Traditional Music

Southern fishermen's folk songs frequently feature bells like the gankogui and frikiwa as accompaniment. Fon and Yoruba songs as well as Ewe and Kabye folk music are frequently heard. There is a wide range of percussion-driven dance music in Togo. Drums are used by Christians, Muslims, and people of all ethnicities in Togo to celebrate all significant life events as well as festivals like the Expesoso or Yeke Yeke festival. The agbadja, ageche, aziboloe, kple, amedjeame, akpesse, grekon, blekete, and adamdom are among the drums used in the Aneho district alone. In Togo, there are many different rhythms, and each region has its own distinctive beats.

The Ghana-Togo Mountain languages and Tem are both spoken in the central hills. Together with other Gur languages like Mossi and Gourma, Dagomba ranks as the second most popular language in the north. Ghana and Burkina Faso, Togo's neighbors, share a great deal of this northern population's culture. With poly-rhythms clapped or played on the talking drum, gourd drums, or brekete, the Dagomba people play stringed instruments such the kologo (xalam), the gonjey, flute, and voice. Gyilxylphonists frequently perform sophisticated cycling rhythms in the style of gyilxylphonist music. The bow is one of the other folk instruments. Along with a long lineage of griot praise-singing traditions, the northern region of the country's music has distinctive melodic and vocal characteristics.