Polyvocal Research Laboratory invites Dr Benjamin Amakye Boateng

Voice and Diasporic Memory: Agbe Songs of the Tabom Community in Ghana” Abstract This presentation explores how the voice functions as a medium of memory, identity, and cultural transmission among the Afro-Brazilian Tabom community of Accra, Ghana. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and musical analysis, it examines how Agbe songs performed during funerals and communal gatherings embody histories of return, belonging, and diasporic continuity. The talk argues that vocal performance serves not merely as musical expression but as a sonic archive through which collective memory and Afro-Atlantic identities are sustained across generations. By situating Tabom vocal practices within broader discussions of voice in the African diaspora, the presentation highlights the role of singing in negotiating heritage, community, and affect. Dr. Benjamin Amakye-Boateng is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Music at the University of Ghana. He holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Ghana and has served as a visiting scholar at the University of New Hampshire, USA. His research focuses on African and Afro-diasporic musical traditions, with particular emphasis on the Tabom community of Ghana, musical identity, oral transmission, and the role of music in memory and cultural continuity. He has presented his work at international conferences and has published widely on African music, performance, and heritage preservation. His current research explores the vocal dimensions of Agbe music and the ways in which sound and song mediate identity, belonging, and diasporic memory among the Afro-Brazilian Tabom community in Accra. Host: Gino Sitson, PhD Contact: [email protected] www.polyvocal.com #research #ghana #Tabom #brazil #yoruba #bahia #musicology #scholar #johnrawlings #highlife #anthropology #cameroon #tradition #cotedivoire #houphouetboigny #music #scholar #africa #black #oralité #orality #transmission #endoculturation #afro #recherche #investigacion #musica #chercheur #trinidad #tobago #queenscollege #professor #caraibes #musicology #sociology #anthropology #ethnomusicology #NewYork #talk #survival #conference #USA #Calypso #Ragga #Soca #identity #cultures #resistance #popularmusic #musicsociologist #author #cameroon #journalist #podcaster #orality #trinidadandtobago #Steelpan #kaisoJazz #AfricanDiaspora #CaribbeanStudiesAssociation #AssociationofBlackSociologists #vocalist #voice #polyphonies #polyrhthmics #nyc #cameroon #voice #cameroonianmusic #memory #ancestrality #ginositson #polyvocal #westafricanmusic #afro #slaveryhistory #slave #diaspora #indigenous #history #ouagadougou #thomassankara #litteratureafricaine #rfi #linguist #decoloniality #anthropology #africa #duala #cameroun #cameroun #afro #Parolier #Bari #musiquetraditionnelle #Sénoufo #ZélédePapara #ivorycoast #ivorycoastmusic #dance