Music of Ghana Recorded and produced by Joe Kaminski
Figure 1 The kwadwom master drum of the Nsuase Kete Group, struck with hooked sticks (nkonton) made from tree branches.
The Asante and Akan of Ghana
The Asante, the founders of the Asante Empire (ca. 1700), are a political division of the Akan people. The Akan are one of forty-five ethnic groups in Ghana who constitute about 60% of the population. The Akan are divided into the Fante and the Twi. The Twi are divided into several kingdoms, including Asante, Akwapim, Brong, Akyem, and Kwahu. Adanse is a location south of Kumase in the Asante region considered to be the cradle of Akan civilization. It is not certain, however, when and how the ancestors of the Asante entered this forested zone, but Akan clans probably migrated to the present Asante region from around 500 AD onward, forming early state...
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