Music in African ritual

Remains of Ritual: Northern Gods in a Southern Land (University of Chicago Press), the second book in Steven M. Friedson's planned trilogy about his musical experience in African ritual, focuses on the Brekete/Gorovodu religion of the Ewe people. Friedson, Regents Professor of music, examines Ewe religious practices through the study of a medicine shrine on Ghana’s southern coast. He considers different aspects of Ewe ritual life and its musicality, including dance and possession, drumming and chanted calls to prayer.

Friedson also focuses on his own position and experience within the society. For 15 years, he has worked in the Volta Region of Ghana, where he established a research center on the Guinea Coast. His first book in the series was Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Tumbuka Healing.

 

 

 

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