“Abrabɔ Mu Wɔ Nsɛm Pii” (Life entails a lot): musical pieces based on the story about “Ammfa Annkyɛ Yɛ Haw” (Un-forgiveness is worrying)

Abstract

This project was an artistic work that combined a creative work with substantial write up within the domain of praxis and exegesis structured in a manner through the aspirations of the researcher to an eventual performance. Undoubtedly, every traditional music and dance has a story to tell since they were created within certain contextual domains. In this creative project, source materials made up of traditional music elements as well as folk songs were collected from the cultures of Western, Central, Volta and Northern Regions of Ghana by convenience means. The work created contains a symphonic poem and two instrumental musical works in tonal and post tonal styles based on the story “Ammfa annkyɛ yɛ haw” (un-forgiveness is worrying). Two good friends refused to eat particular food they had prepared but subsequently gave it to a third party to eat. In the end, one of them died while the other one was asked to pacify the gods of the land. The created artefact was subjected to some fundamental principles of formal analysis by Zweiteiliges and Dreiteiliges as well as Thematic Process by Reti to explain the compositional processes used to compose the work. It is concluded that music making and storytelling as a tool for recreation is needed to develop the labour force of a nation in the form of relaxing and invigorating the body for more strenuous activities, thereby, contributing to the quality nature of our day-to-day relaxation needs.