Part 3: Regional Case Studies
Apr 01, 2015
Part 3: Regional Case Studies
West Africa
West Africa: An Introduction
West Africa
Savannah Forest
Savannah region
Savannah groups in contact with each other through empires
Musico-cultural similarities throughout the Savannah regions
Some influence from North Africa, Islam
Savannah
Western Sudanic Central Sudanic Voltaic
Savannah regions – other general traits Social organization involved professional class of
musicians (i.e., griot, dyeli, jali)
All classes of instruments, though some areas have primarily membranophone instruments
Contexts include: Ceremonial music Praise singing Religious rites
Forest Belt
Eastern Forest Western Forest
Far more differentiation, less homogeneity in forest belt Secret societies important Percussive instruments with complex rhythms predominant
musical trait Elaborate traditions of court music and masquerade
Yoruba Popular Music
The Yoruba
Live in Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Togo Lagos center of Yoruba popular culture Yoruba is a tonal language
Yoruba Popular Musical Identity The dùndún (talking drum) a symbol of pan-
Yoruba identity Mixture of global and local Instruments & ensembles organized with lead
(“mother”) and accompaniment, hierarchy Instruments “speak”, like language “Spraying” provides most income for popular
musicians
Muslim genres
Wákà Spiritual inspiration, female performers Unaccompanied, hand-clapping
Sákárà Instrument, genre, and dance style Solemn, social dancing and praising
Àpàlà Lyrics are essentially praise songs Social dance drumming style
Yoruba Highlife
Ghanaian highlife bands performed in Lagos, spread popularity
3-5 winds, string bass, guitar, bongos, maracas, conga
Bobby Benson’s Jam Session Orchestra Worked in England First electric guitar in Nigeria
1950s was Golden Age
Jùjú
Emerged in early 1930s Named for tambourine (jùjú) Built on palm wine guitar music Rhythm from dance drumming style Trio (singer + banjo, tambourine, gourd rattle)
Jùjú – Early styles
High tessitura, nasal style Metaphorical lyrics Tunde King 1940s changes included:
Amplification Expanded instruments, conga-type drums Slower tempos
King Sunny Adé
The Green Spot Band, 1966 Style modeled after Tunde Nightingale Patron was Chief Bolarinwa Abioro Known for skilled guitar playing After 1972 split from Abioro, formed “African
Beats” band Became a major international star
Afro-Beat
Began in late ‘60s as mixture of highlife, jazz, and soul
Basic style is 3 layers: Interlocking electric-bass and bass drum Rhythm guitar, congas, snare back beat Percussion sticks and gourd rattle, horn sections
supports singer
Fela Anikulapo Kuto, 1938 -
Studied trumpet in London Played with Bobby Benson Late 1960s influence of soul (from Geraldo
Pino) Travel to US in 1969 led to more activism
Run-ins with military, song lyrics political Mother killed by military Slogan was “Music is a Weapon”
Fújì
Grew out of Muslim Ramadan tradition Features drums Syncretic style (highlife, American pop,
Muslim recitations, Christian hymns, jùjú)
"The Tradition" and Identity in a Diversifying Context
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast
City of Man = (growing, modern city, primarily Muslim
Petit Gbapleu = (old Dan village)
Ge (genu=plural)
An institution that serves as base of Dan religious, social, and political life
Provides a sense of ethnic identity Involves performance of forest spirits,
sometimes as masked dancers
Dan religion and Islam
Many residents of Petit Gbapleu are Muslim, do not believe in worship of two Gods
But many still practice Dan, blend the two (syncretic practice)
PDCI Party for the Hairdressers PDCI was leading political party at the time Held a party for hairdressers, as political
move Ge masked dancer performed, along with
master drummer Ge and drummer incorporated popular music
elements, also non-local traditional elements
Creolization
Karin Barber, Christopher Waterman
Creolization is what happens when “local selectively ‘appropriate’ elements from metropolitan cultures in order to ‘construct’ their own hybrid medium in which to articulate their own, historically and socially specific, experience.”
Creolization
Advantages of this theory:
1. People seen as active cultural producers
2. Something qualitatively new, not just dilution or corruption of “authentic” forms
3. Function & significance determined by specific new context
North Africa
North Africa
Population consists of Arabs, Berbers, Gnawa
Historic conquest by Romans, Scandinavian tribes, Christian Byzantines, & Muslims
Cultural area includes Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, parts of Mali and Niger
Arab-Andalusian Tradition
Influence from Spain to Africa Original repertoire was nuba (suite of songs) Modal Oral-poetic
Music and Islam
Call to prayers, Koranic chant not considered music
Religious songs during Ramadan Sufi chants Curing ceremonies
Music in folk life
Annual, calendric celebrations Life-cycle events Professional musicians (griots) Sung poetry Instrumental music rare Many forms of dance (even with camels)
Popular music
Genres Tahardent Rai azri
Arab-Andalusian Arabi Hawzi Sha’bi zendani
Tuareg Music
Tuareg
Tuareg society consists of 8 large units or confederations
Culturally diverse Nomadic tribes
Music
Mostly vocal, but various drums & flutes Primary instruments are anzad, tende, and
tahardent Prominent position in everyday life Verbal genres highly esteemed Dance includes camel dances
Anzad
One-string lute-like instrument Played only by women Heroism, courage, love are subject matters Solo instrument or vocal accompaniment Many regional variations Takes years to master
Tende
Mortar drum Central to camel festivals & curing
ceremonies Not as much status
Tahardent
3-stringed lute Compositional formulas Urban genre for entertainment
From Village to Vinyl:
Genealogies of New Kabyle Song
A vava inouva
Algerian song by Idir, text by Ben Mohamed Important for Kabyle Berbers Based on traditional song “internal gaze”
Authenticity vs. modernity
“Authenticity came from the Kabyles, modernity could only come from the State.”
Internal Gaze
Internal Gaze is accomplished by….. Stylization Folkloric time Process of story-telling put on display
Transmission
Played in France, towards French audiences Translated to many languages Tapes & cassettes in Algeria
Transmission of the song made
Berber culture desirable
East Africa
East Africa – An Introduction
Nomadic, semi-nomadic and settled groups Indonesian influences Arabic & Islamic influences European influences
Music of Tanzania
Tanzania
Least urbanized African country Mainly Bantu-speaking people Swahili spoken w/English
1964 United Republic of Tanzania
Tanganyika Zanzibar
Music in Tanzania
8 stylistic areas Membranophones include royal drum sets Untuned & tuned idiophones Range of chordophones and aerophones
Forms (neotraditional)
Beni ng’oma Taraab National training centers Jazz
Music and the Construction of Identity Among the Abayudaya (Jewish People)
of Uganda
Abayudaya Jews
Converted to Judaism in 1920s, interruption by Idi Amin, revival in 1980s
Only about 750 people in Eastern Uganda Primarily 5 Bantu ethnic/language groups
Boundaries
Boundary-leveling strategies for… Local ethnic groups North American Jewry
Boundary-maintaining strategies for… Christian and Muslim neighbors
Boundary Maintaining Strategies Adding a Hebrew verse Jewish leaders adapt local folk songs Contemporary music contains Hebrew text,
subject matter “Lekhah Dodi” Hebrew pronunciation influenced by local
language
Central Africa
Central Africa
“Central Africa” is not a geographic
fact, but a concept
Central Africa
For this chapter defined as people speaking…
Adamawa-Eastern languages Bantu languages
Adamawa-Eastern language groupsMusical traits include: Tonal systems Part-singing Patterns of movement Instrumental resources
Bantu language groups
Pygmy Yodeling Polyphony
Several other diverse cultural groups
Musical Life in the Central African Republic
Music in Central African RepublicPerformances of modernity = how people
situate themselves within a changing world
Performances of modernity
Zokela are “musicians who play and sing in a vigorous style based on multiethnic rhythms, harmonies, melodies, and topical themes from the Lobaye
Alleged origins in 1981 Now tending towards spectacle Local → international
BaAka dances
Mabo Rhythm is a triplet pattern At least 2 drums accompany
Dingboku Women’s dance Stand shoulder to shoulder in line
Both dances stopped because of Christian missionary work, but later recontextualized
Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Politics, Economics, Languages, and cultural traits all determine how to define “southern Africa”
For this paper, includes southern tip up to the Zambezi river
Southern Africa cultural groupsMuch overlap in these groups…… Khoisan (i.e., Khoikoi, San)
Nguni (i.e, Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi)
Sotho S.E. African (i.e., Shona, Venda, Chopi, Tsonga, Sena)
Middle Zambezi (Lozi, Nyoka, Ila, Tonga)
S.W. Bantu (Ovimbundu, Ovambo, Nkhumbi, Herero)
Indigenous music: Musical / Cultural traits Prominent use of polyrhythms Linguistic influence on melody Secondary sound source (rattling/buzzing) Cyclic form Drums, plucked lamellophones, xylophones,
musical bows Music defined with metered rhythm
Indigenous music - Issues
Tuning systems: reasons? Influences: tonal-harmonic belt? Influences: Indonesian? Instruments: mbira origins?
Impact of Wider World
Mining Apartheid Missions/Education Sociopolitical Factors Musical Instruments Independence and international relations
Popular Music of South Africa
South Africa
European, colonial influence early on Led to large urban centers Constant historic flux between village and
urban centers
Cape Town
Slavery system developed early on Mixed-race peoples Birthplace of popular music industry in South
Africa Neotraditional music/instruments
(i.e., ramkie)
Kimberley
Diamond mines discovered New genres developed
Xhosa praise poetry Basotho’s veteran migrant songs Zulu men’s walking-and-courting song
Working-class, popular music developed Black men learned that through music they
gained some status
Christian Religious Music
First began to make an impact among Xhosa people
Congregational singing appealed to blacks New black South African choral style –
makwaya (choir)
Influence from the U.S.
Blackface minstrelsy African Methodist Episcopal church Virginia Jubilee Singers American ragtime and jazz
Johannesburg
Gold mines discovered Mixture of races, ethnicity, classes Shebeen developed as informal place of
music-making
Marabi
“Pianomen” began to emerge In dance halls and shebeens, pianomen
devised various musical formulas Four-bar progression ending on the
dominant: I-IV-I6/4-V7 Other instrumentalists also picked up on
marabi
Jazz
Makwaya composers developed hybrid compositions (Reuben T. Caluza)
Semi-professional song-and-dance companies Jazz/ragtime bands modeled on American bands Male close-harmony quartets Kwela=street jazz appearing in 1940s mbaqanga=jazz form that took its name from corn
porridge, known as “South Africa’s” jazz
Black show business & apartheid Many black musicians left Mbaqanga jive created: electronic version of
mbaqanga, also reclaimed Zulu pride
(i.e., Indoda Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens)
Township-jazz musical theater Other groups/individuals of importance
included Malombo and Jonathan Clegg
Dance and Gender as Contested Sites in Southern Malawian Presbyterian
Churches
“There’s a stranger at the door”
European/American hymn, but Malawian performance style
(The only CCAP group whose performance style is this way)
Growth of dance as form of worship Political changes of 60s Blantyre synod programs of 70s
Scottish Presbyterian attitudes towards dance/gender Scottish missionary work from late 19th c. Discouraged dancing, esp. by women Divided life into secular and sacred realms Mvano groups educated women to be
Christian women Rev. David Clement Scott, however, believed
in establishing “African church for the African people”
Malawian cultural attitudes towards dance/gender Elderly women passed on traditions to young
girls, often brewed beer, seen as “evil” by missionaries
Women can be chiefs Women often spiritual intermediaries
Acts of Resistance
Some Malawians held secret dances Peaceful march by Mvano women