Female Voices from an Ewe Dance-drumming Community in Ghana

Award: Given honorable mention for the Nketia prize from the African Music Section of the Society for Ethnomusicology, 2010. Burns study significantly contributes to the scholarly understanding of Ewe expressive culture. Journal of Folklore Research ... a significant contribution to the fields of ethnomusicology, African studies and women's and gender studies. This text effectively combats many of the worn notions of Ewe traditional dance-drumming as static and passive. ... The inclusion of the voices of Ewe women is a noteworthy addition to the body of literature on Ewe music and dancing. Journal of International Library of African Music The author convincingly demonstrates how the women of Dzigbordi are able to achieve a balance between established norms of the group and their individual artistic inputs. ... The accompanying DVD contains much interesting visual material, repeating and illustrating the main arguments made in the book; it could actually be watched on its own. ... [Female Voices] will be of interest to anyone involved with gender studies, ethnomusicology, and Ewe culture. African Affairs 'Female Voices from an Ewe Dance-Drumming Community in Ghana is a successful interrogation of musical events as an integral part of social experience. Its clarity of language, ethnographic depth, and effective use of musical transcriptions and video illustrations make it an excellent addition to the literature on West African music.' African Studies Review 'The DVD offers a window that makes [the text] far more accessible... this book will be of interest to anyone engaged with West-African dance-drumming (with the video enabling more examination of the dance than is often the case), through to more general interests in the way that traditions are being re-created and updated, accessing under-represented musical creativity by women, and general concerns about the role and dialogue produced by an ethnographer.' World of Music