Ghana S Concert Party Theatre

Author : Catherine M. Cole
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2001-07-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9780253108982

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Ghana's Concert Party Theatre by Catherine M. Cole Pdf

Ghana's Concert Party Theatre Catherine M. Cole An engaging history of Ghana's enormously popular concert party theatre. "... succeeds in conveying the exciting and fascinating character of the concert party genre, as well as showing clearly how this material can be used to rethink a number of contemporary theoretical themes and issues." -- Karin Barber Under colonial rule, the first concert party practitioners brought their comic variety shows to audiences throughout what was then the British Gold Coast colony. As social and political circumstances shifted through the colonial period and early years of Ghanaian independence, concert party actors demonstrated a remarkable responsiveness to changing social roles and volatile political situations as they continued to stage this extremely popular form of entertainment. Drawing on her participation as an actress in concert party performances, oral histories of performers, and archival research, Catherine M. Cole traces the history and development of Ghana's concert party tradition. She shows how concert parties combined an eclectic array of cultural influences, adapting characters and songs from American movies, popular British ballads, and local story-telling traditions into a spirited blend of comedy and social commentary. Actors in blackface, inspired by Al Jolson, and female impersonators dramatized the aspirations, experiences, and frustrations of their audiences. Cole's extensive and lively look into Ghana's concert party provides a unique perspective on the complex experience of British colonial domination, the postcolonial quest for national identity, and the dynamic processes of cultural appropriation and social change. This book will be essential reading for scholars and students of African performance, theatre, and popular culture. Catherine M. Cole is Assistant Professor in the Department of Dramatic Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has published numerous articles on African theatre and has collaborated with filmmaker Kwame Braun on "passing girl; riverside," a video essay on the ethical dilemmas of visual anthropology. June 2001 256 pages, 26 b&w photos, 3 maps, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, notes, bibl., index cloth 0-253-33845-X $49.95 L / £38.00 paper 0-253-21436-X $19.95 s / £15.50

Author : Catherine M. Cole
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2001-07-11
Category : Drama
ISBN : 025321436X

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Ghana's Concert Party Theatre by Catherine M. Cole Pdf

A history of Ghana's enormously popular concert party theatre.

Author : Karin Barber,John Collins,Alain Ricard
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 314 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 1997-06-22
Category : History
ISBN : 0253210771

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West African Popular Theatre by Karin Barber,John Collins,Alain Ricard Pdf

" . . . a ground-breaking contribution to the field of African literature . . . " —Research in African Literatures "Anyone with the slightest interest in West African cultures, performance or theatre should immediately rush out and buy this book." —Leeds African Studies Bulletin "A seminal contribution to the fields of performance studies, cultural studies, and popular culture. " —Margaret Drewal "A fine book. The play texts are treasures." —Richard Bauman African popular culture is an arena where the tensions and transformations of colonial and post-colonial society are played out, offering us a glimpse of the view from below in Africa. This book offers a comparative overview of the history, social context, and style of three major West African popular theatre genres: the concert party of Ghana, the concert party of Togo, and the traveling popular theatre of western Nigeria.

Author : David Afriyie Donkor
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 327 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2016-07-04
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9780253021540

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Spiders of the Market by David Afriyie Donkor Pdf

An analysis of the trickster spider character from West African folklore, performance, and Ghanian politics. The Ghanaian trickster-spider, Ananse, is a deceptive figure full of comic delight who blurs the lines of class, politics, and morality. David Afriyie Donkor identifies social performance as a way to understand trickster behavior within the shifting process of political legitimization in Ghana, revealing stories that exploit the social ideologies of economic neoliberalism and political democratization. At the level of policy, neither ideology was completely successful, but Donkor shows how the Ghanaian government was crafty in selling the ideas to the people, adapting trickster-rooted performance techniques to reinterpret citizenship and the common good. Trickster performers rebelled against this takeover of their art and sought new ways to out trick the tricksters. “A precise and inviting appeal to political economy, performance, and the enduring relevance of the cultural and archetypal trickster.” —D. Soyini Madison, Northwestern University “David Afriyie Donkor’s experience as a theatre artist and director supports the rich political economic component that frames this analysis of performance and performance traditions for broad audiences.” —Jesse Weaver Shipley, Haverford College “By sharing the performance experiences, rather than texts, Donkor accomplishes the challenging task of introducing rare theatre performances in a particularly compelling context for a Western readership in a global age.” —Theatre Survey “Overall, as a Ghanaian actor and director as well as a scholar, Donkor’s cultural insider analyses of ananse theatre within the space of political economy make important contributions and interventions to the discourses on performance (theory) and neoliberalism and their interaction in Ghana and Africa.” —African Studies Review

Author : Meike Lettau,Christopher Yusufu Mtaku,Eric Debrah Otchere
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2022-08-29
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781000756005

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Performing Sustainability in West Africa by Meike Lettau,Christopher Yusufu Mtaku,Eric Debrah Otchere Pdf

This book discusses the role of cultural practices and policy for sustainable development in West Africa across different artistic disciplines, including performance, video, theatre, community arts and cultural heritage. Based on ethnographic field research in local communities, the book presents findings on current debates of cultural sustainability in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Benin. It provides a unique perspective connecting cultural studies, conflict studies and practical peacebuilding approaches through the arts. The first part pays particular attention to aspects of social cohesion and the circumstances of internally displaced persons e. g. caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in Northeast Nigeria. The second part focuses on cultural policy issues and challenges in the context of sustainable development, investigating participatory approaches and bottom-up processes, the role of governments and civil society, as well as performing arts organizations and universities in policy making and implementation processes. Performing Sustainability in West Africa presents research results and new methods on the role of artistic and cultural practices in conflict situations as well as current debates in cultural policy for researchers, academics, NGOs and students in cultural studies, sustainable development studies and African studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003261025, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Author : David Afriyie Donkor
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2016-07-11
Category : Music
ISBN : 9780253026040

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Spiders of the Market, Enhanced Ebook by David Afriyie Donkor Pdf

The Ghanaian trickster-spider, Ananse, is a deceptive figure full of comic delight who blurs the lines of class, politics, and morality. David Afriyie Donkor identifies social performance as a way to understand trickster behavior within the shifting process of political legitimization in Ghana, revealing stories that exploit the social ideologies of economic neoliberalism and political democratization. At the level of policy, neither ideology was completely successful, but Donkor shows how the Ghanaian government was crafty in selling the ideas to the people, adapting trickster-rooted performance techniques to reinterpret citizenship and the common good. Trickster performers rebelled against this takeover of their art and sought new ways to out trick the tricksters.

Author : Toyin Falola,Tyler Fleming
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 377 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2012-03-15
Category : Music
ISBN : 9781136830273

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Music, Performance and African Identities by Toyin Falola,Tyler Fleming Pdf

Cutting across countries, genres, and time periods, this volume explores topics ranging from hip hop’s influence on Maasai identity in current day Tanzania to jazz in Bulawayo during the interwar years, using music to tell a larger story about the cultures and societies of Africa.

Author : Harry Justin Elam,Kennell A. Jackson
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
Page : 438 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2005-12-02
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0472068407

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Black Cultural Traffic by Harry Justin Elam,Kennell A. Jackson Pdf

Fresh takes on key questions in black performance and black popular culture, by leading artists, academics, and critics

Author : Karin Barber,John Collins,Alain Ricard
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 1997-06-22
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9780253028075

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West African Popular Theatre by Karin Barber,John Collins,Alain Ricard Pdf

" . . . a ground-breaking contribution to the field of African literature . . . " —Research in African Literatures "Anyone with the slightest interest in West African cultures, performance or theatre should immediately rush out and buy this book." —Leeds African Studies Bulletin "A seminal contribution to the fields of performance studies, cultural studies, and popular culture. " —Margaret Drewal "A fine book. The play texts are treasures." —Richard Bauman African popular culture is an arena where the tensions and transformations of colonial and post-colonial society are played out, offering us a glimpse of the view from below in Africa. This book offers a comparative overview of the history, social context, and style of three major West African popular theatre genres: the concert party of Ghana, the concert party of Togo, and the traveling popular theatre of western Nigeria.

Author : Kwabena N. Bame
Publisher : New York : L. Barber Press
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 1985
Category : Drama
ISBN : UOM:39015018630023

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Come to Laugh by Kwabena N. Bame Pdf

Author : James Gibbs
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2009-01-01
Category : Literary Criticism
ISBN : 9789401206730

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Nkyin-Kyin by James Gibbs Pdf

This collection brings together essays written over a thirty-five year period. They reflect James Gibbs’s position vis-à-vis the Ghanaian theatre as sometimes a remote onlooker, sometimes an enthusiastic participant observer, deeply involved in issues of perception and influence in a society moving through colonialism to nationalism, independence and beyond. The main body of the book is divided into four sections. The first, “Outsiders and Activists,” looks at theatre for community development during the late 1940s, some connections between drama and film, and the astonishing involvement in Ghanaian performance culture of the Haitian poet and playwright Felix Morisseau–Leroy. The second section, “Intercultural Encounters,” examines ways in which classic Greek drama has been used by producers and writers in West Africa, with special reference to Victor Yankah, Kobina Sekyi (Ghana’s first published playwright), and the Nigerian Femi Osofisan. Section Three, “Plays and Playwrights,” concentrates on Efua Sutherland, Ama Ata Aidoo, and Joe de Graft. This section uncovers issues of documentation and achievement that draw attention to the need for investment in organising resources for writing Ghana’s theatre history. The volume draws to a close with personal accounts of touring student productions in the 1960s (with due attention to the influence of Bertolt Brecht) and of involvement in a British film production on location. The book closes with an updated complete bibliography of Ghana’s chief dramatist, Efua Sutherland.

Author : Jesse Weaver Shipley
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2015-06-22
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780253016591

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Trickster Theatre by Jesse Weaver Shipley Pdf

Trickster Theatre traces the changing social significance of national theatre in Ghana from its rise as an idealistic state project from the time of independence to its reinvention in recent electronic, market-oriented genres. Jesse Weaver Shipley presents portraits of many key figures in Ghanaian theatre and examines how Akan trickster tales were adapted as the basis of a modern national theatre. This performance style tied Accra's evolving urban identity to rural origins and to Pan-African liberation politics. Contradictions emerge, however, when the ideal Ghanaian citizen is a mythic hustler who stands at the crossroads between personal desires and collective obligations. Shipley examines the interplay between on-stage action and off-stage events to show how trickster theatre shapes an evolving urban world.

Author : Stephen Burge Johnson
Publisher : Univ of Massachusetts Press
Page : 282 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781558499348

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Burnt Cork by Stephen Burge Johnson Pdf

Beginning in the 1830s and continuing for more than a century, blackface minstrelsy--stage performances that claimed to represent the culture of black Americans--remained arguably the most popular entertainment in North America. A renewed scholarly interest in this contentious form of entertainment has produced studies treating a range of issues: its contradictory depictions of class, race, and gender; its role in the development of racial stereotyping; and its legacy in humor, dance, and music, and in live performance, film, and television. The style and substance of minstrelsy persist in popular music, tap and hip-hop dance, the language of the standup comic, and everyday rituals of contemporary culture. The blackface makeup all but disappeared for a time, though its influence never diminished--and recently, even the makeup has been making a comeback. This collection of original essays brings together a group of prominent scholars of blackface performance to reflect on this complex and troublesome tradition. Essays consider the early relationship of the blackface performer with American politics and the antislavery movement; the relationship of minstrels to the commonplace compromises of the touring "show" business and to the mechanization of the industrial revolution; the exploration and exploitation of blackface in the mass media, by D. W. Griffith and Spike Lee, in early sound animation, and in reality television; and the recent reappropriation of the form at home and abroad. In addition to the editor, contributors include Dale Cockrell, Catherine Cole, Louis Chude-Sokei, W. T. Lhamon, Alice Maurice, Nicholas Sammond, and Linda Williams.

Author : Katharine Alexandra Collier Skinner,Kate Skinner
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2015-06-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107074637

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The Fruits of Freedom in British Togoland by Katharine Alexandra Collier Skinner,Kate Skinner Pdf

The Fruits of Freedom in British Togoland examines the history and politics behind the failed project of Togoland reunification, in which the United Nations trust territory of British Togoland was to be separated from the Gold Coast to join with French Togoland in a new independent African state.

Author : Nic Leonhardt,Christopher B. Balme
Publisher : UCL Press
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2024-04-09
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781800085749

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Developing Theatre in the Global South by Nic Leonhardt,Christopher B. Balme Pdf

Drawing on new research from the ERC project ‘Developing Theatre’, this collection presents innovative institutional approaches to the theatre historiography of the Global South since 1945. Covering perspectives from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America as well as Eastern Europe, the chapters explore how US philanthropy, international organisations and pan-African festivals all contributed to the globalisation and institutionalisation of the performing arts in the Global South. During the Cultural Cold War, the Global North intervened in and promoted forms of cultural infrastructure that were deemed adaptable to any environment. This form of technopolitics impacted the construction of national theatres, the introduction of new pedagogical tools and the invention of the workshop as a format. The networks of 'experts' responsible for this foreground seminal figures, both celebrated (Augusto Boal, Efua Sutherland) but also lesser known (Albert Botbol, Severino Montano, Metin And), who contributed to the worldwide theatrical epistemic community of the postwar years. Developing Theatre in the Global South investigates the institutional factors that led to the emergence of professional theatre in the postwar period throughout the decolonising world. The book’s institutional and transnational approach enables theatre studies to overcome its still strong national and local focus on plays and productions, and connect it to current discourses in transnational and global history.