No. 6 (2021): Grandmasters of the Drum: A Literary Linguistic Analysis of the Dagbamba Panegyrics (special issue)

Since time immemorial, virtually all known cultures found it worthwhile or perhaps gratifying to express their beliefs and thoughts in diverse artistic forms. Prior to the invention of writing, the artistic products of language were generally passed down from one generation to the other by word of mouth: usually memorised and performed repeatedly on many occasions and gradually gets ingrained in the minds of the participants or the budding generations. 

By far, the greatest creative achievement of the Dagbamba to say the least, is their praise poetry. Praise poetry is synonymous with the Dagbamba because they have a long history of conquests and kings passed on from one generation to the other; spanning centuries of their establishment of the Dagbon state in the 15th century. The Dagbamba praise poetry or panegyrics to be specific are orally composed texts that were constructed purposely to glorify Dagbamba kings or chiefs and also uphold historical accounts of the royals and the happenings in the annals of Dagbon in general. This research is therefore focused on the panegyrics amongst the Dagbamba of Northern Ghana. It explores the beliefs, values and ideas that surround the texts and examines the diverse distinctions and adaptations that pertain in the renditions of the panegyrics and the general contexts as a whole.