Old wine in new bottles: changes in dirge performance among the Akpini of Ghana

Abstract

Death is a necessary end to human life! It is a painful experience for bereaved families. It causes shock, pain, destabilization, confusion and anger. It separates families from their loved ones. It sends people to the other world. Indeed, the pain of losing a loved one to death is difficult to bear. To ease this pain, dirges play a key role. The performance of dirges has been part of funeral rites in many Ghanaian societies, including the Akpini of the Volta Region. Dirges comfort bereaved families for losing their loved ones; inform the audience about the deceased’s new status; and give hope that the deceased is resting in the afterlife. More importantly, dirges are a means of understanding how a people perceive life and death. This paper explores the performance of dirges among the Akpini of the Volta Region. It examines the nature and importance of dirges among the people. It particularly examines various changes that have occurred in the performance of dirges from the earliest times to the present. Certain aspects of the performance, including the performers, instrumentation and song texts have undergone transformation. The paper argues that such changes have become imminent since the Akpini people continue to interact with the outside environment, and have also been affected by such factors as colonization, Christianity and globalization. At the same time, certain aspects of the performance have resisted change. The dirge performers have been able to adapt to the changes to create a genre that differs from the original form. They believe, however, that the new genre still performs the functions of the original form. The paper concludes that while these changes will continue, some aspects of the performance will persist for a long time, if not forever.