Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES Winter 2020 17 by carefully cutting planks of wood at precise lengths to get the instrument in tune. ere is also a kiln used for drying the wooden bars to help preserve the wood and keep the instrument in tune. Our Last Night at the DMC All the time we spent learning instrumental, vocal, and choreographic parts to the music culminated in one big concert on our last night at the DMC, where we performed all that we learned alongside the professionals, who performed their own repertoire! ere was a resident senior dance troupe of adults -- the Saakumu Dance Troupe -- and a junior dance troupe of children and young adults that performed. Each troupe had matching outfits that were handmade with a signature fabric. e women wore sleeveless tops and knee-length skirts, while the men wore sleeveless tops and knee-length shorts. Furthermore, the men wore heavy rattles on their calves and carried small hand held bells made from iron in their right hands to reinforce the percussion part being played by the musicians. e men also shook horse tails in their le hands as a part of the choreography. e repertoire of the senior and junior dance troupes was not too different from ours, but it looked and sounded much different because the Ghanaians were able to perform all the music and dances up tempo and with the ease of someone who has been exposed to this type of music for many years. Another performance was by Tijan, the gyil maker we had met previously, who performed a virtuosic solo on a custom-made gyil that he could play while standing. He jokingly referred to it as his "DCI gyil." Aer his solo, he played another song accompanied by Dr. Shane Jones (our university group leader and Director of Percussion at UT Martin) playing the rhythmic timeline on the metal part of a shovel and Dr. Alex Smith (a Fulbright scholar doing research in Medie and Director of Percussion at Central Missouri State University) playing on a double- headed drum. is performance was followed by another impressively virtuosic gyil solo, this time by Alex Woman, our gyil teacher at the DMC. ese incredible performances were followed by an equally incredible celebration of our time at the DMC. We danced, talked, ate, and drank the night away until the last of us retired to one last sleep at the DMC. Popular Attractions in Ghana If you have time before or aer your time at the DMC, there are other wonderful excursions throughout the country that would be worth experiencing. First, Accra, the capital of Ghana, is only one hour south of the DMC by bus. In Accra, you can find an exciting and bustling market packed with shops selling handmade clothing, jewelry, decorations, wood carvings, statues, and much more. Accra is also a coastal city, so you can walk alongside the beach at your leisure aer visiting the market. In fact, I was joined on my stroll down the beach by a man herding cows with nothing but a stick! ough the ocean itself does not look too different from those you might see in the United States, the beaches are covered in mountains of garbage and litter. ough littering is illegal in Ghana as it is in the United States, some people throw garbage near the beaches at night when no one is around to arrest them for it. Also in Accra, we visited the mausoleum and museum of Ghana's first president, Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972). e marble mausoleum houses the bodies of Nkrumah and his wife, Fathia. On our tour of the museum we learned about how Nkrumah helped Ghana (then known as the Gold Coast) gain independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, 181 years aer the United States gained independence from that same country. A recreational experience in Ghana is to walk through Kakum National Park by canopy bridges that hang roughly 100 feet above the rainforest floor. ough this park is home to many elephants and monkeys, they mostly come out at night when the park is closed. However, you will still be able to see a plethora of interesting insects, birds, and lizards during the day. My personal favorite excursion was the Elmina Castle, which was built in the 15th century and imprisoned West Africans before they were shipped off to other continents as slaves. A plaque on the entrance to the slave quarters of the castle stated that it was visited by past president Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and their two daughters — Malia and Sasha — aer Michelle traced her family's roots back to that exact castle. A knowledgeable tour guide led a large group of visitors through various underground dungeons and dark passages where the West Africans were packed together like sardines and had to eat, sleep, and relieve themselves all in the same place. e Africans were split up by gender to keep them from reproducing, but this did not prohibit the rape of female prisoners by European castle guards and governors. Aer touring the prisoner's quarters beneath the castle, we were taken through the brightly lit and charming rooms inside the castle where the royalty lived. It was shocking to see how the royalty were able to live such privileged lives right above the mistreated and tragic lives of the enslaved Africans beneath them. Conclusion ough Ghana has a tragic past with the slave trade, many impoverished citizens, and a countrywide sanitation issue, it is now one of the more stable countries in West Africa. In fact, Ghana continues to make progress in healthcare, government, and education. As for the DMC, it is expanding and has another location site being built close to the original building. is new building will have more classrooms, bedrooms, a performance space, an art studio, a kitchen, and a public library for the city of Media. e DMC has two summer sessions on May 30-June 20 and June 27-July 18, 2020, where people can choose to learn for a few days or a few weeks. Sources 1. "Bernard Woma." Dagara Music Center, http://www.dagaramusic.org/bernard- woma/ 2. "Twi." Languages of the World, Stanford University, https://web.stanford.edu/ dept/linguistics/languages/twi/Default. htm Michaela Johnson, a trumpet player and initiate of Epsilon Iota Chapter at the University of Tennessee at Martin, graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education in December 2019. For more information on the Dagara Music Center, visit: www.dagaramusic.org MUSIC OF GHANA

• Cover