Abuakwa - Detroit Arts International

The Abuakwa African Music and Dance Ensemble was established in 1998, in Kokomlemle, Accra, Ghana by Kweku Kwakye with the objectives to:

Develop a first class performance ensemble to explore the classical foundations of African music and dance.
Develop a conservatory of African music with a dance department, to offer different courses in African music and dance performance for both kids and adults.
Develop an African Chamber Orchestra whose instrumentation will consist of an unorthodox combination of traditional and neo-traditional African instruments.
Develop community oriented projects in African music and dance.

The Instrumentation

The instrumentation of the ensemble comprises four atenteben (seven holed vertical bamboo flutes); two gyile (anhemitonic pentatonic xylophones); a set of atsimevu drums comprising one master drum and four supporting drums; a set of fontomfrom drums comprising two master drums and five supporting drums; two djembe palm drums. The ensemble also includes two male and two female dancers who are also singers.

The Music

The music of Abuakwa African Music and Dance Ensemble is qualitatively a new system of making African music, which utilizes instruments from diverse indigenous musical cultures in Africa. The results are unlike music of any particular African society but contains elements identifiable with various individual musical cultures in Africa.

Performance Background

The ensemble is a leading exponent of West African traditional music and dance and has performed in all the major Arts Festivals in Ghana and beyond, including the Pan African Arts Festival (Ghana), the National Arts Festival (Zimbabwe), Masa Arts Festival (Abidjan Ivory Coast), Standard Bank Arts Festival (South Africa), Comerica/Ford Global Thursday Concerts, Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, Michigan U.S.A), Black History Month, Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan U.S.A), Afro Fest, University of Windsor (Windsor, Ontario Canada) to mention a few.

Conclusion

A performance by the ensemble will prove to be a highly educational and inspirational experience for any audience. It will be a valuable opportunity for the audience to hear these rarely performed works while serving as a historical look at the aspects of acoustic music and dance performance as established by Kwaku Kwakye and The Abuakwa African Music and Dance.