GYILEAS AGENRE IN DAGAABALAND, GHANA

Abstract

The gyil (Xylophone) is a tuned idiophone, the principal instrument for Dagaabas for both religious and social ceremonies. This paper examines the place of gyil genre in Dagaaba culture. This study unveils the rich cultural traditions of the Dagaaba people of Winneba and Kasoa in the Central Region of Ghana; an anthropological documentation formed an important part of the study. The contextual meaning of the composition used in this study was based on Akuno’s (1997) theory on social functions. Thirty-nine Dagaaba gyil folk songs were collected from traditional performers, through purposeful and snowball sampling techniques. Songs were recorded, transcribed and analysed for dominant traditional musical features. Rhythmic and melodic accuracy of the transcribed songs were ascertained by play backs using FINALE notation software. The focus of this paper is therefore based on the Origin, Contextual Setting, Organology, Construction as well as the linguistic analysis of some selected songs