Kete is a music and dance form originating from the Asante and also primarily performed by the Akan people of Ghana. Like all indigenous knowledge forms, Kete possesses a nuanced history interwoven with mysticism, sociocultural elements, and historical factors. “The Akan people of Ghana include the Asante, Akwamu, Akyem, Denkyira, and Fante ethnic groups who occupy a large portion of Ghana” Gerry R. Cox and Neil Thompson, “The Akan of Ghana,” in Managing Death: International Perspectives, ed. Gerry R. Cox and Neil Thompson (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022), 85–89, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05559-1_9. They primarily occupy the southern part of the country. Within Asante cultural practices, music and movement systems hold a significant place in life. Beyond their communicative functions, these systems act as vital links connecting the past, present, and future. Kete is a traditional dance-music form originally confined to the palace of the Asantehene and subchiefs, who hold the authority to have traditional music and dances in their palaces. The Kete dance has gone through many changes since its break away from the older Adowa form, and as Joseph Kaminski (2007) shares, “the music of Kete is reputed to possess the power of attracting good spirits […] [Nketia] explains that the surrogated texts extol high moral values through the telling of heroic ideals and a Kete dance must be developed with the involvement of symbolic hand gestures reflecting these values. It is danced barefooted and trained male dancers dance with their Lapa cloth lowered beneath the chest” (“Asante Kete drumming: music from Ghana,” 2007).

There are different accounts attributed to the origins of the Kete Dance form, but this volume employs the two main accounts in my unpublished thesis of 2015 titled The Contexts and Meaning in Asante Dance Performance: The Case of Kete by Emmanuel Cudjoe, The Contexts and Meaning in Asante Dance Performance: The Case of Kete (Accra, Ghana, University of Ghana, 2015). These two are by no means authoritative over the many other accounts that exist about the dance, but they offer interesting insights into the scholarly departure points this book elaborates.