African Music as Text

8/10/2019 African Music as Text

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The birth of ethnomusicology has aided the development of many concepts and

practices in areas such as fieldwork, theory and methodology in music research;

one of which is the idea of studying and analyzing music as part of a cultural

framework or in simpler terms, analyzing music as used in cultural contexts. This

idea, pioneered by Alan Merriam and enshrined in his The Anthropology of

Music,was aimed at dissuading the more musicological facet of the discipline

from their rather sonic approach to interpreting music and to encourage a more

anthropological approach to the subject. For in Merriams words music is a

product of man and has structure, but its structure cannot have an existence of

its own divorced from the behavior which produces it[for] in order to

understand why a music structure existswe must understand why and how the

behavior which produces isand why and how the concepts which underline

that behavior are ordered in such a way as to produce the particularly desired

sound.1

From examining the framework of several scholarly researches

conducted towards the understanding of music, it would seem that this

anthropological idea has taken a more prominent place in the discourse of non-

Western music than it has in Western music; for many believe Western music to

be somewhat devoid of a contextual background, hence allowing for a more

concentrated analysis which is focused on the music-proper while analysis of

non-Western music is often marred by a bias that conforms to context.2This is

1Alan Parkhurst Merriam. The Study of Ethnomusicology, The

Anthropology of Music. Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1964, p. 7.2Victor Kofi Agawu. African Music as Text, Representing African

Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions. New York: Routledge, 2003, p. 98.


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not to say that a contextual understanding of music is not important, but rather

to highlight its often predominance in non-Western music analysis.

African music typifies this class of non-western music because it is an art

form embodied in a myriad of contexts and functions. As such, it is almost

impossible (and even required) that its analysis be done hand-in-hand with

frequent reference to said context and function. Be it as it may that analysis of a

play song, for instance, cannot be complete without first considering the type of

game, gender and even the geography of the society in question, and a dirge

cannot be unraveled without bearing in mind the social status of the deceased,

gender of both deceased and performer(s) and the age of the deceased, should

this warrant a more prominent place for social/contextual analysis of African

music over other potential analytical mediums that abound therein? The

question that comes to mind is what then are some of these analytical

possibilities? And how do we access them? Why have they been avoided? Can

sound exist outside a context?

In his Representing African Music,Kofi Agawu answers some of these

questions as he speaks to the idea of functional and contemplative as applied to

African traditional music and Western art music respectively. It is interesting to

note however, that per the general definitions of functional as useful, practical,

purposeful and handy, both Western art music and African traditional music fall

under these terms, but some music scholars have always committed the latter to

a more functional realm than the former. To the functions of Western art music,

as used in musical drama, Agawu notes that in opera, for example, music for a

specific dramatic purpose may be provided by the composer to advance the


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action, but it never ceases to be music for contemplation.3Agawus argument in

this text, however, raises more queries in that, his use of contemplative music

suggests a concert hall setting, a conductor, music scores that guide performers

and inhibit improvisation to a large extent and a tier-like seating arrangement

for audience who do not participate in the ongoing music performance. This

picture is uncommon in Africa traditional music. Could he be referring to a

different approach to contemplation that does not subject African traditional

music to European listening standards and ethos? For after all, styles like

Damba-Takai, Akom, Kete and Kpanlogo of Ghana do merit contemplative

properties, but it does so outside these European confinements and more so as

accompanying music to events such as naming ceremonies, processions and

state festivities; where the historical and functional context of the form are

accorded a partial and momentary replacement with a sole appreciation and

enjoyment of the music-proper as a part of the event or event music, if you may.

Therefore, approaching African music with this idea of contemplation

affords the listener the opportunity to analyze the music from other perspectives

such as language and musical analysis, for the point of departure for any serious

study of African music ought to be its linguistic dimension.4It stands to reason

then, that language presents the listener the chance to understand the

composers intent and to properly breakdown and assimilate deeper poetic

nuances as well as the many proverbial affiliations employed in transferring

privileged data and conveying hidden meanings in songs. To this idea Merriam

writes not only are music and language interrelated in the formation of song

3Victor Kofi Agawu. Op. Cit. p. 104.4Ibid. p. 108.


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texts, but alsothe language of texts tend to take special forms.5The poetic and

proverbial nature of African languages is therefore a source for contemplative

materialnot forgetting the tonal quality of African languages and their impact

on speech meanings and in an extension its determination of pitches as

employed in songs.

By approaching African traditional music in this light, we realize that it

doesnt just serve a function or aid one, however, it has the potential to stand on

its own as an art form deserving of appreciation and analysisan appreciation

not subjected to anthropological biases or the tussle of its function in culture, but

to its qualities guided by text and musical units such as rhythm, pitch and

harmony.

5Alan Parkhurst Merriam. The Study of Song Texts, The

Anthropology of Music. Illinois: Northwestern University, 1964, p. 190.


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Thoughts on Analyzing African Music: Functional, Contemplative and linguistic

examinations.

Samuel Boateng

Seminar In Ethnomusicology: African Music

Kent State University

Dr. Kazadi wa Mukuna

October 16, 2014

Paper 5


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agawu, Victor Kofi. African Music as Text, Representing African Music:

Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions. New York: Routledge, 2003, pp.97-116.

Merriam, Parkhurst Alan. The Study of Song Texts, The Anthropology of Music.

Illinois: Northwestern University, 1964, pp. 187-208.

_______________.The Study of Ethnomusicology, The Anthropology of Music.Illinois: Northwestern University, 1964, pp. 3-16.

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African Music as Text