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Engaging Modernity: Asante in the Twenty-First Century

Genre : Movie, book, album release...
Principal country concerned : Column : Literature
Release/publication date : 2014
Published on : 31/07/2014
Source : www.artsghana.org

The book 'Engaging Modernity: Asante in the Twenty-First Century' authored by Professor Kwasi Ampene is a commemorative book containing the royal arts of the Asante Kingdom in Ghana. It was launched in Kumasi on April 26, this year by His Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II (the Asante King), as part of this year's Adaekese (Grand Adae festival) in Kumasi, Ghana.

'Engaging Modernity' is a comprehensive book on the tangible and intangible heritage of regalia referencing over three hundred years of Asante history and culture and the author's aim in writing the book is to produce a definitive history to correct recurring inaccuracies and errors in both the oral and written history of the Asante King's royal regalia.

The object types in this book range from carved and gold-leafed swords with cast gold ornaments on their sheaths, a variety of music ensembles, verbal art forms, to an impressive array of the politically and religiously charged gold adorned wooden chairs and stools to name a few out of an extensive list. All the regalia in the current book represent potent proverbs or dramatic narratives and recall historical events that continue to define and sustain Asante identity in the world. 

The launch day of the book was timed to be part of Adaekese (Biggest Adae). The Adaekese is celebrated once every five years and dignitaries and people from all over the world usually attend.

As a Kingdom in West Africa, there is a substantial literature on the complex institutions created by the Asantes in the pre-colonial times (for instance, Ivor Wilks, The Forests of Gold, 1993). Although the Asante King's regalia have been documented to a certain degree by A.A.Y. Kyerematen in his Doctoral Dissertation, Ashanti Royal Regalia: Their History and Functions presented to Oxford University in the United Kingdom in 1966, and subsequent publications; Doran Ross, Royal Arts of the Akan, 2009 and others, the work is far from comprehensive and contains a significant number of errors that have been published in various sources over the years.

The current commemorative book seeks to correct these recurring inaccuracies and to produce a definitive history and proper description of the regalia of Asanteman. All the regalia items in this book have been documented by the author over a period of five years in the summers of 2009 to 2013 in collaboration with Nana Kwadwo Nyantakyii III, a ranking chief at Manhyia Palace with over forty-five years of accumulated knowledge of Asante royal arts.

'Engaging Modernity' has more broadly enhanced appreciation of the full range and sophisticated variety of arts that support traditional leadership among the Akan of Ghana.

Professor Kwasi Ampene is an ethnomusicologist and African music expert and is recognized internationally as an authority on the rich musical traditions of the Akan of Ghana. He has also authored 'Female Song Tradition and the Akan of Ghana: The Creative Process in Nnwonkoro' (Ashgate 2005). His new book, "Engaging Modernity: Asante in the Twenty-First Century," represents an exciting new direction in his scholarship in the performing and visual arts of the Akan.

He is currently the director of the Center for World Performance Studies (CWPS) at the University of Michigan (USA) and a member of faculty in the Department of Afro-American and African Studies and the School of Music, Theatre and Dance in the same institution.

By Baba Abdulai

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