Akwa-Ocha which connotes white cloth is basically an indigenous hand-woven cloth that is produced by the Aniocha people of Delta state. The cloth which contains surface decorative motifs and symbols is used for various festive occasions among the people. Akwa-Ocha motifs and symbols and their functions reveal the people’s history or past events, religion and social behaviours. Nigerian traditional elements such as the Akwa-Ocha motifs and symbols feature in the changing landscape in the design of fashion accessories in Nigeria. Thus, contemporary trend in global fashion conciseness has influenced Akwa-Ocha in its application of fashion accessories. Akwa-Ocha motifs and symbols function as carriers of cultural heritage and identity of the Aniocha people. This paper therefore focuses on the use of Akwa-Ocha motifs and symbols for the design of fashion accessories using available local materials. The exploration of Akwa-Ocha motifs and symbols for the design of fashion accessories for obvious reasons include creating an identity, checking the emphasis already placed on foreign fashion accessories, creating awareness and projecting one of Nigeria’s rich cultural heritages.

The purpose of this study was to investigate reported influences on Ghanaian Basic School band pupil’s instrument choices, to gain an understanding of reasons expressed by students for preferring certain instruments and not others, in addition, to explore whether Ghanaian children are gender-stereotyped in their musical instrument choices. A questionnaire was developed to gather information concerning students’ instrumental music experience, family participation in band, reported reasons for instrument choice, non-choice, and several other questions to give readers insight into how Ghanaian basic school bands operate. The sample consisted of 142 pupils from five basic school bands in the Accra metropolis. Results revealed strong gender/instrument associations. Pupils indicated that their choices were most influenced by their school band teacher. Other reported influences included instrument sound and programmes the school band attends. The results also revealed that girls in the Accra metropolis who are members of the school bands tend to prefer playing the “percussions” which are mostly regarded to be for boys. Gender association with certain instruments seemed to override professed reasons for instrument selection. 

This article concerns itself with the adaptation of some selected indigenous structural fugu fabric designs for textile prints. The objective of the study is to adapt the structural design concepts of Daboya fugu fabrics into fabric prints and fabricate fashion items from the adapted prints produced. The practice adopted the studio practice-based research design where an artefact is to be created with descriptions to give an understanding of the creation. Data was collected through interview and observation. The sampling techniques used for the study were purposive and convenience and a sample size of seventy (70) respondents were engaged. Findings revealed that the surface effects of structural designs from fugu fabrics can be adapted and produced with printing techniques and still maintain their unique characteristics. It was also noted that the applied designs were still recognisable by majority of users as true resemblance of the structural fugu fabric designs. The study recommended that Textile artists should draw inspiration from other cultural structural designs like kente, adinkra and others and develop design concepts for contemporary usage and applications. It was also recommended that educators in textile study should encourage more adapted designs from indigenous textiles and make them beneficial to the country in terms of economy gains through exports. 

Quality Theatre-for-Development (TfD) education requires adequate provision to support the holistic development of the individual through an all-inclusive curriculum. TfD is a strategic resource for personal, socio-cultural and sustainable development. Hence, instructional TfD is valuable to sustainable development discourses, the global knowledge economy and the global society. This article explores to evaluate instructional TfD in higher education in Ghana. Employing the qualitative approach to research, the article used an empirical case study design to evaluate the TfD curricula of three public universities in Ghana, focusing especially on course contents, pedagogical approaches and teaching and learning logistics. The data collection method adopted were document review (curricula, course outlines, course descriptions and logistics for teaching and practice), with qualitative content and thematic analytical approaches guiding the data analysis process. The findings showed that the curricula as textual materials privilege preferred pedagogy that mostly specifies artistic and cultural pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in TfD. Also, the curricula are guided by utilitarian, cognitivist-behavioural and developmentalist philosophies that pay little attention to critical discourses in affective-aesthetic education. Such philosophical underpins reflect the ideologies and values of the designers and implementers. The analysis further demonstrated that the desired pedagogical context of implementation generally thrives on course contents, which are theory-practice-driven. The article proposes a discipline-specific and context-dependent framework and a space for the practice as artistic-aesthetic-cultural education to support quality TfD education delivery in Ghana. 

This article examines the construal of colour symbolism in the indigenous culture of the Yoruba people. The article assessed colour sources, indigenous values, importance and its classification in the Yoruba indigenous milieu. The crust of this article is established on colour in the idiom of Yoruba philosophy. The appraisal finally focused on the Yoruba aesthetics, values, religion and colour healing therapy using descriptive method in achieving the objectives. It was observed that foreign language, technology and religion poses treats to Yoruba colour culture. It concluded that colour and its associate in the Yoruba philosophy is fast disappearing because of lack of tenet theories on colours through which Yoruba colour identity could be preserved. Therefore, there is need for revisiting and reviving theories of colour representation in Yoruba worldview for posterity.

In Ghana, music as a formal subject of study occupies the periphery of the curriculum. While a number of reasons account for this, the article highlights the one which has eluded the radar as far as Ghanaian music education scholarship is concerned. This reason is that music has not been given adequate exposure in terms of official policy on education in Ghana, to prove its worth. Based on the mere exposure theory, the article reviewed the major provisions for various educational reforms/ordinances passed for basic schools in Ghana from 1852 to 2007 and focused on the place of music in each of them. The study revealed that since 1852 (when the first educational ordinance was passed under a colonial government in the then Gold Coast) up to 1959, there was no official policy on music education in the basic school curriculum in Ghana. Music was introduced in 1987 as part of the Cultural Studies Syllabus. It was made to stand on its own as a subject  in 1994, but the syllabus for the programme was not ready until 1998. Nine years after in the introduction of this syllabus however, music lost the status of being a single subject in the basic schools as it was made a part of the horizontal interdisciplinary integrated curriculum of Creative Arts.

Images on Asafo flags are normally allegoric representation of proverbs, metaphors, maxims and traditions associated with the cultures of the Akans. This study employed descriptive and analytical methods. An inquiry discovery, oral interviews and questionnaires were employed to bring to bear some of the hidden Asafo flags and their philosophical representations. It was revealed that most of the youths did not associate themselves with the Asafo groups because of religious beliefs they lack the philosophical meanings of most of the symbols used in the various Asafo flags. This has negatively affected the sustenance, promotion, and transmission of Asafo activities from one generation to another making the youths of today lack various ethics, cultural values of our societies. It has therefore become imperative now to explore into the philosophical interpretations of Asafo flags for documentation and referencing.

The overall purpose of this paper is to explore the linguistic contributions of hip-hop music to the Nigerian multilingual society. This objective is informed by what appears to be a stereotyped notion that hip-hop music is all about the use of profane and taboo language. In an attempt to prove such negative ideas about hip-hop wrong, such lead questions as what the linguistic resources that constitute this emergent sociolect in Nigeria are; their sources of vocabulary, vocabulary patterns as well as evidence of lexical innovations it has brought to Nigerian linguistic society are tackled. Employing Exploratory Interview theory and qualitative research approach aimed at collecting data to unravel these linguistic issues, the researcher interacts and elicits information from varied stakeholders in the hip-hop music. Qualitatively, the researcher visited the promoters and fans of hip-hop  in Sabon Gari area of Kano, Nigeria to ascertain orally the varied meanings in the lyrics. The music albums of the current top thirteen Nigerian hip-hop stars were studied as representative samples. It is concluded that besides being a huge source of lexical innovation and a vehicle for showcasing the nation’s linguistic repertoire to the outside world, youth language in Nigerian hiphop, now serves as a bridge that hybridises virtually all the languages spoken in Nigeria.

Traditional musical instruments have been handed down from generation to generation although in most instances there has been a change in its development and production. Sculptors, over the years have played a very vital role in the making of such musical instruments. For someone to be able to make a music instrument, the person needs to have an idea about the material and its characteristics. This article establishes the link between traditional musical instruments and the sculptor as a depository of indigenous knowledge systems in music. Through qualitative research approach, it employed descriptive research design and aesthetic analysis as for the processes used in the making of some of the traditional musical instruments; and the symbolic meaning of material content in describing these music instruments for indigenous knowledge systems respectively. Data were collected through face-to-face interview and observation. Sculptors, specifically carvers, in the production of traditional musical instruments and music artiste from the music fraternity were purposively sampled. It was observed that beliefs and practices of Africa were seen as richest cultural systems, which were practised through the arts with traditional musical instruments. It recommended that traditional musical instruments should be seen as an important artifact. Particularly, its material compositions from an artistic point of view, serve as an indigenous knowledge system by providing artists and the users with mastery of cultural identity and edification.

 The playwright’s story is often bigger than what the stage can take within a stipulated time frame. It then becomes imperative for the writer to effect significant cutbacks which might involve character mergers, setting eliminations, story condensations, event narrations and expressional conciseness. This becomes a daunting task to especially amateur writers and sometimes those who have significant experience in writing. One of the techniques to accomplish the aforementioned and still retain desired meaning is to use what I call the ‘linking character.’ Linking characters are given different names in various plays. For instance, Aidoo calls the linking character in Anowa, ‘The-Mouth-That-Eats-Salt-And-Pepper’ whilst Yaw Asare uses ‘Ananse’ in his play, Ananse In The Land Of Idiots. Despite such distinct names, they ultimately function in similar ways. This article assesses the roles of linking characters in eight selected African plays regarding their purposes and effectiveness. Varied situations, dialogue and other issues are cited from these plays and analysed in correlation with available literature. The article also popularises the efficacy of utilisation of linking characters and recommends them for up and coming African Playwrights.