Wooden

Akua’ba dolls are used by women who fear infertility. It is important for women to be successful in having children. Infertility, miscarriage or infant death are feared by women as they raise suspicions of witchcraft.

A barren woman secured an akua’ba to her back in the hope that she would conceive. A priest advised her to commission a sculpture to represent an infant (an akua’ba, “Akua’s child”) and care for it as if it were alive. Her success in this effort encourage other barren women to emulate her.

Akua’ba figures were important fertility aids among Akan-speakers in Ghana in the past. They depict an abstracted female form in wood and were created by male carvers.

welcome

According to NDiaye, the colorful patterned fabrics known as kente can be traced back to the Asante people of the Akan kingdom in what is now Ghana. The word “kente” actually translates to “handwoven cloth” in the Twi language of the Akan people.

Historically the fabric was worn in a toga-like fashion by royalty among ethnic groups such as the Ashanti and Ewe in modern day Ghana, the wearing of Kente cloth has become widespread to commemorate special occasions, with highly sought after Kente brands led by master weavers.

Kente is a meaningful sartorial device, as every aspect of its aesthetic design is intended as communication. The colors of the cloth each hold symbolism: gold = status/serenity, yellow = fertility, green = renewal, blue = pure spirit/harmony, red = passion, black = union with ancestors/spiritual awareness.

Kente cloth comes from a textile practice that originated in Ghana centuries ago. The fabric has come to symbolize cultural affiliations from West Africa across the diaspora, but legend has it that a spider spinning a complex web inspired the earliest kente techniques and designs.

In exchange for guns and other European goods, the Ashanti sold gold and slaves, usually either captured in war or accepted as tribute from conquered peoples. As they prospered, Ashanti culture flourished.

In many ways, Anatsui’s work recalls traditional African kente cloth, which is made by weaving long strips into a patchwork whole. Anatsui’s beautiful quilts of silver and dull gold transcend their materials to become a metaphor for shifting contexts and images of Africa.

‘ African print’ is used to identify a category of textiles using 100% cotton fabric in vibrant colours, which are printed by machine using wax resins and dyes so that they have a batik-like effect on both sides of the fabric.

Contemporary styles of music in West Africa have been influenced by American music, African jazz and gospel music.

Many genres of popular music like blues, jazz, afrobeats, salsa, zouk, and rumba derive to varying degrees on musical traditions from Africa, taken to the Americas by enslaved Africans. These rhythms and sounds have subsequently been adapted by newer genres like rock, and rhythm and blues.

Among the qualities of African music which may be considered characteristic, then, we may include the following: an emphasis on rhythmic and metric complexity expressed throughout the musical system; the use of extended syncopation, or off- beat phrasing of melodic accents, as a melodic device; the antiphonal call and …

Kente cloth has been known for its dramatic colors and intricate patterns ever since. An Asante weaver might know hundreds of patterns by heart, each having its own name. Warp patterns, which are stripes of color, have names taken from proverbs, important chiefs or queen mothers, or historical events.

The Asante supplied British and Dutch traders with slaves in exchange for firearms, which they used to expand their empire. Slaves were often acquired as tributes from smaller states or captured during war. Some slaves were brought across the Atlantic whiles others stayed in Africa to work in gold fields.

Adinkra duro, an ink made by soaking the bark of the Badie tree in water to soften it and then boiling it with iron slag to form a thick printing paste, is used to stamp the symbols onto the cloth. Today, there are variations on this process.