Chapter 10 The river and the path conversation and collective expression in West African musics Bakan Michael B World Music Traditions and Transformations Boston MA McGraw Hill MUH 2051 Exam 2 2012 Print African Music Can be described as rhythmic call and response drum tradition 1 Participatory Music everyone has their own role to play 2 Oral Tradition no written records exist the tradition is passed on through the 3 Focus on Group Over the Individual every sound has an equal role in the word of mouth fluid music 4 Dance the organized movement of the body to the music 5 Polyrhythm a Timeline Patterns Northern Africa higher registers due to influence of Islam Southern Africa lower registers and harmonies Geography and Cultural Zones 1 The Pan Arabic empire is located in Northern Africa 2 The Sahle is located in the Sahara desert regions and gets less than 14 inches of rain a year 3 The sub Saharan part of Africa encompasses anything south of the Sahara desert Linguistic Divisions and Ethnic Groups 1 Sudanese found in Northern Africa has a language with a structure relation 2 Bantu Found in Southern Africa has a language with a meaning relation or or syntax semantics Cultural Groups Linguistics history ecology and lifestyle of races determine musical style The cultural groups differ too The mains ones are 1 Sudanese Northern Africa 2 Bantu Southern Africa 3 Nilotics Eastern Africa along the Nile river 4 Pgmies Central Africa Territory they use nets to catch animals and have subsistence lifestyles patterns in which their society is based on hunting and gathering 5 Bushmen Kalahan Desert they also have subsistence lifestyles patterns in which their society is based on hunting and gathering Anthony visited the Kalaharis Bushmen and tried to assimilate and understand their culture The Bushmen had been living there for 13 000 years or more in family groups The ability to bring meats was equivalent to ones worth in the tribe Anthony Bordane Documentary MUH 2051 Exam 2 Imperialism and Colonism The Bushmen only sleep inside their huts when it is raining outside This documentary was an example of ethnomusicology and how you need to be open and not be ethnocentric King Leopold of Belgium born in 1835 died in 1909 has his eye on Central Africa He sent Henry Morton Stanley to Africa in 1872 to explore Henry reported back to Leopold in 1874 of what was going on in Africa o The Berlin Conference took place in 1884 and 1885 The Europeans met to divide up territory in Africa and did not include the Africans in this meeting Their intentions objectives of imperializing Africa were to Nelson Mendella Vocal Traditions 1 Bring civilization to Africa 2 End the slave trade 3 Tame the territory modernize it There were other intentions as well such as economics The rubber trees there were great for the booming car manufacturing industry There as an ideology conflict for the Africans during this time Christianity versus Islam versus indigenous beliefs There was an apartheid between 1948 1994 in which South Africa was segregated base on race An activist against the apartheid he was imprisoned for 27 years eventually elected the president of South Africa 1 2 Iscathamiya music that is performed by a male choir and grew out of the apartheid sentiment Completely vocal because instruments were hard to obtain It is the result of the interaction of African singers and religious church choirs Ingoma a dance that accompanies Iscathamiya music and was outlawed due to its controversial stomping of the feet 3 Mbube a choir of all males that perform the Iscathamiya music This filled the void of the lack of dance and instruments It was not considered too daring 4 Mbube Competitions a way to raise awareness and perform the music Ladysmith Black Mambazo Beliefs An important Mbube performance group Paul Simon collaborated with them and helped raise awareness about the apartheid in South Africa through their performance Performed the song Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes with Paul Simon which involved harmonies and call and response Example of Call and Response Music 1 Community is a social focus Music reflects community Community is the ensemble There are assigned rhythms and assigned tasks There is complexity in the relationships of the rhythms 2 Community includes the living and ancestors MUH 2051 Exam 2 I am because we are Africanisms Continuity of the past into the future 3 Animism is prevalent The belief that everything has a soul and a spirit even inanimate objects Respecting and worshipping nature 4 Music is a part of life Rhythm is a part of everyday life Ex Stamping and packing in the post office has a specific rhythm This phrase exemplifies the music and culture in Africa as one being tied strongly to community Everyone is on an equal playing field and no one is higher up than the other This reflects the social hierarchy of egalitarianism There is no one sound that is the main focus Identifiable musicultural characteristics that are widely shared across sub Saharan Africa and are prominent in musics of the African diaspora as well The following are the 6 most salient ones 1 Complex Polyphony Textures 2 Layered Ostinatos with Varied Repetition 3 Conversational Element 4 5 Timbral Variety 6 Distinctive Pitch Systems and Scales Improvisation Textures featuring multiple layers of instruments voices are common in sub Saharan Africa This incorporates complex rhythms Example CD 4 Track 4 polyrhythmic vocal example of many voices singing at once The Fontomfrom music and all of the other music explored in this chapter exemplify this feature A standard device used for creating polyphony in sub Saharan African music is the layering of multiple short recurring patterns ostinatos one on top of another The pattern stays the same no matter what instrument plays it It is common that the ostinato patterns tend to occur in varied forms rather than in the same form every time varied repetition Example of an ostinato the main African instrument a bell is a reference point in music and emits a distinct sound timbre that makes it easy to pick out amongst many instruments Conversational character can involve literary figurative or metaphorical elements Can involve call and response or can incorporate many voices all speaking at once Dance is a dialogue of sound and movement and is frequently defined by a conversational character Complex Polyphony Textures Layered Ostinatos with Varied Repetition Conversational Element Distinctive
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