Traditional music instruments: The seperewa with the famous Osei Korankye

Before technology revolutionised how we hear music—through ipods, phones and online streaming—it altered how that music was made. With the hi-technology equipment available to the music producer today, music, it can be said, is more synthesised than made. Today music instruments are superfluous, none more so than the traditional African music instruments.

The Seperewa belongs to a class of harp-lute chordophones typical in West Africa, with Ghana marking the easternmost area where harp-lutes are played in the region. The Seperewa is one of two types of harp-lutes played in Ghana, the other being the koriduo.

Modern Seperewa typically have anywhere between 10 and 14 strings, set onto a standing bridge, and are connected to the neck of the instrument by winding them around it directly. They are recognisable by their square wooden box resonator, which differ from the calabash resonators of Manding harp-lutes like the kora or kamalengoni. They are either played with the thumbs, or rarely with the forefingers or bow. The sound is produced on them by setting the strings into vibration.

History of the Seprewa 

The seperewa (also seprewa), one of such instruments, has had a fascinating journey to its present dwelling place in the margins of west African music. Described, in its initial form, as a “six-stringed bridge harp with a wooden box body and a neck,” its place was taken up upon the introduction of the western instrument it sounds and looks like: the guitar. The name itself was derived partly from how it looks and perhaps how it should be handled: the syllables represent the Twi words for ‘speak’, ‘touch’, and ‘small’. Put differently(link is external): “this small instrument can speak when it is touched.”

A Ghanaian harp, it was obtained by the Asantes as a spoil of the 1730 war from the Gyaman of Bonduku in present day northern Ivory Coast. Osei Tutu (ruler of the Asantes) kept the instrument for himself, employing a man who played it and bringing him to Kumasi as personal singer. It is said that upon his death, his successor constructed a copy of the instrument in his honour. In time, from that lofty position, the seperewa became available to the lower-ranking chiefs and much later, reached the populace.

For a period, the seperewa enjoyed a status as perhaps the centrepiece of Ghanaian highlife and palmwine music. That is, until the guitar’s entry, which saw several palmwine and highlife music transported to the new instrument as the 19th century drew to a close. “So the guitar is actually playing the music the seperewa was playing in the 1930s,” says Colter Harper, the ethnomusiciologist who has spent some time studying traditional music in Ghana.  

Playing method

Seperewa can be played in different positions. The player can play while sitting down with the instrument resting on his lap, with the neck of the instrument standing upright. He may also play while standing, the instrument held firmly in the groin to gain enough support, the neck facing perpendicular in the same direction.[2] Strumming and plucking are the two basic techniques applied and these are done by the thumbs and forefingers with some occasional assistance from the middle fingers. The Seprewa player can even dance while he is playing or make some dramatic movements. 

Osei Korankye the famous seperewa player

Korankye, who has to be seen as the instrument’s keeper and advocate, has earned his livelihood playing the instrument at festivals, funerals, and royal functions so much that others have come to learn the instrument for purely commercial purposes. “I don’t have to be selfish,” he says. “I have to teach it.” And teach it he does to interested persons and at the University of Ghana, Legon, where he also does research. He plays it at national events and has worked with highlife players.

Besides its semblance to the guitar, the seperewa also shares a kinship with the harp lute and the kora, the famous string instrument from the Sahel region. “The music doesn’t sound like Malian music but the structure of the instrument is similar,” says Harper.

According to the musician Colter Harper, “Osei has dedicated his life to carrying this tradition forward as well as sharing it with Ghanaian and Western students. His artistry and humility…we hope will make new fans of the seperewa – both at home and abroad”
Osei Korankye is the captivating flag bearer of Ghana’s seperewa tradition. The seperewa is the harp of the Ashanti and Akan people of Ghana. The instrument descended from the Sahelian north, prospered for centuries among various Akan groups, then almost disappeared as guitar playing spread from the coast
. As a fan of the harp traditions of the Sahel and Sahara, the seperewa gave me a way of hearing how these styles had filtered down to the West African coast and been shaped by Akan languages, dances, rhythms, and philosophies.

Osei has dedicated his life to carrying this tradition forward as well as sharing it with Ghanaian and Western students. His artistry and humility is readily apparent in this recording, which we hop.

The Seperewa instrument, hid northern predecessor state Bonoman into its musical repertoire. Various harp-lutes similar to the sanku which were once exclusively plarally was much more heavily influenced by the Mali Empire and today is still inhabited by several Manden groups; the Ligbi, Bissa, Dyula and Wangara) eventually gave way to kologo and molo calabash-lute types instead. The harp-lute tradition since then was preserved predominantly among Akan groups in what became southern Ghana, with the only exception being the koriduo 6 string harp of the Dagari and Sisaala groups of northwestern Ghana. 

The Seperewa was used to entertain kings, similar to a griot tradition followed by northern Ghanaian tribes, and was also played at palm wine bars, and at funerals. The instrument was said to speak kasa and was used either used by itself or along with song.

He played one of two seperewas on the 2008 release by Riverboat Records Seprewa Kasa. A guitarist from Osibisa also featured on that record. The album drew the attention of Robert Christgau, famed ‘Dean of American Rock Critics.’ Christgau wrote admiringly of the record, calling it “lovingly fabricated neotrad highlife” and gave it a B+ grade.

Korankye has now recorded a solo album. Titled Seperewa Of Ghana: Emmere Nyina Nse, the album was released in February 2016 by Awaaaba Music. Both albums represent a step into the 21st century as they are available for download online. Interestingly, both Akwaaba Music and Riverboat Records are labels with western affiliations. While Riverboat Records is UK based, Akwaaba, based in Ghana, is run by Benjamin Lebrave, a DJ turned label founder born in Paris, France and now living in Accra. The picture the scenario paints is one of hiplife ruling the local airwaves, as the traditional musician has to look elsewhere for commercial and critical attention.

Story by Dorcas