Walter Komla Blege, a Ghanaian, sought
self-identity. This search affected his work as an educator, author, dramatist,
politician, and composer. As an African art musician, he focused on traditional
African dance vein. His mentor, Nicholas
Zinzendorf Nayo’s approach failed him. He needed his own style. This paper
analyzes two of his numerous songs to define African Art Music by identifying
indigenous musical idioms in them. The study showcases excerpts from these
choral anthems to determine his text, chord progression, cadence, scale,
instrumental accompaniments, voice ranges, texture, and other African Art
forms. Purposive sampling was used to locate the respondent and the two
compositions from his library at Kpedze. An interview with the respondent
produced his biography. This paper establishes Walter Komla Blege’s works as
paramount definition of African Art Music, worthy of emulation by modern
African Art composers. Instead of the pulpit, his music preached the gospel the
African way.
Abstract
Introduction
In a combined position of Jones and his, Ekueme (1980)
rebutted the notion that “the African is utterly unconscious of organized
theory behind his music. He makes his music quite spontaneously, and it is with
interest and the delight of discovery that the more educated African will
listen to a demonstration of the basic principles, which underlie his musical
practice”. Sharing in their feelings as
above, stated that “This paper comes to confirm that whatever Annan has put in
his composition, Mobo Dawur, (I will tell it to the world), has consciously
been written recognizing and applying formal principles in theory and
composition” [1]. Even though he described himself as a “Rebel” for his
deliberate failure to apply the Western rules of theory and composition in many
of his works, Walter Komla Blege had a format he followed in composing his
songs, which by themselves become rules and principles of theory and
composition of music. Agbenyega observed that “profile and works of Western and
a few African musical exponents like G.F. Handel, J.S. Bach, Johann Brahms, E.
Amu, and J.H.K. Nketia respectively are published online [2]. But there are no
or little records of some of the prominent personalities especially in Africa
who equally contributed so well to the development of their societies in terms
of their musical works yet, are veiled from the music loving world. One of such
personalities was Walter Komla Blege.” It therefore becomes my topmost priority
to make everything about Walter Komla Blege known to the world. This qualitative
paper in support of the earlier work, is set out to achieve this revered aim of
mine. This paper draws from the theory of Jacobson (2011) which opined that “in
studying art music composer, these things must be discussed: the approach used
by the person, his importance, historical context, his biography and works.”
This is the more reason the profile of the respondent is featured in this issue
as well as the analysis of the two songs: Goliatie and Davi?i Zu Zevi Tukui.
The paper utilized purposive sampling to arrive at the respondent and the two
selected pieces picked from the composer’s own library at Kpedze, his hometown.
The paper is presented in three sections. The first section provided a brief
profile of Walter Komla Blege. The second section in a systematic manner
provided an analysis of Goliatie and Davi?i Zu Zevi Tukui anthems. The analysis
looked at Scale used in the composition, Melodic Organization, Voice Ranges,
Harmony, Rhythm, Texture, Form, Compositional Techniques, Dynamics, Text, and
use of African Art Form. The paper gathered data from Papa Walter Komla Blege
through an intensive interview I conducted for him in 2014 when I was an M.
Phil student.
A Brief Profile of Walter Komla Blege
Walter Komla Blege was born on 23rd December, 1931 to
Fritz Atigri Kwami Blege of Kpedze and Wilhelmina Dzathor of Alavanyo. His
father sent him to stay with his maternal grandparents to enable him to attend
school. This was due to the fact that his father had no formal education whilst
the grandfather: Jacob Dzathor was a retired teacher who knew the right way to
go as far as matters of formal education were concerned. The maternal
grandfather’s house was just separated from his father’s house by Kokuto’s
(mistakenly captured in Agbenyega, (2022) as Mineto’s house) house yet, he
dared not visit his parents at will. The “talk true cane”; a special cane
bought from Germany, was the security guard that with nerve wracking, guarded
grandpa Dzathor’s home. This adoption Djedje and Carter (1989; p.3) cited in
(Agbenyega; 2022) likened to the childhood days of Prof. J.H.K. Nketia saying:
(Agbenyega, 2022)
As a Christian, Kwabena Nketia’s grandparents who
brought him up have
Not permitted him to participate in performances of
traditional music, which
The Church was regarded as primitive and pagan.
However, the continued adherence of his mother and other relatives to
traditional customs and ways of life provided for him a broad range of musical
practices and styles in Akan life.
In a like manner, Walter Komla Blege was not allowed
by his Christian parents, grandparents, uncles, school and the Church to
witness a performance of traditional dance; not even at the market square where
Alavanyo Tata sung Gaba?a songs to gather coins from interested listeners on
market days. Walter Komla Blege’s first wife; Rose Gbesemete, a royal from the
Shianti family of Kpedze pathetically died at Takoradi during the labour of
their first child. He later married Rejoice
Awuah from Peki. In all, he had six children namely Mawuena (the providence of
God), Senyo (God is good), Wolase (the creator responded), Akofa (the heart is
at peace), Edem (He redeemed me), Yayra (Blessing). Walter Komla Blege, by all
accounts, is a political animal with a deep concern for his own identity and
the destiny of his country. As a student in the last year of his Sixth Form
Course, he witnessed and shared in his nation’s excitement and hope, which came
with the attainment of Independence on 6th March 1957. In 1968, Papa Walter Komla
Blege as a postgraduate student met Prof. Gerry Caplan whose lectures at the
University of Toronto Canada changed his outlook from that of a conservative to
that of a liberalist. He had accepted the offer to serve his country when he
was appointed Deputy Secretary (Minister) of Education and Culture in the
Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) government. The appointment
followed the 31st December Revolution led by Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings. This
opportunity enabled him the responsibility to establish new Centres of National
Culture in all districts across our country; Ghana. He was also responsible for
the Book Development Project of the Ministry, the celebration of special
national occasions including Independence Day and the Annual Celebration of the
31st December Revolution. Walter Komla Blege also held responsibility for the
Cuban Programme, which trained hundreds of Ghanaian professionals and technical
personnel in Cuban institutions.
In 1994, he went back to Winneba to serve at the
University of Education for the second time; this time as a lecturer in the
Social Studies Department. His first service at Winneba was when he was
appointed the Director to the erstwhile National Academy of Music (NAM), which
now transformed into the Department of Music Education and Theatre Arts of the
University of Education, Winneba housed on the Central Campus. He ended his
long career with his appointment as the founding President of the Evangelical
Presbyterian University College, which he established in very difficult and
dire circumstances. Walter Komla Blege had an amazing gift of music. In all his
life, he put his musical talents at the disposal of his Church, the Evangelical
Presbyterian Church. The high point of his musical service was the
establishment of DUMEDEF?, the Ambassador Choir of the EP Church, which he led
on two occasions to Germany on evangelistic missions. For the second German
trip, he composed the two-hour long Opera Kristo to tell the European
Missionary story not only in music and drama but in the way Africans would tell
it Blege [3]. Virtually, the whole life of Walter Komla Blege is dominated by
one thing: his search for identity. The changing scenes, which kept flashing
his mind were the flashbacks of; as a child watching musical performances at
the village square, as a school boy arguing why the Kpexo (stone structure in
the mountains north of Kpedze) is not counted among the seven wonders of the
world; as a student wondering why his people’s rich history should be captured
in books by historians; as a project manager being resentful with the World
Bank for sending a white consultant to do a job a Ghanaian could do without or
with little supervision; and as a Christian wondering why European Missionaries
should insist that Africans should not worship as Africans in Christian
churches in Ghana. Has he found what he had been searching for all his life?
Goliyatie (Goliath)
This principally, is the story of Goliath told the African way. The piece is in E-Flat major and in the time with thirty-four (34) bars. It is ternary in form (i.e., ABA) and the texts are in E?e language. The scale type used is diatonic. The technique of Call-and-Response is employed. Another device, which is extensively used in this music, is Appellation. Once again, Blege composed this music in Asafo (a Ghanaian war dance) dance vein to bring home the message and performance in a thrilling manner. The medium is vocal and instrumental. The instruments that are used as accompaniments are purely African namely Ladzo kpe (i.e., Animal Horn), Gadodo (e) (i.e., double bell), and ?ukpo (i.e., State drum). The music begins with a call by a cantor from bar one in a free style with very fast (i.e., allegro) movement, ending with glissando (spoken-S) in bar six. The response which made use of plagal cadence (i.e., IV-I) occurs with chorus in ritardando from bar seven to nine. This action is repeated twice. The pictures labelled ‘i and ii’ below exemplifies this postulation (Figures 1,2). Bar ten to thirteen is also repeated twice. In it, the chorus celebrates Goliath as a Hero with the chord progressions of IV-I-viiob-Ib-ii-iii-IV-I. Actions and mood in this frame portray this greatness of Goliath. The picture labelled ‘iii’ below proves the claim, and this marks the closure of the first section (i.e., A’) (Figure 3). In the second section (i.e., section B), the composer again employed the technique of Call-and-Response. In doing this, Walter Komla Blege displayed his deep knowledge of how men of valour are celebrated in African culture. He therefore deployed the skill of Appellation to bestow heroism on Goliath. This act greatly draws home the piece to Africa in an artistic manner. In Africa, this normally happens in the courts of traditional leaders like Chiefs, Headmen, Fetish Priests, and in palm wine drinking sports where men who made certain achievements in life or made special names for themselves in the society gathered to sip palm wine. Just like praise songs, appellation is used to count the exploits of personalities who excelled in the various fields of their human endeavours. It is equally a technique employed in Africa to bestow praise on title holders or the powerful in society. This exactly is what Walter Komla Blege proverbially used to paint the greatness of Goliath. The excerpt below is showing evidence (Figure 4).
CALL RESPONSE
Kal?t?a
?e gbe (Warrior commanded) Goliyatie
Ðekpakpuiwo si ?o gbe (Young men fled into
the bush) Goliyatie
Ðevi zi?wo le bebe (Children hid in
pigeonholes) Goliyatie
Fia-kpukpu?wo ?? kp? (Elders entered into
caucus) Goliyatie
Kal?t?a
?e gbe (Warrior commanded) Goliyatie
Duk?wo zu aƒedo (Nations became desolate) Goliyatie
E?ui-fu ?o to (Goose pimples absorbed the
bod) Goliyatie
Gbet?vi ?u ‘fifia (Human sweat) Goliyatie
Y? atsyiaƒu gbagba (Over ran into the sea) Goliyatie
Mele b?b?e o lo (It is not easy at all) Goliyatie
Me nye ‘gbemigbe enye ‘gbe o (Those days
are incomparable now) Goliyatie
Egbea dzi t? zi (The battlefield is chaotic) Goliyatie
V?v?li zu bibi (Shadow turns into monster) Goliyatie
Ebe ye ?k? enye Goliyati (Hail Goliat) Goliyatie
Ebe ye heteklolo! (Hail Heteklolo) Goliyatie
Ebe ye ?k? enye Goliyati (Hail Goliat) Goliyatie
Ebe ye heteklolo! (Hail Heteklolo) Goliyatie
Nake ?eka n? dzome bi nu! (A single faggot
cooked the whole mea) Goliyatie
Ebe ye ?k? enye Goliyati (Hail Goliat) Goliyatie
Wohee m?h? o (He’s unshakable) Goliyatie
Wohee le kpe dzi m?h? o (Dragged on rocks
but remain resolute) Goliyatie
Wohee le hliha dzi m?h? o (Unmovable even
on metamorphic rocks) Goliyatie
Wohee l’ati ?u m?h? o (It’s unmovable on
tree) Goliyatie
Okiti kiti Goliyatie
Goliyatie Goliyatie
Goliyatie Goliyatie
Goliyatie Goliyatie
After the appellations, section A is repeated to end the piece.
According to Walter Komla Blege, the Goliyatie and
Davidi Zu Zevi Tukui music marked the beginning of his attempt to write an
opera in 1978. However, he could not succeed because of his failure to follow
his compositional principles where the lyrics are composed first before setting
them to sound. This biblical story based on 1st Samuel 17: 1-54, told in
African context would have not been comprehensible to Africans for that matter
Ghanaians typically the Voltareans and more appropriately, the ?edome people
where Walter Komla Blege came from, without the use of Call-and-Response and
the art of appellation set to Asafo dance (Kale?u). Proverbially, Goliath is
used to represent E?e (Ewe) people. The Asante people are known for their
greatness in war or battlefield. However, they could not withstand the E?e
people when they fought each other on a war field, hence the text ‘Asiantiewo
da dze’, (Asante people deceived themselves).
The end of the piece is to be performed slowly (i.e., moderato) with
women hitting their hands against their leaps to hoot at the Asante people.
Voice ranges of the
parts in Goliyatie music are displayed below
Structure
of the Goliyatie song: Ternary
A 1-13
B 14-
(This section features the appellation in Call-And-Response form)
A 1-13
(i.e., ABA)
In the Goliyatie song, Walter Komla Blege displayed
the following vocal possibilities. Soprano moves from G to E in the interval of
sixth (6th), alto from B to E which is the interval of forth (4th), tenor from
E to C which also displayed the interval of sixth (6th), and bass singing from
E to A in the interval of forth (4th). In the picture, one can clearly observe
that the parts are paired in terms of intervallic relationship. Alto and bass
are singing in the ranges of forth while soprano and tenor are also singing in
the ranges of sixth. This symbolically, is an art that displayed the battle
between David and Goliath with E?e people representing David while the Asante
people represented the giant Goliath (Figure 5).
Davidi
Zu Zevi Tukui
Like ‘Goliatie’, Papa Walter Komla Blege again re-wrote the story of David as found in the bible (i.e., 1 Samuel chapter 17 verse 1-54) to be more meaningful to Africans. Metaphorically, he used this story to explain that out of ‘smaller things come greater ones. The use of infinitesimal substances in this music lends credence to the aforementioned. This is confirmed in the following words thus: Davidi (i.e., David), Ahloe (i.e., fox), Dikoloe (i.e., a small species of mouse), Xose (i.e., faith), Logoku (i.e., Mustard seed). Papa Walter Komla Blege said the answers he gives to the following questions he normally asks himself, are the results of his art works thus: If E?e are to sing this song,
- Which
dance will they set it to?
- What
type of instrument will they play on it?
- What
type of people will play the instruments?
- What type of song will they want to sing to accompany the dance?
Set to Gbolo Dance, ‘Davidi Zu Zevi Tukui’ has the
time signature
Verse two opens with
the texts ‘Dikoloe be, dzi ye woa nue’. On top of the note that carries the
text ‘nue’, is the letter: ‘S’ (i.e., spoken, used to imply glissando). Dikoloe
being a small type of mouse is used to represent how tiny David appears before
Goliath but had he killed. He figuratively used Abobo lua to me na dae (which translates
to mean: it takes heart for a snail to remove wax from the ear of snake) to
mean that it takes valour to do what David did. Look at the excerpt below for
proof of claim (Figure 8). The piece is both monophonic and homophonic in
texture, due to the blend of Cantor and choir with the choir maintaining same
rhythmic patterns and words in the number of appearances made in the piece. At
the end of verse four, performers are to go back to verse 3 then back to the
overture where the music finally ended. The instruction given on the score is
incomplete. It cannot lead to correct interpretation of the music as Papa
Walter Komla Blege truly wanted. Listening to Dumedefo; the Ambassador Choir of
the EP Church performing this piece bears out the true performance mode. There
is an addition of castanet and slit bell (i.e., Akog? and bobooboge) to the
axatse (Figure 9).
Voice Ranges
Soprano sing in the interval of octave that is from D
to D, alto from C to B which is the interval of seventh (7th), tenor from E to
F which also displayed the interval of nine (9th), and bass singing from G to G
that is in octave (8th).
Structure of the song:
Ternary
A Bar 1-18
B Bar 19-71
A Bar 1-18
(i.e., ABA)
During my interview with him, Papa Walter K?mla Blege
observed that songs in African traditional dance vein are usually not long but
very repetitive. So, when he composed songs and set them whether entirely or
partly to any traditional dance style, he made sure they are not long but very
repetitive to carry the true resemblance of a particular traditional African
music. In his Ma’u Sitsoƒe, the portion set to Gbolo dance lilt was very short
with several repetition of: Agbe n?n? ya gbe wò nye (Life is like a weed). The
text written in the Ewe language is as below.
Agbe n?n? ya
gbe wo nye
gbe wo nye
gbe wo nye
gbe wo nye
Etc.
In the Goliyatie (Goliat), the repetition is:
Goliyatie
Goliyatie
Goliyatie
Goliyatie
Goliyatie
Then in Davidi, the repetition of: David is like a
little pot that cooked to feed a whole nation. This is seen written in Ewe
language below:
Davi?i zu zevi tukui ?anu duwo y?? ?u
Davi?i zu zevi tukui ?anu duwo y?? ?u
Davi?i zu zevi tukui ?anu duwo y?? ?u
Davi?i zu zevi tukui ?anu duwo y?? ?u,
Duwo y?? ?u
The following questions become obvious that:
- When
Africans say they are going to perform their music, what exactly do they go to
do?
- What had Papa Walter Komla Blege understood about the music of his people that made it imperative for him to necessarily set his music always to a dance in African vein?
Has this piece provided the answers for these
questions?
Doing the analysis of Blege’s works, this paper found
that the works of Blege define music in the Context of Africa as Drumming,
Singing and dancing; all wrapped in the same piece of artwork. The paper
recommended that anybody who plans to write music in an African vein must
necessarily exhibit an idiom of Africa; especially in a traditional dance vein.
This is what exactly must put the piece of work in the frame of African Art
Music. More research will indicate the extent of differences that may exist in
the MRI treatment of MPA between solo performers and ensemble performers [4,5].
This statement becomes imperative to the validity of the finding of the paper
as more research is needed to confirm the findings of this paper.
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- Blege
WK. Opera Kristo. Wallyblege publications, sedyprint Ltd, P.O. Box CT2115
Cantoment, Accra-Ghana. 2020.
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SK. The effect of mental rehearsal and imagery on musical performance anxiety
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PDK. An analytical study of five selected works of Walter Komla Blege.
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