It is often said that the distinctive quality of African music lies in its rhythmic structure. Scholarly work on this music has accordingly stressed drumming as the site at which "complex" rhythms are cultivated. In this book, Kofi Agawu argues that drumming is only one among several modes of rhythmic expression and that a more fruitful approach to the understanding of African music is through spoken language, in particular its tonal and rhythmic contours, and its metalinguistic function.

Drawing on his research among the Northern Ewe people of Ghana, Professor Agawu constructs a soundscape of Northern Eweland which demonstrates the pervasiveness of a variety of forms of rhythmic expression in the daily lives of the people. He then devotes a chapter each to an analysis of rhythm in language, song, drumming and dancing, musical performance, and folktale narration. A concluding chapter addresses some of the ideological factors that have influenced the representation of African rhythm.

1. An accompanying compact disk enables the reader to work closely with the sound of African speech and song discussed in the book.