ANUFƆ LITERATURE _YAW-KAN.J

Anufo Banbaati  Today,  we will discuss another typical traditional performance among the Anufɔ of North East Ghana. It is called, Banbaati.  What is Banbaati? IN ANUFƆ land, one more traditionally choric dramatic dance is Banbaati. Banbaati is the dance of women performed in honour of the dead (sɛ banbaati) or Kurubi banbaati in honour of young maidens who are being transitioned from puberty to adolescence.  In circular formation,  Banbaati is performed in an open, with a call and response song usually led by a vocalised singer. When the song is raised, the rest of the performers join in. The Lead singer always controls the tempo, pitch and voice modulations. There are a number of schemes and tropes in Banbaati performance. It is an occasional dance. Find below the video for your full view of a typical traditional Banbaati dance by the Anufos. 

 In the countryside, An unfamiliar name was pronounced,  It is said to be a great god Of an unfamiliar tribe.  <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> Like the ark of the covenant It is holy and unblemished  Taking down the touch of filthiest souls  Without recompense.  Dumbe is the name. Not a facade but a wall Of defence to the pilgrimage  Unbending its purpose of Peace and Unity.  It grounds to earth those that fight an offspring  Conquering evermore the embittered emissary  Who peradventure serenaded the song of Bloodshed. It is Dumbe, the supreme Cult Hero Who maims and mends But of the souls of the offspring.  Born of fair skin Mother of red wine Dumbe is the ice cream of a taste  In the drums of wars.

A poem by  Joseph Yaw-kan   In the Sea’s depths The belly-crawling crocodiles convey, and baiting The shoal of fishes and fingerlings, To a party-day unending.   Promised of better tapeworms at their bidding To lead the aqua-folks beyond the water meadows. The tape-folks flag the agreement But the fisherfolks pronounce their felony.   They budge, And hang on the sharp edge of the hooks – The shoals flee to the party Unknowing the danger of the day.   They get drawn out after trusting the process Only to rest on the backs of firing flames Heating their pregnant bellies And ending their return to the depths.

The Anufos in Ghana originally were part of the Ayi/ Baule people who fled the Ashantis in a conflict that ensued during a succession to the stool (throne) after the death of one of their kings (Chiefs) in the early part of the eighteenth century (1717-1772). They then migrated from the south western part of present day Ghana crossing the Comoe river to an area in present day Ivory Coast (La Cote d Ivoire). The Anufos actually speak Ayi/ Baule dialect. The Anufos are Akans per their ancestral origin and the Anufo language is closely related to other Akan languages. The Anufos migrated to their present locations in Ghana, Togo and Benin from an area called, Anou situated between the Nzie and Comoe rivers of present day central Cote D’Ivoire so they call themselves ‘Anufom’ meaning ‘people of Anou.’ Anufos have pre-colonial historical links with Gonjas and the Mampuruses northern Ghana for more than 250 years. The Anufos are playmates to the Gonjas and the Mampuruses; and oral traditions...

  *COLOSSIANS 3:3*  *For you died, and your life is now hidden with God in Christ. (NIV)* If a man does not know his true identity, he cannot act true to who he is supposed to be. Such a man now relies on his environment, his company of friends and family to define his identity. When the egg of an eagle is given to a brooding mother hen, and it hatches a baby eagle among hatched chicks, the baby eagle will behave like the other chicks because it does not know its true identity.  It wouldn't know it is the king among the birds, and may go about behaving as a chicken. This is the sad case of a lot of Christians who do not know their identity in Christ. Your identity is not in the family you come from, or from your country of origin neither is your identity in the work you do.   Your identity as a Christian is in Christ and in Christ, you have been made a royal priesthood, a holy person, a righteous person, a sanctified, justified, forgiven and reconciled person. In Chr...

  KURUBI DANCE: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW The long-standing historical account of the migration of the Anufo peoples from Anou makes specific mention of the Mande Horsemen, the Muslim scholar amulet-makers and the Akan musket-toting foot soldiers. On this account, there are three distinct groups such as the nobles, commoners   and the muslims among the Anufo traditional society. The Kambaya and Kajura peoples are said to   have been part of the Muslim scholar amulet-makers. Since the mid-17 th century, the period when the Anufo peoples migrated from Anou in Central Ivory Coast to Ghana, Togo and Benin, one expressible religio-cultural   oral performance that has remained with them is KURUBI. Kurubi can be described as a dance that is melodramatic, humorous and appellative with panegyric elements that is performed on the 27 th Day of the Islamic lunar month of Ramadan. Originally,   it was a form of entertainment to the Muslima after long periods of fasting. The Kam...

 Hi! I am Joseph Yaw-kan,  a professional teacher of English. I come your way with a new language and literature teaching approach dubbed: CALL- COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING.  When my lecturer, Andani Kholinar, Ph.D introduced this to me, it sounded weird. I am sure you got it weird too on hearing this from me! Now, here is the deal. CALL, first and foremost will make your teaching captivating and enamoured.  What tools do you need for CALL lessons? 1. Computer, Tablet,  Smartphone  2. Internet, WiFi,  3. Google playstore, iPhone playstore  What is CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) 1. An approach in  language learning  in which a  computer  presents material to the learner or where the  computer  is used as a tool to aid  language learning .  2. Computer  applications used for  language  teaching and  learning .  3. Software designed specifi call y for teaching Englis...

TECHNOLOGY FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING Introduction : In teaching STRESS in Mono and Disyllabic words using NOUNS and VERBS, on page 6, Unit 5, Specific Objective 1.5.1 of the English Syllable, my group met and opted to use Google docs for the collaboration of this assignment. The group lead signed each one of us onto Google Docs where we contributed to the development of the content of the instruction. Technological tools used: We discussed among other things on the tools that will suit the creation of a short video of our lesson and opted for the Adobe Premier pro-2020 Video Editor. We accessed the app on google play store and downloaded it onto our computer. We also used an Infinix Note 10 Pro mobile phone camera and voice recorder for the shooting and voice recording. Creating our instruction content: the process and lessons learned First, we had to record the instruction onto a mobile phone (an Infinix Note 10 Pro). The recording was formatted into a Wav mp4 vid...

 SPEAKING TO THE FUTURE By the bank of River Volta There wrote I my dream With the pen of my finger To engage the worlds of my words. Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> On the white sea sand, My finger scribbled the dreams –  Pull through the danger of dying unheard. It read so long a title. Torn between the Castle and Independence, Followed me a path that led away Yonder the boundaries of the Seas With a promise of catching a Bigger fish without a boat. It was a shrouded idea to conceive But this was in the stupor of my sleep. That someday, the Sun that dries my energy And the chains that bind my strength Shall be shackles broken  And find me a ladder to climb atop the citadel That forbids liberty and freedom. Whence shall...

 AFTER THE CASTLES Flipping through the pages of the Castles Memories of waste and despair gush down our minds The pangs of death  And the pains of denied identity wields up  The cause to shy away from the towery structures. Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> After the chains that bound our freedom Were broken By the strength of a weaved Speech, We charted a cause of liberty –  A worthy cause for Identity To arise and rebuild and restore. We have overcome our past in the present With the knitting together of our Treasures. We have championed the crusade Of a nation feeding on her produce. Watching the white structures that we worshipped, Our strength to rebrand our status is informed. Never our inspiration but a memory Ones...

 It was not just fine. Along the flyover at Circle,  The dawn of bustling and hustling broke by the sirens of unstopping vehicles  As though, the sun will not set, she has arranged the sachet water in her tray and balanced it on her head Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> Moving round and shouting on dry throat, ‘Pure Water’ The mindless moving vehicle effortlessly glided over her Causing her to lose a whooping one Ghana cedis worth of profit for the day. This morning, her Madam counted the worth of five Ghana cedis water to sell. She took to the streets without water nor any morsel of food hitting her throat for the past week. She hoped to use the one Ghana cedis profit to get herself some food until this hope was dashed b...

It was not just fine. Along the flyover at Circle, the dawn of bustling and hustling broke by the sirens of unstopping vehicles. As though, the sun will not set, she has arranged the sachet water in her tray and balanced it on her head. Moving round and shouting on dry throat, ‘Pure Water’, one mindless moving vehicle effortlessly glided over her. Causing her to lose a whooping one Ghana cedi worth of profit for the day.  This morning, her Madam counted the worth of five Ghana cedis water to sell. She took to the streets without water nor any morsel of food hitting her throat for the past week. She hoped to use the one Ghana cedi profit to get herself some food until this hope was dashed by some reckless driving. As she gathered the pieces of her life that was left after the accident, she continued her usual shout of ‘Pure Water’. Nobody turned to her service. In her wandering, she thought to herself, why wouldn’t nobody care that I was hurt? Why wouldn’t nobody mind to help send m...

 EXCERPT OF MAYA ANGELOU'S "ON THE PULSE OFMORNING", A GROUND-BREAKING POEM THAT WOULD SHAPE HISTORY.  A Rock, A River, A Tree Hosts to species long since departed,    Marked the mastodon, The dinosaur, who left dried tokens    Of their sojourn here On our planet floor, Any broad alarm of their hastening doom    Is lost in the gloom of dust and ages. But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,    Come, you may stand upon my Back and face your distant destiny, But seek no haven in my shadow, I will give you no hiding place down here. You, created only a little lower than The angels, have crouched too long in    The bruising darkness Have lain too long Facedown in ignorance, Your mouths spilling words Armed for slaughter. [...]1993

  Mother is a Breakfast After the moon fades away It is Mama's coyly shouts That awaken sleeping souls. Her kitchen utensils, Washed and awaiting service, She warms the water, And gives me the bathe. A washerwoman who toils from dawn--- To dusk. Seeking to fend for the family  That needs a piecemeal  Sweet balls of sweat Run down her skin Tiny rivulets of river Filled with passion.  She is sucked- She is sucked-dry  And milked out of breast Till the breasts lie flabby. Debeautifying her  Yet she favors life above appearance. Mama's breast feeds me, It builds me, It trains me, But the sun's rays strengthen her. She gives me the breast  To play and feed Till I want no more. Though it is flabby, she asks, if I am satisfied.

 Chereponi  A patched land? Nay. Has human and material resources.  Has brains that can think and undertake. Has the architectural design to reshape.  <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> It only needs; Urgent rejection of primitive thinking.  And a fresh and sympathetic look at its Culture, People,  Religion, Unity, an assertion of Humanity. Let all concerned  Lend their solidarity  And esprit de corps To reshape and rethink The land we call home. We can arise together  And March towards a victory  That is not too distant from efforts.

One disuse of Humanity is when he is not engaged in cognitive and mental exercise as a community of common ancestral home. We cannot do it alone if we don't genuinely involve others. We must learn to accommodate what these individual others will contribute, either a discourse or an action, and whether constructive or destructive, so that the one common goal of a better tomorrow comes to a reality.

 Chereponi... Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> We have a language,  culture, philosophy,  value and ideology. It cannot be distorted. We must preserve it with passion. We must lift it up with united hands. We need a gathering of passion and humanity before a table of men and women, young and little, learned and pre-literate to reach this end. It must be a conscious gathering, to share and to do. Arise, and let us travel together to where we have a definition, a meaning and an acceptance. Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542...

 Schemata Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> Looking back into yesterday,  The import of the dreams  gush down our minds. Remembering the sketches of a good today  Drowns into a deep schemata. We have an observed expression  The speaking of which dislodges the truths  of a good man. We are all thinking about our paths. Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> Some do not want to bargain their destiny  Others seem impressed to kill it-- The killjoys wine and dine  As t...

 Along the Comoe River Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> The peoples with a heritage, Walked along the Comongo River And found a patched land Ashore north eastward. https://twitter.com/JosephYawkan1/status/1420355360888664069?t=ivjKtF8H9AXQr46JyH3dEQ&s=19 Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542" crossorigin="anonymous"></script> Decolonizing their coloniality  Unbending their unity. They were nut and bot tightened  Towards indomitability. Place this code on every page across your site and Google ...