Section Five:
African Music
Population over 800
million (2000 estimate);
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extremely diversified
languages & cultures;
Continuously changing
for thousands of years.
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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
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2
North Africa
& the Sahara
Desert
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Much Muslim and
Arabic influence
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The
Savannah
Region
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Mostly indigenous
culture, with some
Arabic influence;
much sharing of
culture between
peoples
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The Rain
Forest Region
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Less influenced
by outsiders;
Musically diverse
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The Congo
Basin
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Stylistically
simplified
compared to other
large regoins
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East and
South Africa
Cattle area; simpler
music; drums less
important, much
use of xylophones,
harps, lyres
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Madagascar
SE Asian
influence; also
French and Indian
influence
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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, gourdresonated xylophones
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Much Research Has Been New
Since the 1930s, an increase of
studies, especially interlocking
drumming patterns
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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)
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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.
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Dances Typically in Groups and in
Circles or Lines
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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.
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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.
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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 storytelling.
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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.
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Example: Ake
(Nigerian Work Song)
Instruments/Voices
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Function/Importance within Culture
Musical Characteristics
(Form, melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.)
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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.
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Idiophones
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Xylophones
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Harps
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Ghana
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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.
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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”
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Learning and Performing Agbekor
Requires 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.
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Agbekor: basic drumming patterns
The first pattern is played by the double bell:
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It is ubiquitous to nearly all of Africa.
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Agbekor: drumming patterns (cont.)
The next pattern to feel is the rattle & handclap pattern.
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What division of the meter are we stressing?
Is it what you thought we would be playing?
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Agbekor
full
background
pattern
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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
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The actual event
Adzo, 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.
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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.
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Agbekor Instruments
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Axatse
Gankogui
Kaganu
Kidi
Sogo
Atsimevu
Source: www.dancedrummer.com
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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
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Mande People of Mali
Lambango (CD 1:13) Mariatu Kuyateh,
Kekuta Suso (kora), and Seni Jobateh
Griots (Jalolu) = professional musicians
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who transmit oral history (of Mande people)
through song.
Kora = indigenous African “spiked-bridge”
harp
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Kora
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Dagbamba of Ghana
Lunsi = hereditary clan of drummers;
serve as verbal artist, counselor, cultural
expert, etc.
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Gung-gong & lunga drums (specific
names for double-headed drums)
“Nag Biegu” (CD 1:14)
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Shona of Zimbabwe
Mbira = “thumb piano”
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Mbira is often placed inside a
Deze (gourd resonator)
“Nhemamusasa” (CD 1:15)
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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?
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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.
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VERY popular drum world-wide
Mamady Keita
http://www.radioceros.com/ondemandvideo/mamadyk
eita/mamadykeita.htm
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Juju Music
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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.
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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?
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