The Ghana Notebooks
My studies in Ghanaian drumming over the past 20 years has resulted in my main body of work, The Ghana Notebooks, which is a series of notebooks, each dedicated to a particular rhythm or style from Ghana and now elsewhere.
Unlike other world drumming texts, the master drum rhythms are presented here in actual drum language, which is the most traditional method, using only syllables to represent drum sounds instead of music notation. Each notebook contains all the information that I have compiled from various sources for that style, including its history and origins, meaning, forms/versions, master drum parts, support parts, songs, variations, dance and costuming. In addition to the rhythm notebooks, the Rizzi Rhythm Songbook contains over 200 traditional songs from Ghana, Guinea, Brazil, Cuba, and Peru. Each notebook includes audio recordings in which I have recorded and/or compiled all musical examples discussed to provide proper interpretation of the rhythms and songs, and with some notebooks a video of the dance is also provided.
These notebooks represent years of deep cultural information shared with me by my teachers. They are not for sale but are available as a resource to my students.
Adzogbo
Adzro
Agbadza
Akpese/Borborbor
Atsia
Atsiagbekor
Fume Fume
Gahu
Kinka
Kpanlogo
Gota, ToKwe & Kpatsa
Cuba/ Brazil
Rizzi Rhythm Songbook
Sample pages from the Atsiagbekor Notebook
