7/10/26

Gyil Medley (Fra Fra Song - Ni Fa Mik Pee - Kpanlogo) - Kakraba Lobi/Valerie Naranjo

Performed at Honoka's DMA recital at The Hartt School on February 7, 2025.

The Gyil (pronounced jee-lee), is the grandmother of the mallet keyboard family. It is made from fourteen wooden slats that are suspended, on a frame, over calabash gourds. Its sound is like our marimba, yet more "earthen" in character. It is the national instrument of the Lobi and Dagara people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Côte D'Ivoire. Throughout West Africa, people believe that its "woody" sound comes from an internal vibration of water that physically balances water in the bodies of people and animals. In Ghana, the gyil is present in daily life; from weddings and funerals to dances and everyday recreation. Fra Fra Song is the Dagara people’s interpretation of a particular song of their neighbors to the East, the Frafra people. Ni Fa Mik Pee is a song from Kalba Suru in the LobilBrifo and Dagara area of Upper West Region of GhanaKpanlogo is a Ghanaian recreational music and dance form associated with the Ga ethnic group, who are traditionally located in the Greater Accra Region, which is in the South of the country.

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Short and Sweet - Len "Boogsie" Sharpe