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