My research explored the role of ‘applied’ ethnomusicology in communication, culture and development whilst studying Ga people in urban Accra, south-east Ghana, and the dynamic role performance has played in the evolution of Ga society, taking account of the pre-colonial and post-colonial challenges experienced by Ga people in their urban environments.
Through scholarly literature and fieldwork, research sought to examine ‘traditional cultural expression’ used in Ga society as a dynamic process of communication that uses local language to convey messages and store information in oral stories, songs, dances, and through musical instruments.
My basic aim was to explore the role such methods of communication have had in the past, and their potential role in contemporary society to provide a process that brings people together in solidarity, enhancing personal and group identity, and assisting in collective problem identification, decision making, conflict resolution, and self-help social and human development.
