African music quiz 1 notes PDF

Preview

Summary

lecture notes for quiz 1 in African music...

Description

I. Introduction African musical traditions are marked by a variety that reflects the continent's ethnic, national, and regional diversities. The second largest and the second most populous continent in the world, Africa comprises over fifty countries. The diversity of its ethnic profile is reflected in the over 1000 indigenous languages that are spoken across the continent. Lying to the north of this vast continent is the Mediterranean Sea, which separates Africa from Europe. At the northeastern border sit the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. The Indian Ocean lies to the southeast, while the Atlantic Ocean forms the western border of the continent. The Sahara desert separates North Africa from the rest of the continent. North Africa is home to Arab countries such as Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco, while the area south of the Sahara (usually referred to as Sub-Saharan Africa) is inhabited by a predominantly black population living in countries such as Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, just to mention a few. The migration of people, thousands of years ago, from areas within present-day eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon to locations in the east and southern parts of the continent formed part of the basis for similarities in cultural practices, including musical styles, across different parts of Africa. In spite of commonlyshared traditions, however, cultural practices across the continent reflect significant differences, especially as facilitated by geographical conditions and historical factors. The continent is often divided into five regions: Northern, Western, Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. Mouse over the colored areas in the following graphic to see these regions. European colonization of Africa gathered significant momentum in the late 19th century and saw the vast continent divided amongst countries such as Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. Prior to this period, the African continent existed largely as a series of empires and kingdoms with sophisticated political structures ruled by powerful kings who combined political and spiritual roles. Some of the most prominent empires were as follows:      

Ghana (700-1200) Mali (1200-1500) Songhai (1350-1600) Zimbabwe (1100-1500) Benin (1300-1800) Kanem-Bornu (800-1800) In addition to these centralized political systems were stateless societies, such as the Igbo people of present-day Nigeria, which were coordinated by local chiefs and councils of elders.

I. Introduction - continued

By the early 1960s, many countries in Africa had gained their independence from European colonialist countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana led the pack, obtaining its independence from the British in 1957. Other British countries would follow suit, including Nigeria (1960), Sierra Leone (1961), Kenya (1963), and Uganda (1962). French colonies that gained independence around this time included Togo and Cameroon, both in 1960. But while their West African counterparts regained their freedom, countries within the southern region struggled much longer to achieve independence. Angola, for example, gained its independence from Portugal in 1975, some eighteen years after Ghana had done so, while Zimbabwe became independent only as recently as 1980. South Africa was finally free from a racist apartheid regime in 1994, with Nelson Mandela as the first democratically elected president. Christian-affiliated Western musical practices were introduced to the continent by colonialist countries. For example, Western musical instruments, such as the piano, organ, and trumpet, now popular amongst African musicians, were introduced by Europeans. The impact of Islam on the musical traditions of the continent is as important as that of Christianity. As Nketia (1974: 9) has observed, the advent of Islam in Africa dates as far back as 741 AD. Islam would consequently become widely embraced in many parts of the continent, beginning in the north and moving to the coastal region of the east and the savannah belt of the west. The massive increase in urbanization and the growth of industrialization, both of which followed Western colonization of the continent, facilitated an unprecedented movement of people from rural areas to major cities like Dar es Salam (in Tanzania), Nairobi (in Kenya), Lagos (in Nigeria), and Cairo (in Egypt). The growth of these modern cities has led to significant changes in the musical landscape of the continent. In spite of the emergence of national musical styles following European colonization, music traditions are still largely delineated along ethnic boundaries. Our discussion of African music will focus mainly on such indigenous traditions.

II. Music in Community Life

Music in the Sande Initiation

Music is the epicenter of cultural life in Africa. As an integral part of social and religious activities, music plays an important role in sustaining social values and in maintaining the continuous relevance of traditional institutions. Musical performances are essential to religious rituals, initiation ceremonies, rites of passage, annual festivals, and the coronation of new kings, just to name a few. The status of music within such activities often goes beyond the level of an incidental performance or an embellishment. Rather than being a mere part of a ceremony or ritual, music is the ceremony or ritual. The use of music and dance in the initiation ceremonies of the Mende people of Sierra Leone and the Vai people of Liberia, both in West Africa, illustrates the importance of music in African religious and social institutions. The traditional belief systems of the Mende and the Vai, like those of many other African ethnic groups, dictate that pubescent Mende boys and girls be taken through a process of initiation that culminates in their becoming members of gender-affiliated secret societies. Girls are initiated into the Sande female society, while boys are admitted into the Poro male society. For initiation into the Sande society, young girls camp at a specially constructed building located near the village for an extended period of time, often for months. During the period of encampment, these young girls are circumcised and taken through a process of education that prepares them for marriage, with special focus on sexuality and child rearing. The girls are also educated about the medicinal value of certain plants, and taught how to prepare herbs for various ailments.

Sande Society

Music is at the center of this extended process of initiation. It is the means through which information about the stages of the initiation is passed from the secret world of the camp to the public domain of the village. “musical performances by the ndoli jowei, a woman wearing a mask and dancing, serve as a kind of news bulletin letting the parents of the girls as well as other members of the community know which stages of the initiation have been completed by the girls inside the camp.” Ruth Phillips (1978) In performing this role, the ndoli jowei dances around the village, supported by an all-female ensemble consisting of slit drums, membrane drums and shakers.

Sande costume

Sande mask

The Sande society performer stages choreographed dances to re-enact a traditional hunting expedition. The costumes of the masquerade include wicker headpieces, raffia skirts, and podshaped rattles tied around the legs (see Discover Video). These rattles produce interesting rhythmic sounds as the performer initiates dance. The use of music in the Sande initiation ceremony is an example of how music in Africa functions to enforce societal mores, demonstrate the vitality of traditional institutions, define gender roles, and assert group solidarity.

II. Music in Community Life (continued)

Eegun Oje: A Yoruba Masquerade Performance in Nigeria The following is a description of a masquerade performance, eegun oje, which I watched in a small village called Iba, a rural agricultural village, in Western Nigeria, on July 25, 2007. The people of Iba belong to the Yoruba ethnic group, which, with a population of about thirty million, is one of the three largest ethnic groups in Nigeria. On the day of the performance, I traveled from Oshogbo, the capital city of Oshun state, and arrived at Iba, at about 6:30PM. I was struck by the sight of many villagers sitting in front of their houses in a relaxed mood, enjoying the cool breeze of the evening. I exchanged greetings with some of them and proceeded to a little mud house roofed with rusty corrugated iron sheets. All the four male dancers that would later perform eegun oje lived in the house. The drummers came from a nearby town, Ikirun. Eegun oje is a popular Yoruba song and dance display by a group of masquerades. In many parts of Africa, masquerades are regarded as representations of the spirits of ancestors. Eegun ojeis usually accompanied by bata, an ensemble of conically-shaped, double-headed membrane drums, and one of Yoruba’s most ancient instrumental ensembles. Originally context-bound in its association with Yoruba religious cults, especially that of sango(the Yoruba god of thunder and lightning), bata music is now also mediated in non-ritual contexts like those of eegun oje and jujupopular music shows. A bata ensemble consists of four drums: iyaalu (mother drum) and three supporting drums, omele abo, omele ako and kudi . Unlike omele ako and kudi, both of which play repetitive patterns, the omele abo often engages in a dialogue with the iyaalu. Iyaalu is played by a master drummer, whose text-based improvisations are accompanied by the ostinato patterns of the supporting drums. As in most Yoruba ensembles, the player of the iyaalu in this performance was the oldest member of the ensemble. The performance started when the four masquerades danced from inside the house into the open courtyard in front. As soon as they were sighted, the drummers began to play. I looked around at this point and realized that there was no other person in the vicinity of the performance, apart from me and the performers.

Oje in Iba, Oshun State, Nigeria Image courtesy of the author

The four masks comprised of three men and a young boy. Each of them was covered from head to toe, wearing colorful attire that was richly decorated with black and white stripes. They all wore a pair of hand gloves, while their faces were covered with a velvet material that had small perforations through which they could see. The leader of the masquerade started the performance with a rather showy acrobatic dance, and was soon followed by other masked dancers who took turns to do a

variety of acrobatic movements. These movements involved the use of legs, arms and the torso, and were often sharp and swift, aided by the piercing, staccato sounds of bata drums. Those who were not dancing at any given time sang in call and response format. Vocal rendition functioned rather peripherally, sounding more like an “accompaniment” to the more dominant drumming and dancing. The texts of the songs, many of which engaged in self-praise, often served to punctuate and motivate the dancers into action. Each solo dance was propelled by an intimate interaction with the master drummer. The dialogue between dancer and drummer was inter-textual in nature, because rhythmic patterns were often answered by dance movements. The dances could be described as a visual and an embodied representation of the bata drum language. The more agitated the rhythms were, the more intense the masquerades danced. About twenty minutes into the performance, the dances progressed into more spectacular acrobatic displays, consisting of running, jumping and somersaulting. Such displays are not uncommon in male dances that are associated with bata drumming.

Audience Around the Performers Image courtesy of the author

After a while, I suddenly realized that a very sizable audience had formed a ring around the performers. The audience was a mixed one, consisting of young boys and girls, elderly men and women. Eegun oje, unlike its more potent counterpart, eegun alagbo (charmed-soaked masquerade) may be watched in performance by any member of the community. Its main role is to entertain. Performances by eegun alagbo , on the other hand, may not be watched by women or children, a taboo that illustrates the ways in which Yoruba perspectives about gender and age are reflected in music and dance performances. Many members of the (participating) audience expressed their appreciation of the performance by clapping, shouting and coming into the dance arena to either dance or paste money on the masquerades. Some simply dropped their gifts on the ground within the performance arena. The pasting of money on musicians and dancers as a means of expressing satisfaction with a performance is quite common in many African societies. The performance ended at about 7:30 pm. The audience, which had now grown into a huge crowd, burst into a loud ovation as the masquerades danced back into the house, while the sounds of the drums stopped, rather reluctantly. This performance, like the ones earlier described, illustrates certain vital features of African music: the hierarchical conception of instrumental and dance ensembles, typified by the allocation of roles on the basis of age and experience; the multi-media nature of performances, as illustrated in the integrated use of music, dance and costume; the dialogical interaction between dancers and drummers; the noisy rapprochement between audience and performers; and the rather spontaneous

approach to the organization of a performance. No formal invitations were extended to the audience, and yet within a spate of about twenty minutes, a large audience had emerged. It is also interesting that this performance was exclusive to male members of the community, reflecting a general tendency for masquerade and drum performances to exclude women. One notable exception to this is of course the Sande masquerade performance earlier discussed. The fluidity of movement and the dissolution of spatial boundaries as occasioned by the regular “incursions” into the dancing arena by members of the audience also serve to illustrate the intensely interactive nature of African performances. We shall further explore the significance of some of these features later in this chapter.

Music and Dance

Nigerian dancers

Music and dance are inseparable in African performances. Although it is true that many African societies often have separate words for songs, drumming and dance, such words are often interchangeable. For example, the Yoruba people of Nigeria often use the word ijo (dance) to refer to performances that combine singing, drumming and dance. Similarly, the udje (dance-song) of the Urhobo people of Delta/Edo State of Nigeria provides a classical illustration of the indivisible nature of African music and dance.

“a unique type of Urhobo dance in which rival quarters or towns perform songs composed from often-exaggerated materials about the other side on an appointed day. Udje songs are thus dance songs sung when udje is being performed…Central to the concept of udje dance songs are the principles of correction and determent through punishment with ‘wounding’ words” Ojaire on Udje performance (2001)

It is interesting to note that Ojaire describes this traditional performance as “dance-songs.” This performance is neither dance nor music, but both. Let us now examine an example to illustrate the interrelations of music and dance.

The Wusa-Poro Performance

Wooden Slit-Drum

This performance of the members of the Poro society of the Vai people of Liberia depicts many of the typical features of African music and dance performances. The following features are highlighted by these performances:   





The use of a circular performance area in which dancers, musicians and members of a very active audience enact a multi-media performance. The use of an instrumental ensemble consisting of two wooden slit-drums and a skin drum. The role of a master musician, the kembe, who coordinates the entire ensemble through his performance on a large slit-drum. The kembe is also responsible for training the performers as well as putting together the entire performance. The kembe sends musical messages to the dancers to let them know what patterns to dance and when to change from one pattern to another. The kembe uses the slit drum instead of speech to communicate with the dancers. The acrobatic nature of these dances is typical of performances by initiates of Poro and Sande societies.

III. African Instruments

Regional Differences

Atsimevu of the Ewe ensemble

Djembe drum of the Mande people

Africa boasts of a wide variety of musical instruments and vocal styles that speaks to the complex history and diversified geographical and cultural profile of the continent. In West Africa, for example, skin drums and wooden slit drums dominate instrumental performances, in spite of the presence of stringed and wind instruments. Examples of West African skin drums include the atsimevu of the Ewe ensemble, the adowa of the Ashanti people of Ghana, the djembe of the Mande people of Mali, and the dundun of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Slit wooden drums include the kelen of the Vai people of Liberia and the ekwe of the Igbo people of Nigeria. The situation is slightly different in North Africa, an area whose cultures are strongly rooted in Islamic and Arabic civilizations. In this region, stringed and wind instruments are predominant. They are often used as solo instruments by herdsman for their own entertainment in solitary conditions.

Dundun drum of the Yoruba people

Endingidi

Stringed instruments include the imzad, usually played by Tuareg women of nobility to inspire men before a battle and to honor them on return from war.

The range of musical instruments in East Africa reflects the convergence of multiple cultural influences in the region. Influences from territories across the Indian Ocean, including Indonesia and India, began to manifest long ago. These, coupled with Arabic influences flowing from the north, are reflected in the presence of a wide range of instruments in the region. One of the characteristics of East African music that make it unique among other sub-Saharan music is this use of varied wind instruments, stringed instruments, drums, and other percussion instruments, such as gongs and xylophones. Like West Africa, East Africa is home to some of the best known xylophone ensembles on the continent. The amadinda xylophone, and its bigger sister, the akadinda xylophone of the Baganda people of Uganda, are perhaps the most popular in this category. The amadinda is usually played by two people, while the akadinda is played by six people. East African stringed instruments include the ntongooli, an eight-string bowl lyre often played by virtuosic soloists (Barz, 2004: 84), and the endingidi, a Ugandan one-string fiddle. Wind instruments include the endere, a notched flute with four holes (Barz, 2004: 78-79), and the cone-shaped esheegu flute made of "clay, wood or short lengths of bamboo." (Cooke, 1999: 234) This instrument is associated with traditional royal institutions in Uganda.

Akadinda xylophone of the Baganda people of Uganda

Endingidi

Musical instruments are also varied in Central Africa. They include various types of harps, as well as flutes, skin drums and xylophones. Kubik (2000: 266) has identified three types of xylophones among the Azande people of Central African Republic. The first one, the manza, uses banana stem resonators. The second one, the longo, uses gourd resonators; while the third one, called kponingbo, consists of at least twelve slabs or keys. Southern Africa is also noted for its use of varieties of musical instruments, although membrane drums are less prominent than they are in West Africa. The region is particularly noted for its welldeveloped vocal styles as illustrate...