Understanding speech surrogate drums throughout West Africa is a pivotal point of research to understand not only the linguistic, musicological, and historical nuance of the tradition but to learn from the technological encoding capabilities of the practice. By narrowing our focus to the organological roots of the atopani across Asante and Peki borders, we can gain insight to how one piece of the practice was shared and adopted by different regions.


The path has crossed the river,

The river has crossed the path,

Which is the elder?

This Asante proverb resonates today in the voices of the people and on the skins of the atumpan.1

The transfer of discernable language onto a musical instrument or sound producing object for the purpose of encoding a message can be defined as “speech surrogacy.” Speech surrogacy can serve a variety of purposes, including prayers, proverbial knowledge, and public service announcements such as alerts or warnings.2 This technological advancement in language and instruments allowed villages to communicate with each other over long distances. The phenomenon of speech surrogate drums, aerophones, and chordophones has spawned an interdisciplinary language initiative.

ATUMPAN Talking Drums of GHANA (1964)

The tonal characteristics of these languages lead to further specifications for drums being used as well as how many pitches are needed to effectively transfer the message to the instrument. For example, Dagbani has many tonal inflections depending on rising or falling vowel pitches; subsequently, the adoption of the Luƞa, an hourglass drum, to linguistically and musically interpret how the practice has evolved.

West African languages such as Twi (spoken in Asante), Dagbani (spoken in the Northern region of Ghana), and Eve (spoken by the Eʋe in the Volta region) have notable pitch inflections embedded in th allows for a spectrum of pitches that can be manipulated by squeezing the arm while the drum hangs from under the armpit. Twi has two linguistic pitch classes while Eve has three. The purpose of this essay is to introduce the limited written scholarship currently available on the adoption, history, and practices of the Akan atumpan and the Eʋe atopani.

The modern day Akan people reside primarily within the Asante region of Ghana, while the Eʋe live in the Volta region of Ghana, Togo, and parts of Benin.

Ashanti Region - Akan

The Asante region of Ghana is one of the largest modern administrative regions. Spanning several centuries of inhabitation, the Asante region historically delineates the succession and kingdom of the Asantehene (or King of Asante). The region once had multiple kingdoms, including the Akwamu empire that bordered the (modern) Greater Accra region.

Volta Region - Eʋe

The Volta region lies east of the Volta river and lake and spans into parts of Western Togo. Historically, the Eʋe have made their natural borders between the Volta and Mono River. Today in Ghana, most of the Eʋe live in Administrative Volta Region. The historical Krepi states that would become the Peki Confederacy in 1833 reside just south of the Volta lake.

Asante is noted for being one of the most influential and historically imperial areas of what is now modern Ghana. To historically understand how the Akan came in contact with the Eʋe, we must first look at where these groups originally came from. Decoding this information is difficult and also controversial. Oral histories and written reports by neighboring states, European colonists, and letters from occupying European forces and political courts of indigenous African states often conflict with each other. However, it is my hope to provide an objective analysis of how two states (the Akwamu Empire and the Krepi (Peki) Confederacy) resulted in the adoption of the Akan atumpan to become the Eʋe atopani.

The Eʋe Journey West

The Peki Eʋe migrated from Ketu, in present day Benin, to Ƞɔtsie between the Mono and Haho rivers as a product of Yoruba expansion, and then further on to Krepa (present day Peki) sometime before 1600.3 King Togbe Agokoli was a tyrannical ruler to the Eʋe while established in Ƞɔtsie. According to legend, a powerful hunter named Togbi Tsali enchanted a drum to put King Togbe Agokoli to sleep while the people fled west guided by Togbe Eʋeyana. They were directed to walk backwards to confuse their pursuers, eventually settling in Gbidzigbe, or present day Hohoe. The etymology of the word Eʋe is believed to be derived from Togbe Eʋeyana.4

A Drum’s Journey East

In 1734, Eʋeland adjacent to the volta river was encroached by Akwamu expansion from the Akan savannah of Asante. Trading routes between Krepa (present day Peki) and coastal communities were halted. This period of Akwamu expansion also resulted in the apprehension of slaves by Akan powers. Akan powers, such as the Akim and Akwamu, had utilized slave labor for sometime throughout their occupation of Asante, however the colonisation by the Dutch and Portuguese threw a complex political relationship between Akan supremacy over much of present day Ghana. Essentially, the Peki stood to benefit financially from the supremacy of the Akwamu through trade with other African states and the colonizers but at the cost of suppression by the larger and more powerful Akwamu state.

In 1833, under the leadership of Kwadzo Dei I, the Peki led an attack on the Akwamu state. Following victory, a confederation of states surrounding Peki pledged allegiance to Kwadzo Dei. At this point in Eʋeland, the Eʋe have discernable practices that are verified to be Akan in origin. Such as: worship of the ancestors and chief stools, speech surrogate drums, and drum languages (such as solfege). Over the period of approximately a hundred years (1734-1833), I hypothesize that Eʋe villages learned from and appropriated these specific practices introduced by Akwamu occupying forces. Today the atopani is practiced and learned through the use of Akan-based syllables, which has confirmed, according to many scholars, its Asante origin.5

Understanding the broader social relationships that would have led to a suppressed population adopting a dominating force’s customs is still unclear in the case of Peki and the Akwamu empire. The only information we can confirm is that prior to Akwamu occupation, the atopani and chief stools weren’t found in the Volta.6 Research into how the atopani and atumpan are practiced across this ethnic boundary would benefit the current scholarship on how speech surrogate drums evolve and adapt post historical adoption and appropriation. Furthermore, this transition and adoption period is an important step for understanding how speech surrogate drums have traveled and been adopted by other languages.

Atopani in Togo
  1. Atumpan, The Talking Drums of Ghana 

  2. Locke, David, and Godwin Agbeli, 25. 

  3. Amennmey D.E.K., 6. 

  4. Meyer, 17. 

  5. Younge, 26. 

  6. This view is supported by the oral traditions of the people of the Anfoega, Bla and Vakpo, all in the Volta Region via the written works of Wilson K. Yayoh.