Coded Messages: CHAINS was built with drum language passages from
two important pieces in the Ewe repertoire; Gadzo
and Adzogbo
are pieces which have historical significance. Both have been
used to arouse community support and cooperation in times of hardship
and threatening circumstances. C.K. Ladzekpo,
Professor of Music at U.C. Berkeley steered us to explore the
vu gbe for Adzogbo.
The interpretation of one passage of Adzogbo became the heart
and the namesake of Coded Messages: CHAINS.
| Dza dza, dza dza, dza dza, dza dza, Avalokoe le ko na mi. Dza dza, dza dza, dza dza, dza dza, Avalokoe le ko na mi. Me nyi ba na huto, Me nyi ba na hesino. Avalokoe le ko na mi, Me nyi ba na huto, Me nyi ba na hesino. Avalokoe le ko na mi, | Our necks, our necks, our necks, our necks, Chain will strangle without release. Our hearts, our minds, our heads, our necks, Chain will strangle without release. Listen to the drummer, Listen to your own song. Chain will strangle without release. Listen to the singer, Listen to your own song. Chain will strangle without release. |
"Our necks…" is the foundation of CHAINS,
the recurrent reference, and the thread of continuity. It appears
in many forms: spoken, enacted, drummed, and danced; interpreted
and reinterpreted. You can find it stated in different languages
on the vu gbe
page. On the whip page,
you can find a more literal enactment.
Andruid Kerne created this total translation in consultation with
Francis Kofi,
C.K. Ladzekpo,
and Gustav Hlomatsi.
The passage, in its traditional context, served to incite the
people to respond to a clear and present danger. Now, we are
connected by chains, and bound, all of us, to the center. "CHAINS"
became a linkage and a symbol, a rallying cry among the performers.
Where "Coded Messages" is an abstraction, "CHAINS",
is tangible, connecting the pain of history with the pain of the
continuing, postcolonial relegation of Ghana to the margins of
the global economy.
The Internet is also a medium of connection, playing a role in
the cultural ecology to circulate information among those who
are lucky enough to be connected. The whole peoples who are excluded
are left relatively poorer than those with access. Thus the Internet
functions as new chain of exclusion, binding those with access
into a web of connectivity, and leaving the rest bound in silence.
Owning the technology of information -- telephones, televisions,
computers - is a dream for many people we met in Ghana. This
is the subject of "Tele", where Francis chants "Chains
of cybernet economy,", "Power Money Power Money",
and "NBC, ABC BBC, GBC, CNN, IBM", interlocking crossrhythmically
with the other performers, who chant, "Telephone Television
Telephone Television" in a call and response form.
Copyright 1996 by Creative Media Cauldron.
All rights reserved.