MILTON-FREEWATER – Before entering the music room, the fifth-graders called out, “Agoo?”

Nii Okaidja Afroso, of Ghana, answered “Amee” and the students filed in taking their seats behind the drums circling the room.

“Agoo” translates to “Is anyone home?” in Ga, Afroso’s native language, and “amee” invites the caller in. Afroso explained that people don’t knock when entering houses, but call out instead.

For the past week he and Carol Lindsay have taught students at Freewater Elementary School about African dance, music, stories and culture as part of the annual artist-in-residence program.

Afroso quizzed the students on what they had learned over the week about his homeland then led them in a drumming exercise. Later he taught the students a song called “Kolomashi,” a song protesting British occupation of the country.

“It is a song to tell the British to leave,” he said. “They used it to throw the colonialists out of Ghana.”

Because Friday was the last day of the program, Afroso let the students ask questions before they left.

The questions ranged from “Where are you going from here?” and “Where are your clothes from?” to “Do people wear shoes in Ghana?” and “Are the bathrooms the same in Ghana?”

Afroso’s respective answers were: Portland; Ghana, but it was usually to cold to wear the clothes in Portland; yes, but usually they wear sandals; and richer houses have bathrooms like here, but poorer families usually have an outhouse.

Music teacher Rhonda Lineberger Akins said the students loved the program.

“The reaction has been incredibly positive,” she said. “I think the students will be disappointed (when they leave).”

The week’s theme focused on how music and stories were a common thread through all cultures, she said.

“The artists have brought folk stories with them to share, and instruments from Ghana and pieces of information that show how people are all united as one,” Lineberger Akins said.

The visit by the artists is funded by the Eastern Oregon Arts Council, the parents club and the student body fund. Past artist-in-residence programs have included painting with watercolors, puppeteering, American Indian beading and folk dancing.

While Afroso worked with one group singing in the music room, Lindsay was in the cafeteria teaching dancing and drumming to another group of fifth-grades, costumed in African-themed tops.

Splitting the group into four smaller groups, she had them organize and perform the dances and music for each other.

With names such as African Tigers, African Spiders, Amee and African Jammers, the groups played African instruments while others danced.

Although she hasn’t visited the continent, Lindsay told the students, “Africa is in my spirit.”

She had focused on teaching the students about tones and combining rhythms to make music.

By focusing on the elements of African music and dance she hoped the students learned how all cultures share similarities.

“They learn how people express themselves through music and dancing,” Lindsay said.