya kuraya is sung in call and responds style with a lead singer and the group that answers. In the recordings kuraya kuraya was performed in the traditional idiom of music making using a simple binary meter. Kuraya kuraya was performance and recorded in the village of Tarikpaa. • The transcription shows the binary structure of the boy’s play game kuraya kuraya in call and responds singing style. • The call is with an anacrusis to the upbeat, whiles the responds is with a syncopated rhythm that we call a Savannah syncopated rhythm. Kuraya Kuraya Local transformation processes Local transformation processes • However, the version of Sheriff Ghale (Mohammed Sheriff Yamusah) is transformed and arranged in an Akan groove with a ternary Afro-beat meter. • The use of the double bell indicates the Akan influence, with a ternary Akan timeline. The song is also sung in Dagbani in a call and response style. The transformation into a ternary meter in combinations with the arrangement of electronically manipulated sounds and timbers gives the song a more reggae character and Afro-beat feel. • This transformation process of meter change in combination with electronically manipulated sounds and timbers (lamellophone, alamboo) is a common phenomenon in the local urban music of Dagbon and is a characteristic and musical component of music in the “Hiplife Zone”. Local transformation processes • Sound colour and meter are two typical parameters that are subject to change. Other aspects include the use of local proverbs in song texts, syncopated dance rhythms, and musical instruments. • However, note that the urban idiom is also characterized by influences coming from other African musical cultures, such as from Ashanti land (like the kambon waa, akarima and kate waa), Hausa land (like the aligaita, a double reed hobo, the lunsi - the royal drummer ensemble-), and Gurma land (like the gonje, a one string fiddle), and other continents, such as Bollywood film music and Afro – American hip-hop and Jamaican reggae. Regional cultural transformations • In this mode of transformation we focus on musical and cultural elements coming from other musical cultures in Africa and that got transformed in and fused with the urban idiom of music. Examples in Dagbon are: the use of polyrhythm, syncopated rhythms, timeline patters in dance movements, modal structures, text phraseology, call and response, textures and musical forms, the use of indigenous musical instruments and timbres, such as the Sahalian nasal timbres and the syncopations. • Other musical stylistic features are the use of dance choreography coming from other African traditional idioms of music making. Among regional transformations we could distinguish different types of transformations. • The first type of transformation involves cultural elements borrowed from traditional cultures and mixed with elements coming from the local culture. Among these transformations are the kambon waa music and dance of Ashanti land and the gonje music of Hausa - and Gurma land and lunsi music of Hausa land. Regional cultural transformations Regional cultural transformations • The second type of transformation involves the urban spaces characterized by the Hiplife Zone. These transformations are based on cultural elements coming from other African contemporary musical cultures and mixed and rearranged with cultural elements coming from the local musical culture. Among these cultural transformations are influences of Highlife and Hiplife music from the southern parts of Ghana, influences of Juju music of Nigeria, Nigerian Nollywoodisch film music, Rumba - and Soukous music of Congo and Palmwine inspired guitar music from the Akan. Global cultural transformation processes • Global cultural transformation processes in the music of Dagbon are transformations based on elements from foreign musical cultures outside the African continent. • These elements are transformed, re–configured and rearranged with local cultural elements into a fusion of “Hiplife Zone”-music. Among these are jazz, hiphop, Jamaican reggae, and rap music influences, as well as Bollywoodish influences of film music, western inspired harmonization choral music , and Afro - American gospel music and a huge among of western musical genres. Global cultural transformation processes • The use of electronic manipulated timbres such as voice vocoders and the implementation of electronic sound coming from synthesizers drum machines. The main musical change in this mode of transformation is the abandoning of local drumming for the implementation of drum machines, drum samplers and drum computers. • Sheriff Ghale and a few others reggae artiste in Tamale are making in exception by using the lunga drums, a real drum set and other local percussion instruments instead of a DJ during life performances. The Hiplife Zone • In Tamale, for example there are several artists coming from the local theatre "Simli Drama Group", and the local film industry. Ahmed Adam and Adisha Shaakira, for example, started to work in the informal music industry and they took their inspiration from Bollywoodish film music. • Tamale therefore has the nicknamed "India of Ghana“. Weekly, Radio Justice dedicates a radio program to the promotion of Indian music. During these programs, listeners can call in to ask for explanations about the contents of certain lyrics. The local theatre productions were later transformed into local films, which are more attractive for general public. The Hiplife Zone Kuraya Kuraya • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxK0igf WJhk • Global cultural transformation processes Preliminary conclusion • In this papers we presented our concept of the Dagbon Hiplife Zone in Northern Ghana and showed with examples coming from fieldwork that this imaginary intangible liminal zone of cultural in-betweenness contributes with key factors to the dynamics of music making in Dagbon society. • We were very surprised when we last visited Tamale in October 2018 how the local informal music industry in Tamale has grown and was developed into a dynamic regional music industry. It has its own track and dynamics, with a cosmopolitan cultural identity different from the Southern idioms of music making of Ghana. Preliminary conclusion • It is this rich mixtures of cultural ambivalence, the representation of the local in the global, internal and external, old and new, traditional and contemporary, secular and sacral, male and female that Tamale’s popular music culture Hiplife was developed and continues to sustain as part of the dynamic African idioms of music making in the Dagbon Hiplife Zone in Ghana. • In short, this was the setting for our fieldwork and it is the background for our understanding and interpretation of cultural transformational processes in Dagbon in the light of embodied interactions with music. We look forward what the next decade of musicians in Tamale will bring and how they will deal with all these new challenges and develop new idioms of music making. The end • Questions? • [email protected]