NII TETTEY TETTEH and the Kusun Ensemble of drummers and dancers are in York for June and July, both performing and instructing in the art of traditional Ghanaian music and dance.

York is already twinned with Dijon in France and Munster in Germany, and now links are being forged with Ghana, in West Africa, through the One World Linking Association (OWLA). In particular, a close relationship is blossoming with the village of Fanteakwa, and OWLA has been chosen by the Lord Mayor of York, Coun Janet Looker, as one of her charities of the year

In February this year, City of York Council's arts service organised an educational trip to Ghana for its world-drumming youth group, the Trans-Global Drummers. They stayed at the Kusun Centre near Accra, where they were taught West African drumming and dancing by members of the Pan African Orchestra and National Ballet.

In turn, school head Nii Tettey Tetteh wants to promote and further the relationship between his community and York, and so he has organised this summer's return visit.

That visit was launched yesterday when the Kusun Ensemble gave two performances of their drum and dance show, Agoo!, at the Grand Opera House. The evening performance was introduced by Coun Looker, and the Trans-Global Drummers were well represented in the pleasingly large audience.

Agoo! means "Calling for Attention" and the show serves as an introduction to the traditional music and dance of Ghana that Nii Tettey Tetteh says is increasingly losing out to the wishes of young Ghanains to "dress and eat like Americans". From Black Umfolosi to Tap Dogs, drum and dance shows have become hugely popular. By comparison, Agoo! is more basic, organic rather than slickly-polished, with Nii Tettey Tetteh as a charming guide who mixes humour with more serious comment in his tales of his encounters with passport staff and his desires to preserve his country's cultural heritage.

We are introduced by Tetteh not only to all manner of African drums and exuberant dances in grass skirts and tribal costume but also the delights of the aslatua, percussive instruments on string that could pass for ping pong balls but are in fact dried seed pods, and the sara, a click on a stick that sounds like a verbal shoot-out between crickets and frogs.

The Kusun Ensemble will be running drumming and dancing workshops in York schools, play schemes and community groups from this week to July 30. Look out for another show, featuring the ensemble and their summer students, date and venue to be fixed.

Updated: 10:53 Thursday, June 24, 2004