@article{01H44DRA33HT5NQ95V4424T1HQ,
  abstract     = {{This paper is a full chapter of my dissertation and elaborates on the constructivistic grounded theory as a field methodology during an audio-visual field research linked to an ethnographic study in Northern Ghana and in particular Dagbon society, seen from the angle of embodied music interaction and expressive timing, during the period 1999-2010. This ethnomusicological research was from the start an audio-visual archiving project, and it was carried out in collaboration with the RMCA Tervuren, Belgium, and the ICAMD, the International Centre for African Music and Dance of the University of Ghana, Legon. The paper tackles the bottom-up research design linked to a top-down working hypothesis. We present a functional model to approach data and metadata and to develop theoretical concepts from constructivistic grounded theory through different cultural filters.  Nonetheless, we would like to briefly summarize the four filters we applied to the data and metadata, and highlight some anomalies in ethnomusicology regarding the disconnection among music, language, and ethnicity. We suggest a simpler model, a non-ethnolinguistic anthropological classification model for the subdivision and classification of music-making in this part of Africa. Our model works with the structural key components of music-making, e.g., musical timbres and the tempo stability factor.  Our results show an inconsistency in the classification of music-making according to the ethno-linguistic classification model in that part of Africa. So far, we have developed four imaginary filters and applied them to our audio-visual data and metadata. The first imaginary filter is the Dagbon Hiplife Zone in Northern Ghana. The Dagbon Hiplife Zone filter illustrates how music cultures interact.  The filter shows how cultural transformational processes in music-making are unfolding and how contemporary idioms of music-making are emerging from traditional music-dance in Tamale. The second imaginary filter is the Sahelian Factor in the music of Northern Ghana. This filter was developed to approach the traditional idioms of music-making in Dagbon within the top-down theoretical framework of embodied music interaction. On the one hand, the Sahelian Factor connects the cultural key components on the semantic level, the intimate relationship between language and music in the Sudanic Savannah Belt of Northern Ghana. On the other hand, the Sahelian Factor disconnects music-making from language and ethnicity within the structural key components in the digital contemporary idioms of music-making. The third imaginary filter is the theoretical concept of cultural co-resonance of the Northern Ghanaian Artist in Tamale. The filter of cultural co-resonance was developed from the angle of the digital humanities, meaning the radius of an artist's influence on their online fan base, neotribes, and cyber tribes in the informal online digital music industries, and on local Afro-techno pop culture linked to a vibrant entertainment industry within the contemporary idioms of music-making in Tamale. The fourth imaginary filter is a dynamic model for cultural transformational processes in music-making in Dagbon society. We explain how structural key components and cultural key components blend into the embodied music interaction paradigm. The project consisted of several phases, starting with preparation at the RMCA sound archive and moving to the preparatory design phase, where audiovisual recording equipment was adapted into practical field tools. Leveraging expertise in sound engineering and music, this methodology enabled the production of high-quality audiovisual field recordings and the systematic collection of metadata during on-site data gathering across various villages and urban settings. The audiovisual field recordings were subsequently mixed, edited, and archived as part of the DEKKMMA project. A selection of audiovisual materials was chosen for cultural and structural analysis, encompassing the translation of specific song repertoires, musical transcriptions, score annotations, and sound synthesis. Ultimately, this dynamic methodology within a postcolonial discourse serves as a foundational roadmap for the decolonization of archival practices and research, prioritizing reciprocity, indigenous knowledge systems, and cultural agency. Copies of these recordings are preserved at the RMCA (Tervuren) and the Institute of African Studies (Legon), and we advocate that these institutions provide coded online access to a selection of these field materials. This form of reciprocity ensures that the documented intangible cultural heritage remains accessible for further study and educational purposes, while strictly respecting the sacred boundaries of ritual music to prevent sacred traditions from entering the profane sphere.  By providing a detailed account of this methodology, the paper establishes the necessary empirical foundation for the structural and cultural analyses of music-making in Dagbon.}},
  author       = {{Phyfferoen, Dominik}},
  editor       = {{Della Ventura, Michele}},
  issn         = {{2612-2146}},
  journal      = {{INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MUSIC SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ART}},
  keywords     = {{African Studies,Audio-visual archiving,Constructivistic grounded theory,cosmopolitan identity,cultural co-resonance,Dagbon Hiplife Zone in Northern Ghana,embodied music interaction,ethnomusicology,fieldwork}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{88}},
  title        = {{Audio-visual archiving project in Dagbon of Northern Ghana during the period 1999-2010}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}