The Creation of Abelengro: A Cross-Cultural Art Music Composition

Abstract

Ethnomusicology has an important mission of providing a body of musical knowledge that can be drawn on by artist-composers, performers, dancers as well as scholars in the field of music. The paper therefore presents an outcome of a creative ethnomusicological study of abele music among the Yeji people of the Bono-East Region in Ghana. Using Euba’s theory of creative ethnomusicology and Nketia’s concept of syncretism, the study highlights the indigenous elements of abele musical genre and unearths the process where these elements were used to create a musical artefact called Abelengro. Data for the study were collected through observation and adopted definitive analysis to provide the materials for the composition. The study revealed that Abele music contains rich source materials for creating a neoclassicism of African traditional music that could be enjoyed by a wide range of people. It is envisaged that these rich indigenous musical elements and idioms are harnessed by contemporary art musicians to achieve the uniqueness of African identity in art music compositions in Ghana.