Folk Roots: Ashanti Orators and Dvorak’s Midwest
October 12
12:00pm
Primitive, 4th floor
Concert Program
Intermezzo for string trio
Zoltán Kodály
W. A. Mozart
Flute Quartet No.1 in D Major, K. 285
Adagio Allegro Rondo
Allegro vivo Larghetto Allegro non tanto Finale. Allegro giusto
String Quintet No.3, Op.97 “American”
Antonín Dvořák
The "New World Symphony", the quartet Op. 96 quintet Op. 97, known as the "Americans", were all composed over a summer in Spillville, Iowa. On vacation from his posting at the American Conservatory (now the Juilliard School), Dvorak visited a Czech community in Spillville and took inspiration from the Black spirituals, American Indian music, Irish tunes, and elements of the nature around him. Tasked both by himself and by the National Conservatory (now the Juilliard School) with creating an American national sound, Dvorak synthesized these different elements into a sound that uniquely described the American landscape and went on to influence American composition and music for the next century and beyond.Folk Music has always been a large influence for composers. The most explicit example of this is Dvorak’s “American” works.
Okyeame Linguist Staffs
The Ashanti kingdom, located in present day Ghana, consists of a number of smaller chiefdoms; each chief with his own royal court and set of dignitaries. Ashanti chiefs never spoke directly to their people. The duty of addressing the people belonged to the Okyeame (pl. Akyeame), or Linguist, also known as the orator.
The Linguist was to the chief what our press Secretary is to the President. His responsibility was to recast the Chief's pronouncements and policies as proverbs, to wittily rephrase the chief's words in an appealing and informative way. In the Ashanti language, there are approximately 3,600 proverbs pertaining to every human situation and condition. These proverbs are the repository of all Ashanti knowledge and wisdom. When the Linguist spoke, he held a special form of court regalia called an orator's staff. The recitation of the proverbs represented a verbal art form. The staffs represented the tangible, enduring evidence of the power and legitimacy of the Ashanti proverbs.