The narrative discourse of a bilingual talking drum: The case of the Dagomba timpani

Abstract

This paper analyses the discourse structure of the language of the timpani (a single-membrane goblet-shaped drum) of the Dagomba. Using data from video recordings of predawn performances and interviews with the drummers, it shows that the timpani performance is an elaborate and structured narrative discourse that blends panegyrics, prayers and exhortations directed at chiefs, citizens, spiritual and historical beings. The use of the timpani is a borrowed tradition from the Asante in the 1700s, along with many aspects of Asante cultural communication, including Akan as a dominant language of encoding. During its centuries of adaptation, it has incorporated aspects of the culture of the Dagomba, including the production of speech in Dagbani during lengthy performances, making it a unique bilingual talking drum. The paper shows that this instrumentally encoded bilingual narrative exhibits the discourse properties of oral or written text and can be subjected to the same formal discourse analysis.