Although my family has been lead drummers and composers of "Anyako Lashibi" community of Ghana for generations, and I grew up around drums, my parents never gave me formal instructions. In Anlo-Ewe culture as I experienced it, musicians did not give formal instructions, but the youth could attend performances to learn the music and the dance. But all that changed when the Bremen missionaries and the colonial masters arrived in the 19th century. Parents could not teach their children their culture because they were told to send their children to missionary schools instead. Converts and students were told their culture, more especially, the music and dance were ungodly. If the converts and students participated in or attended traditional music and dance performances, the former was expelled from church and the latter was punished in school.

I could not teach myself by playing the drums when I wanted to. If there is no organized performance, the elders do not encourage anyone to play the drum. They consider it a disturbance. If I disobeyed my parents' instruction not to play, they might either give me physical punishment or a chore to do. When my parents gave me formal instructions, I considered it a reward for something that I may have done or they felt it was time for them to give me the information.

I was excited when in 1957, my father, Kofi Zate Ladzekpo, told me the meaning of "Atsiagbekor" or "Agbekor" drum language. Agbekor is an Anlo-Ewe war music formally called "Atamga" meaning the great oath- -the oath that the ancestors took before they went to war to defend their tribe. The statements of the drums are admonishments from a father to his two sons who crave for war. He plays calls on the lead drum for the dancers to demonstrate what goes on in war.

The information from my father had barely sunk in when the Headmaster of Anyako Anlo Awoame Fia Middle School, Mr Charles Hialege Ayikutu, surprised me. He asked me to organize and teach "Agbekor" music and dance to the students. I was totally shocked. Just a week before, I had been punished for watching a performance in the community. But I would be exempted if my older brother, Husunu Afadi Ladzekpo, asked permission for me and my cousin, Kofi Kpeglo Ladzekpo.

Husunu also taught me the music informally. He would ask me to play "Agbekor" signature tune for him in the evenings before a performance the following day if he knew he would be out late. Signature tunes are unique phrases that identify the pieces, just as one's signature identifies him or her. They are played early in the evening to reaffirm a performance before the artists go to bed. Sometimes, Husunu would ask me to relieve him on "Agbekor" lead drum during a performance. Please meet two of my informal music instructors.