The ChangingAudience ofthe Oral Performance in Africa: The GhanaianExperience

Abstract

Oral performance, as generally known, is dependent on the performer and
audience. The audience, until recently, played an active role in traditional oral
performances in Africa. This was at a time when the oral performer and the
audience held the same belief and cultural system. In whichever way the oral
performance manifested itself - in dirges, festivals, naming ceremonies, poetry
recitals, or folktales - the performer and the audience mostly merged as one and
saw the performance as a communal activity and, therefore, did all there was to
ensure its success. The advent of the foreigners who introduced beliefs and cultural
systems new to the African has served to disrupt the oral performance which had
always been the main form of entertainment, education and moral edification for
the Africans. As a result, oral performance in its original rendition has now
metamorphosed into hip-hop, rap, and hip-life music. This paper examines those
beliefs and cultural systems which have shattered the very foundations of African
oral performance. Most importantly, the paper focuses on selected oral
performances in Ghana, how their audiences have changed and the reasons for
these changes. It concludes that despite the changing nature of the audiences,
oral performances are still alive, so the paper ends with suggestions for the way
forward to arrest the situation and restore the cultural heritage. It isrecommended
that African-centred courses be taught throughout the educational levels in
such a way as to refute the thinking that only the uncivilized person participates
in the oral performances of Africa.