ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the Dzigbordi Habobo of Dzodze by tracing its origins and development within the social and musical climate of Dzodze. It looks at aspects of Dzigbordi music including style, instruments and drum language. The chapter describes a complete Dzigbordi performance at a local funeral. The musical lives of dance clubs provide an excellent example of how both social and aesthetic changes work to continually transform music-making in Dzodze. Dance-club musics, even more than other styles of dance-drumming, are always in process, never stagnating for very long around one area, family, tradition or body of oral literature, but constantly reflecting the cultural and historical present. In contrast to the performance the following day, the wake-keeping only featured one style of dancing – the common southern Ewe dance step used in open community dances like Agbadza. The chapter shows how songs link members of the community together.
