How to Play Coffin Dance on Harmonica

We all saw it as it burst through the door one day. Some people loved it, others were bothered quickly and remained unhappy until it vanished one day. Though it may not show up regularly in your feed, I guarantee that everyone still remembers it. I’m talking about none other than the Coffin Dance song.

How the Coffin Dance Meme Song Came to Be

The Coffin Dance was born out of a group of Ghanians who were working as Pallbearers. They are locally known as Nana Otafrija Pallbearing and Waiting Service or Dada Awu (1). In their service of walking the coffin down to be lowered, they decided to add dancing for an extra fee.

Their fame outside of the local area arose when a video was uploaded of them dancing and carrying the coffin, while one of the members misstepped and dropped the coffin. It became a meme that was passed around on multiple forms of social media, especially Tik Tok.

How do You Play a Coffin Dance on a Harmonica?

Now, this is the part that baffles me: everyone started learning the Coffin Dance on their preferred instruments. How this went from a fail meme to a must-learn song is beyond me, but nevertheless, here is how you can learn to play it on your harmonica.

In this video, you will learn how to play the Coffin Dance Song in the key of A minor. The instructions are as clear as can be, and it is slow enough for you to follow along before it is committed to memory. When you give it a go, you will find it easy to learn from these kinds of videos.

And when you fully learn how to play this song, you can show off to your friends who may or may not be impressed. Even if no one is overly impressed, you will at least make them laugh. That is the point of learning this kind of material anyways. Each type of music has its place, even if other types might be more useful overall.

Is the Coffin Dance Copyrighted?

You may be wondering what you can use this song for without crossing a legal line. The song used in the Coffin Dance video is believed to be provided by a group who puts out music for sound and video creatives to use freely (2). In short, the Coffin Dance is not Copyrighted.