Worship songs and rituals of the sankofa of duakor, Cape Coast

Abstract

Sankofa in Duakor, is a derivative of the Afrikania Mission (AM); a reformed traditional movement established in 1982 by an ex-catholic priest–Osofo Okomfo Kwabena Damuah who was convinced that the African cosmology and philosophy of a supreme creator is superior to that of the West. In the face of missionary activities, defamation, and globalization against indigenous religious practices within Ghana and Africa, as well as social pressures, the Sankofa continually thrives on the premise of their music and spiritual practices (rituals). This study is an investigation of how the group has thrived in a Christian-dominated community. Using the ethnographic procedure, primarily, through oral interviews and observation, a possibly consequence of their music making to the case is examined. The study reveals a substantial connection between Sankofa music’s function -ritual, worship, social, and a preservation of oral knowledge transmission of their indigenous cultural organism, notwithstanding the enormity of the seeming break-up of indigenous communities in Ghana. The study concludes that Sankofa’s spiritual, cultural, and philosophical values are revealed in the broader concepts of Ewe knowledge systems through the elucidation of songs and song texts. Also, there is an indication that Sankofa draws on indigenous knowledge systems as well as modern trends to create a ‘religio-socio-cultural’ identity that may be sustainable in an ever-changing global world.