Social barriers hindering women in the performance of Akpi and Adevu musical types in Logba Traditional area in Ghana.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue V, May 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Social barriers hindering women in the performance of Akpi and Adevu musical types in Logba Traditional area in Ghana

Selorm Divine Ndah^1*, Priscilla Walden², Okyere – Twum Ebenezer³, Marian Sarpong^4
1SDA College Of Education Creative Arts Department, Asokore – Koforidua, Ghana
^2,3St Monica’s College of Education, Creative Arts Department, Ashanti Mampong, Ghana
⁴Department of Ghanaian Language and Culture, Nsutaman Senior High School Nsuta – Ashanti, Ghana
*Corresponding Author

ABSTRACT
Musical types and their performances are means by which artistes in such professions make their living. But in the Logba Traditional area in the Volta region of Ghana where the people are so much enthuse with art and cultural related events, women seems to have been left out or disadvantage when it comes to the performance of some traditional musical ensembles such as Akpi and Adevu. The study sought to find out the barriers that hinder women artistes who want to go into performance of those musical types. The study adopted the qualitative design and made use of interviews and participant observation as some of the tools for gathering data. Sampling methods that were equally used covered purposive, Snowball and Random. The target population for the study comprises music students in the area, cultural coordinators, traditional musicians, and women with musical talents. The study revealed some of the social barriers hindering women when it comes to the performance of Akpi and Adevu musical types as Taboos, superstitions and marital ties. The study is useful to society as it could serve as a reference material for musicians, anthropologies as well as policy makers in the country. The study equally recommended that, cultural festivals should be instituted in the area to help explore talents among all genders. In addition, traditional authorities should perform their rites to eliminate the superstitious and taboos barring women from engaging in the performance the traditional musical types. Besides, music in general should be giving a priority in the educational curriculum so that, it would be well appreciated in society.

KEY WORDS: Social barriers, Taboos, Akpi, Adevu, traditional music

Introduction
Gender and perception could be one of the serious setbacks for women in the music industry in Ghana. For those into the traditional musical industry for example, they are measured by the standards and perceptions set by society; even though some of those societal standards might not be empirical or true. In Ghana for instance some vocations and events are associated with one gender over the other. For that matter works that require excessive use of force or energy are perceived to have being for the men, while those that have to do with lesser force is attributed to women.
In the performance of some traditional music in Ghana such as the warrior ensembles like Akpi and Adevu, the general perception is that, it is the only men who should get involved in its performance. Traditional music according to Ndah (2017) is the type that has link with traditional events such as chieftaincy, festivals and rites of passage.

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