Dancing Customs At Ghana's Damba Festival (Video & Information), Part I

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part series on dancing that is performed during the Damba festival in Northern Ghana, West Africa and dancing that is performed in the World Damba celebrations in Europe & in the United States.

Part I provides some information about Damba, my editorial comments, and two videos of Damba celebrations in Northern Ghana.

Click http://zumlala.blogspot.com/2013/03/dancing-customs-at-ghanas-world-damba.html for Part II of this series.

Part II provides additional videos of celebrations of Damba by Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians outside of West Africa.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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EDITOR'S NOTE ABOUT ADDING COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG
With considerable regret, I have disabled the comment feature on this blog (and on my other blogs except for https://pancocojams.blogspot.com, because of the large number of spam comments that I received on those blogs.

Comments for those blogs can be sent to my email address azizip17 dot com at yahoo dot com for possible inclusion in a specific post on those blogs.

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DISCLAIMER AND EDITORIAL NOTE
I know nothing about the Damba festival other than what I've read or I've seen online.

There are many aspects of these videos which would be of interests to persons interested in African culture, for instance, the musical instruments that are used & the music that is produced by those instruments & by human voices. Other points of interests for viewers of these videos may be the traditional clothing that is worn, ihcluding female headwraps, and male hats, and the fact that, particularly some of the males in these videos are wearing Western clothing. However, in keeping with this blog's theme, I'm particularly interested in showcasing the processional movements, the circular dances, and the line dances that found in these videos.

In 2011 I published a post on my pancocojams blog that is entitled "Comparative Traditions - Masquerades & Whirling Dances" http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/comparative-traditions-masquerades.html. That post features videos of masquerades and/or whirling dances of Nigeria, Benin, Egypt, Turkey, as well as the obby os tradition of Padstow, Cornwall (United Kingdom) and the Minehead hobby horse traditions of Minehead, Somerset, United Kingdom. Had I known then about Northern Ghana's Damba festival, I would have also included videos that highlight the whirling style of dancing which I've seen in some Damba dancing.

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INFORMATION ABOUT DAMBA
From nickfghana7 [publisher's comment]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoM0jjcNcnQ
"WORLD DAMBA FESTIVAL" (video posted in Part II of this zumalala blog series)
"Damba is a music, dance, and festival that is celebrated annually by the following ethnic groups in Northern Ghana: Dagbamba, Nanumba, Mamprusi, Gonja, Wala and Kusasi. These remarks focus on the Dagbamba of Dagbon, the kingdom of the Dagbamba people. the word Damba originated from a Dagbani word "Dam-manga" or "Dam-maa amanga". These two words are of the same meaning, that is to either shake oneself or to initiate a dance movement. Dance, in general, reflects the cultural ideas of the people and the Damba is no exception."
-snip-
From http://worlddamba2012.org/festival/
"Damba (pronounced Dahm-BAH) is the most important annual festival of the various ethnic groups whose homelands are located in what is now the Northern Region of Ghana. These peoples include the Gonja, Dagomba, Nanumba, and Mamprusi. In northern Ghana, the Damba Festival is the celebratory highlight of the year, akin to the Christian Easter or the Jewish High Holy Days.

The Damba Festival has four different components. First, it is a Muslim festival that commemorates the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. Second, it is a political festival that provides occasion for giving homage to traditional chiefs. Third, it is a family festival during which individuals return home to affirm familial bonds. And fourth, it is a development festival that provides leaders the opportunity to communicate with members of the community in regards to enhancing the economic and social needs of the people."...

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: The Damba Dance From Northern Ghana



Gameli Tordzro, Uploaded on Jul 24, 2009

A section of the Ghana Dance Ensemble The National Dance company of Ghana performing one of the many traditional dance forms in Ghana West Africa.

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Example #2: Damba in Damongo.MOV



ronald4138, Published on Mar 9, 2012

Damba-Festival (anlässlich des Geburtstages des Propheten Mohammed) in Damongo, Northern Region Ghana. Finale am Morgen des 11.02.2012.
© by the Austrian Volunteers: Jamilala, Sakauli, Keniti and Bancluso/ SOB Pinkafeld

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WARNING
Please be aware that at least one video of the Damba festival [actually the exact same video with two different titles] contains scenes that probably would be considered inappropriate for use in American public schools. Those videos are entitled "OBUASI DAMBA FESTIVAL 2012.mpg" and "DAMBA FESTIVAL" and both are posted by ISAAC ADJEI. I found the majority of that video to be quite interesting to watch. Among the scenes in that video are villagers performing various types of dancing, including males doing a "follow the leader", zig zagging, prancing/leaping kind of dance. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the last minute and forty seconds of those video/s show scenes of a man engaging in self-inflicted injuries & other behaviours, presumably as an act of faith. Those scenes make that video inappropriate for posting on this blog. Viewers be aware if you are surfing YouTube for Damba videos.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all the musicians and dancers who are featured in these videos. My thanks also to the producers & the publishers of these videos.

Thank you for visiting zumalayah [zoom-mah-LAH-yah].

Zumalayah showcases videos of dances & singing games done in circles or in lines, and other movement performance arts from African American culture, from African cultures, and from other cultures of the African Diaspora.

Viewer comments are welcome.