This study examines the musical heritage of Owode Ketu, a Yewa sub-ethnic group in Ogun State, Nigeria, with a focus on Ponse and Kulumbu music. Ponse music was introduced to the Owode Ketu from Igbunta by the late Chief N.G. Fabiyi, the Akinrogun of Owode Ketu. This importation sparked the creation of Kulumbu music, a derivative form that has since become an important of Owode Ketu cultural identity. Drawing on my 2021 fieldwork as a graduate student in Nigeria, this study delves into the intricacies of Ponse and Kulumbu, which are characterized by their tripartite structure of dance, drums, and singing—a combination that is emblematic of traditional Nigerian music. I discuss the lineage and storied histories of these genres to better understand how both Ponse and Kulumbu music became of significant cultural importance in Owode Ketu, and how these musics, though not originally from the community, have come to be fundamental aspects of Owode Ketu culture. I have therefore investigated the unique factors of the genre, underscoring their importance as a reflection of the community's identity and history. Further themes that emerged in this research relate to the social responsibility and intervention of music in the community, the responsibility of the leader, and the unique communication between the drummer and the leader. Through its focus on the Owode Ketu sub-ethnic group in Ogun State, Nigeria, this research addresses a significant gap in academic literature while adding to previous work on identity and inter- and intra-community relations.

1 / 1 Zongo Identity in Ghanaian Popular Music
Nate Ash-Morgan
Abstract
This paper examines the role of popular music in the construction of Zongo identity in Ghana. A Zongo area exists in every Ghanaian city, part of a vast trade and migration network initially created by Hausa merchants. As seasonal migration shifted to permanent relocation, Zongo areas have become enduring fixtures of Ghanaian urban culture, populated primarily by northern Ghanaians. Hausa remains as the lingua franca and Islam continues to visibly and audibly mark the space, with minarets and loudspeakers atop countless Zongo mosques. A singular Zongo identity has developed, fueled as much by fact as by fantasy, with popular music playing a leading role through the frequent depiction of a unified Zongo subculture.
Popular musical forms that developed in otherized and hegemonized urban settings most easily attract attentive listeners hailing from similarly subjugated subcultural spaces, with the images depicted by hip-hop, dancehall, and drill resonating most closely with the Zongo experience. Zongo street culture cultivated key pioneers of each subsequent Ghanaian subgenre – hiplife, afro-dancehall, and asakaa. Zongo identity is embodied through these artists as they sonically paint an image of Zongo lifestyle, with polysemic interpretations dependent on the positionality of the listener. Through ethnographic research mixing decades of personal experience, open-ended interviews and quantitative surveys, this paper aims to reveal a nuanced Zongo identity that is reflected and constructed by Ghanaian popular music.