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MUSIC IN AFRICA
Music 390 University of Kentucky
Africa
Sub-Saharan West Africa
West African Geography
Regions in Africa West Africa: Includes Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Sierra
Leone, Liberia, Cote DIvoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad Manding society one of the most important ethnolinguistic groups, connected
to the 13th c Mali Empire Most important musical role of Manding society is the Jali, a griot, musician and
oral historian. Main instruments of Manding Jali are the balo xylophone, the kora (harp lute)
and the kontingo (plucked lute with banjo like head) Toumani Diabate a famous Jali descending from 71 generations of musicians
North Africa: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan
East Africa: Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia
Central Africa: Burundi, Angola, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), Rwanda, Gabon
South Africa: Angola, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa
West African Kingdoms
Kingdom of Ghana (700 to 1200 AD) Kingdom of Mali (1200-1500) Kingdom of Songhai (1350-1600) Benin (1300-1800), present day Nigeria Ashanti Kingdom (1700-1900) Many of these ancient states are very symbolic today and exist parallel to national governments
Also secret societies called Poro and Sande
Religion
Indigenous religions founded on belief in multiple spirits, but usually one high created god rules
Christianity Islamic faith Non-indigenous religions inuenced by history of interactions with Arabs and Europeans with the history of colonization
Ghana and Nigeria: Anglophone Senegal and Mali: Francophone Liberia inuenced by the US
Music, Dance and Social Life
Music and Dance inextricable in thinking of many West Africans
Arts closely tied to social and political life Life cycle events often accompanied by music and dance, art central to the ow of life
Dierent musical categories like art, folk, popular and religious tend to ow together
Religious example: Ku Kelee Be Li (We are all going) St. Peters Lutheran Kpelle choir
West African Characteristics of Performance West Africa Known for its multi-layered, polyrhythmic sounds
Also inuences from North Africa and the Arab World, which emphasizes more single layered sounds
Performance is like speaking ones native language Stone
In West Africa, there are families of musicians called Jeli or griots
Many performers rely on spiritual world
Musical Instruments of West Africa Rich Variety of instruments
Harp-lute (kora), lutes, zithers Rattles Plucked llamellophones Other struck instruments Drums (hourglass, goblet-shaped, conical or cylindrical) side-blown trumpets called turu Electric instruments imported
Instruments more than material objects (quasi human or spiritual), often group the instruments according to spirits
Kpelle classify instruments into those that are blown (fee) and struck (yale)
Senegal-Gambia
Region known for the tradition of the Jeli of the Mandinka people.
Jeli serve as the oral historian of the people
Play many instruments but Kora, the hybrid harp-lute, is the most distinctive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfRUH2fKUgA
Kora Music Two distinct sections
Birimintingo ourishing solo runs Kumbengo steady repeated pattern while singing praises, provides foundation and can be maintained during the birimintingo ourishes
Melodic contour of voice is descending with a declamatory vocal style that sings praises and as it eventually falls to a sustained note
Syllabic text setting with little melisma This is a song praising a famous Mandinka warrior, Kallafa.
Central Africa Central Africa: Central African Republic, Democratic
Repuglic of the Congo (Zaire), Gabon, Angola, Burundi Pygmies or Forest people live in equatorial forest in Central
Africa Largest group of hunter gatherers (about 250,000 to 600,000 living in the
Congo rainforest) Many groups: Mbenga, Bono, Mbuti/Bambuti, Twa and Cwa. Mbenga: Aka, BaAka and Gyele Egalitarian and communal Society BaAka: Singing characterized by hocketing of parts to create a melody,
yodeling, layering of ostinato patterns with others performing variations on both of the melodies. Also may include clapped and percussion parts.
Musical roles and leadership may shift http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cATZe_jlc9g Music appropriated by Herbie Hancock in the song Watermelon Man
Southern Africa
Angola, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa South African choral music called Mbube or The related form isicathamiya
Shona Mbira Music from Zimbabwe Played during ceremonies to communicate with the spirits
Thumb piano: Right and left hands play dierent complementary melodies or motives that are interlocked to create inner melodies
South Africa: Zimbabwe
Mbira of the Shona People Plucked by the thumb and forengers Mbira Dza vadzimu music has a minimum of two parts.
Lead part: Kushaura (higher range) Following part: Kutsinhira (lower range)
Interlock and overlap in polyrhythmic and polyphonic patterns
Also Hosho rattles, reinforce Kutsinhira Additional participants may also sing, solo or call and response
Mbira in Context? Used for entertainment, storytelling, and rituals
Shona spirit possession ceremony called Bira most important
Here, an ancestor is invited to appear to community through the body of spirit medium
Mbira musicians considered ritual specialists who help facilitate possession
Many are called to learn the instrument by an ancestral spirit
East Africa: Uganda
Home of the Akadinda xylophone music Large xylophone with 17-22 bars Played with three musicians on each side of xylophone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJzWOC--ixc
Features a triple interlocking technique
Concluding Thoughts This is a very small sampling of some of the unique traditions and sounds of Africa
Represent great diversity of instruments, rhythmic patterns, melodies, timbres, vocal styles, languages, rituals
And yet some musical tendencies can be discerned, what are they?
Many of these traditions evoke the integral quality of music and dance with ritual, spiritual beliefs, everyday life, community values