Members of the Gome Music Ensemble
Three countries in southern Africa will be hit with fascinating traditional music and dance from Ghana when the Gome Music Ensemble tours South Africa, Mozambique and Eswatini between September 19 and 24, 2024.
Organised in collaboration with the International Aklowa Dance Spirit Company, the ensemble’s southern Africa tour is coming after its performances in Yamoussoukro, Grand Bassam and Abidjan, all in Cote d’Ivoire, last July.
The first two gigs of the upcoming tour will be on September 19 and September 20 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre in South Africa. It is the Rainbow Nation’s largest purpose-built exhibition, conference and events venue.
Gome Music Ensemble’s founder, multi-instrumentalist, Fiawogbe Bismark Norkplim Kodzo says they are looking forward to a night of exciting stuff for discerning South African patrons of the arts.
“We know of the many wonderful music and dance acts that have come out of South Africa. That means we have to be at our very best over there, and we are pumped up to do that,” the group’s leader indicated.
The ensemble would perform at the Maputo Music Youth School in Mozambique on September 21 for a predominantly youthful audience eager to know more about music and dance from West Africa. It would be an interactive affair as the audience would be allowed to ask questions and try their hands on some of the group’s made-in-Ghana instruments.
The last leg of the ensemble’s tour will be in Eswatini, where they will showcase their exquisite repertoire from Ghana at the famous House on Fire venue in Malkerns. Ghanaian singer, Abiana, gave a good account of herself at House on Fire in March 2022, and the venue’s patrons are looking forward to another brilliant show from a Ghanaian act.
Founded about five years ago, the Gome Music Ensemble relies largely on traditional musical instruments like the Atentenben flute, gyil xylophone, kologo and jonge string elements, rattles, bells and a wide combination of drums including the Osrama, Atumpan, Brekete, Kpanlogo and Gome.
“We’ve honed our skills well enough to handle and blend all those Ghanaian instruments with real expertise. We are happy to be reaching out to different corners of the continent to sell our stuff and also learn from those places,” the group’s leader added.
By George Clifford Owusu