Introduction to World Music, SMSU1 Section Five: African Music Population over 800 million (2000 estimate); extremely diversified languages & cultures;

Introduction to World Music, SMSU 1

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Section Five: African Music

Population over 800 million (2000 estimate);

extremely diversified languages & cultures;

Continuously changing for thousands of years.




Cultural Groups

Many ethnic groups, languages and style areas throughout continent

Ideally the songs, language, oral literature, instrumental music, theater arts and dance should all be explored together.

Sharing occurs between groups with cultural similarities (language, region, etc.)

Outside influence started long ago, mostly in Northern and Eastern Africa




North Africa & the Sahara Desert

Much Muslim and Arabic influence




The SavannahRegion

Mostly indigenous culture, with some Arabic influence; much sharing of culture between peoples




The Rain Forest Region

Less influenced by outsiders; Musically diverse




The Congo Basin

Stylistically simplified compared to other large regoins




East and South Africa

Cattle area; simpler music; drums less important, much use of xylophones, harps, lyres




Madagascar

SE Asian influence; also French and Indian influence




Early Instruments

Early history: the musical bow

Also plucked lutes; harps.

Rock engraving of an eight-string harp found 18th century bce (south of the Sahara). Many types of African harps, but no harps south of equator.

8th to 14th centuries, bells and gongs found. Written accounts in 1586, gourd-resonated xylophones




Much Research Has Been New

Since the 1930s, an increase of studies, especially interlocking drumming patterns




Cultural Elements

Music and dance are inseparable

Ancestor reverence (worship?); specialists recounting stories of powerful families and important rulers.

The social roles of the so-called talking drums of West and Central Africa (the pitch can be changed by pushing on or squeezing drum)




Dance/Music Usage

Dances often serve ritual purposes, marking stages of life involving music (initiation rites, weddings, funerals, ancestral ceremonies, etc.) or trance states

Often, dances are social with only veiled ritual purpose, if any.




Dances Typically in Groups and in Circles or Lines




Musical Traditions

Generally learned through oral tradition to students deemed worthy of training by virtue of ancestry.

In socially stratified societies, musical professionalism by jalolu (Griot) or by specialized court musicians.




Musical Qualities Found in Much African Music

Repetition

Chorus, some solo

Participation: call-and-response, overlapping, some parallel singing

Rhythm: well-blended, maintained, polyrhythm, polymetric, syncopation

Accompanied by body movement such as hand-clapping, dance and work.




Musical Qualities (cont.)

Forceful approach

Little ornamentation

Pentatonic scales, some hexatonic

Aesthetic often includes buzzing, rattling sounds

Subject matter includes animals stories, love, dance, relationships

Songs are often integrated into story-telling.




African Rhythm Characteristics

Always at least two rhythms going on

3:2 relationship is central

Cross-rhythms: conflicting rhythmic patterns &

accents

Integrally tied to dance, and so in some variety of

duple or triple time (4/4 or 12/8)

“Rhythm is to the African as Harmony is to the

European”

Chernoff, John Miller, African Rhythm and African Sensibility, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1979.




Example: Ake (Nigerian Work Song)

Instruments/Voices

Function/Importance within Culture

Musical Characteristics (Form, melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.)




Musical Instruments

Idiophones: clap-sticks, bells, rattles, struck/shaken gourds, stamping tubes, xylophones, mbiras (thumb pianos).

Membranophone: drums of all sorts.

Chordophones: musical bow, lute, lyre, harp, and zither.

Aerophones: flute, whistle, oboe, and trumpet.




Idiophones




Xylophones




Harps




Ghana




Ghana: Geography and Economy

Near equator, coastline, in rain forest, heavily wooded hills, many rivers.

“Ashanti” area; cocoa, minerals, timber. North: low bush, savannah; 64-102 degrees

Agriculture, fishing, forestry. Major cash crop is cocoa, also crops are rice, coffee, cassava, peanuts, and corn. Export cocoa, gold, timber, and various minerals.




Agbekor: Music and Dance of the Ewe People

Originally performed for war

Linked to legend of monkey dance; a monkey beating stick inspired the dance

Agbekor signifies enjoying life, and sacred oath to ancestors to fight bravely; “clear life”




Learning and Performing AgbekorRequires special training due to complexity

Rarely performed in villages now, but often performed in societies (mutual aid organizations, school and civic youth groups, theatrical performing companies)

The writer visited Anya Agbekor Society of Accra, dedicated to remembering old family members.




Agbekor: basic drumming patterns

The first pattern is played by the double bell:

It is ubiquitous to nearly all of Africa.




Agbekor: drumming patterns (cont.)

The next pattern to feel is the rattle & handclap pattern.

What division of the meter are we stressing?

Is it what you thought we would be playing?




Agbekor

fullbackgroundpattern




A Performance at a Wake

Ten Drummers at one end

Columns of dancers face the drummers

Singers behind the dancers in a semicircle

300 onlookers




The actual eventAdzo, dancers sing in free rhythm

Then Vutsotsoe, fast drumming

Various words like “Aa-oo” summon the spirits of the departed ancestors

Dancing shows readiness to act in the manner of the ancestors

Several more songs

The adzokpi section begins; pairs of dancers or groups dance in front of the lead drummer.




The actual event (cont.)Drummer plays special ending figure.

Groups leaders go to the center of dance and to pour water/libation to call for blessings from deceased member.

Vulolo, or slow drumming

Vutsotsoe, up-tempo section

Final adzokpi section, elders, patrons, etc. enter the dance floor for a while.




Agbekor Instruments

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor


AxatseGankogui

KaganuKidi

Sogo

Atsimevu

Source: www.dancedrummer.com




Conclusions about African Music Traditions

African music-cultures strongly linked to community

Construction and playing of musical instruments

Spontaneous performances

Music serves functions

Fosters group participation




Mande People of Mali

Lambango (CD 1:13) Mariatu Kuyateh, Kekuta Suso (kora), and Seni Jobateh

Griots (Jalolu) = professional musicians who transmit oral history (of Mande people) through song.

Kora = indigenous African “spiked-bridge” harp




Kora






Dagbamba of Ghana

Lunsi = hereditary clan of drummers; serve as verbal artist, counselor, cultural expert, etc.

Gung-gong & lunga drums (specific names for double-headed drums)

“Nag Biegu” (CD 1:14)




Shona of Zimbabwe

Mbira = “thumb piano”

“Nhemamusasa” (CD 1:15)


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Mbira is often placed inside aDeze (gourd resonator)




BaAka People of central Africa (Congo Basin)

“Forest People,” “pygmies,” a unique culture

“Makala” a Mabo (net hunting) song (CD 1:16)

Improvised, open-ended polyphonic vocal musical style with all people participating. How does this express the culture?




Djembe

The Djembe is the drum of the Mandinka people (Guinea), and its origins dates back to the great

Mali Empire of the 12th century.

VERY popular drum world-wide

Mamady Keitahttp://www.radioceros.com/ondemandvideo/mamadykeita/mamadykeita

.htmJuju Music






Contemporary Musicians Seeking Identities and Names

Many musicians in Africa are fighting Disco and other Western styles, and hoping to keep African elements in the popular music.




Assignment

I. Explain how a cross rhythm works. Give a specific example from a piece we have studied.

II. What is a lunsi, and what instrument is he associated with?

III. What is a griot, and what instrument are they associated with?

IV. How does “call and response” function in an actual social situation?

V. What impressed you most about this section (African music)? How and Why?

Introduction to World Music, SMSU1 Section Five: African Music Population over 800 million (2000 estimate); extremely diversified languages & cultures;

Documents

world music

instrumental music

griot slide

diverse slide

african music population

music initiation rites

arabic influence slide

indian influence slide