.JPG)
ConstructionAbout 24 inches tall and with a 10 inch face, the drum is made of tweneboa, a type of wood that grows in Ghana. The body is shaped and hallowed out by hand from one single piece of wood. It is often decorated with beautifully hand-carved patterns or traditional Adinkra symbols.
A bendable cane is sewn into the skin and attached to pegs. The drum can be tuned by tapping these pegs into the body of the drum, which increases the tension on the skin.
As the tradition requires, female antelope skin is used in Ghana. Although male antelope and other animal skins are not considered to create the original sound of the Kpanlogo, goat skin is sometimes used as it is easier to export.
Sound & Technique
The Kpanlogo produces a beautiful, warm sound which reminds of the Conga. The basic sounds are bass, tone, mute, slap and mute slap. A good drummer can differ the sounds even more by raising and lowering the drum with his legs while playing.
The drum is usually played in an ensemble, while the master drummer plays a set of four lead drums and is accompanied by several other drummers.
Music and Dance
As it is the case with many traditional African instruments, the Kpanlogo drum is associated with the same named music and dance. The dance moves were influenced by Ghanaian highlife dance, oge dances from Liberia and rock & roll dance.
It is also said that Kpanlogo dance was initially called "lolo". Lolo is a fishermans dance and its characteristic arm and shoulder movements represent the pulling in of the fishing nets.
History & Origin
The Kpanlogo is an instrument of the Ga, an ethnic tribe that occupies the capital city and Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Its name is associated with a princess of an old West African asantse folk tale. It goes like this:
“There once was a rich chief with three beautiful daughters. They never left their father's palace and their names were kept secret.
The chief was growing old with no son to inherit him. In his desperation, he announced to the community that he would marry off his daughters to any man who could mention their secret names.
One day a man sneaked into the palace and started to behave like a mad man. The girls saw him and laughed at him. Their mother heard the commotion and trying to find out what was happening, she innocently called out to her first daughter: “Kpanlogo!” Not getting any answer, she shouted out the names of the other two daughters: “Nmaa Nmaa! Alogodzan! What is going on?” The man however vanished from the palace as suddenly as he had appeared.
On the day of the contest, many men of the surrounding villages gathered at the palace. One after the other fruitlessly tried to mention the girl's names. When it came to the turn of the man who had sneaked into the palace, he burst into a melodious song he had composed around the names of the beautiful girls: “Kpanlogo – Alogodzan nn – Kpanlogo – Nmaa oo Nmaa oo!!” Everybody was amazed and the chief, who was highly impressed, gave his daughters to this clever man.”
Otoo Lincoln got inspired when his grandfather told him the story. For a performance of the tale in the 1960s, he composed a new rhythm, which is known as “Kpanlogo of Greater Accra”. Success and Controversy
This new recreational music and dance became extremely popular among the youth in the whole nation. Because the dance moves were perceived as “profane” and “indecent” by some groups of the population, Kpanlogo music caused a huge controversy. The authorities were even called upon to ban it. As a result, the police frequently arrested ensembles while performing. For a performance during a music contest in 1965, the moves were carefully adapted. President Kwame Nkrumah therefore could not find anything wrong with it and declared it as legitimate cultural music.
This paved the way for Kpanlogo music to become a cultural icon to Ghanaians. Today it is still performed at almost every social gathering such as weddings, funerals, outdoorings or just spontaneous street jams of the youth.
From Ghana to the world
The Addy brothers have always been leading proponents of Kpanlogo music in Ghana. Specifically Mustapha Tettey Addy is credited for making it known internationally through his performances and teaching in Europe and North America. It is said that Kpanlogo music was first heard outside Ghana in 1972 at the Munich Olympics in Germany. Since then, a growing international community of Kpanlogo fans has developped. Kpanlogo music is played and performed all around the globe now and every year it attracts a large number of visitors into Ghana for study trips and heritage tours.