Excursions 8: Africa 1 Excursions Instructor s Manual Chapter 8: Sub-Saharan Africa (Thomas Turino) Sub-Saharan Africa: Great cultural diversity o Over 800 ethnolinguistic groups o 386 languages in Nigeria alone Turino takes a culture-by-culture approach, covering several major groups Lots of extended communities and kingdoms cross national boundaries o Current political boundaries do not correspond to language or kinship areas o Not many national musical traditions Chapter/lecture structure o Highlights some Pan-African commonalities o Show how these musical factors play out in individual examples o These factors return in later chapters: African-influenced music in North America, the Caribbean, and Latin America (Diaspora) General Principles of African Music Musical features that organize a great deal of music-making in Sub-Saharan Africa o Can be heard in many (but certainly not all) examples o Make it possible to speak of Sub-Saharan African music and aesthetics in overarching terms with some level of accuracy or generality o Later, Turino examines the connections between the sounds of various styles, presence of these features, and social context Rhythmic complexity o Polyrhythm: two superimposed rhythmic patterns o One cycle (of two or three) takes the same amount of time o Listeners can hear the music in different ways depending on what they listen to Listen to different parts of the pattern Impression of slow change within pattern of 12 beats Interlock: the practice of fitting one part into the spaces left out by other parts, or alternating the pitches or phrases of one part with those of others to create the whole o Playing between the other instrument s part o (Think of rapid hand clapping patterns in Flamenco music for ex.) o Africa: melodic and rhythmic parts Hocket: Interlocking pitches between two or more sound sources to create a single melody or part Dense overlapping texture o Filling up the texture by having different instruments play on complementary beats o Often creates polyphonic texture Buzzing timbre (p. 277)
Excursions 8: Africa 2 o The musicians explained that without the buzzing of the bottle caps, they would not sound like mbira. Descending melodic lines o High to low Call and response Cyclical, open-ended form o Western music: treatment of dissonance and consonance: certain sounds seem unfinished Example: Haydn: Symphony #94 o Lots of Af. Music: Ostinato: short melodic or rhythmic motives that repeat over and over again o Becomes the basis for musical compositions o Platform for improvisation Improvisation o In-time invention of new melodies within certain rules or parameters Community participation (some but not all traditions feature this) o Cyclical organization allows non-specialists to participate Core and elaboration parts o Core: basic parts that must be there, change little (midrange and bass mbira parts, hosho played by older, well-respected musicians) o Elaboration: no less important, but can change, enter, exit throughout a performance (high range mbira parts, bass variations, vocal lines, clapping patterns, dancing) Conceptions of Music o Tend to be very different from what North American listeners might be used to o Aggregate of musical resources that can be combined in ever-changing ways Harmonic, temporal, melodic character of the ostinato Stock variations and motifs Sung melodies, lines of text o Individual pieces are recognizable But the characteristics can change each time and place of performance o Process-oriented conception of music, rather than one based on the idea that a piece is an abstract, isolated, reproducible sound object or thing in itself Reflected in the terms describing the two interlocking mbira parts in Shona music Kushaura: lit. trans. to lead the piece Kutsinhira: lit. trans. to accompany o Music is an interactive process, an art of creative listening and playing Shona Bira Deceased ancestors are believed to continue interacting with the living o Part of a broader reverence for family and elders (living and deceased) Sometimes misfortune explained as resulting from offending ancestors
Excursions 8: Africa 3 Bira: all-night ceremony Held by a family or community to contact, interact with ancestors through spirit possession Maintain good relations Sometimes to resolve problems Other times to seek advice or just keep in touch o Ancestors possess the bodies of their living descendents and speak with the family o Music used as a means to encourage possession and call ancestors o Music Two mbiras 22-keyed lamellaphone Played with thumb of L.H. and thumb and index finger of R.H. Bottle caps affixed to metal plates for buzzing timbre Placed inside gourd for resonance Hosho: photo in text Singing Clapping Ululations o Dance o Offerings of ceremonial beer and food for ancestors When mediums signal that possession is coming on, intensity and broad participation increases Nhemamusasa: Cutting branches for a shelter Play recording with listening guide o Ask students to identify core parameters Interlock: Piece isn t complete w/o two interlocking mbiras (melody) Buzzing timbre (bottle caps against metal plate) o Musician named Ephat Mujuru to Paul Berliner: He said that when he played the mbira the buzzing from his instrument produced tensions and created a sense of drama for him, as he thought deeply of his ancestors and their images crystallized before him (Berliner 1993 [1978]:39) Descending melodic lines Dense, overlapping texture Core/elaboration parts o Core: hosho, midrange and bass melodies on mbira o Elaboration: clapped patterns, vocal lines, high mbira melodies, bass variations, dancing Cyclical form/ostinato Improv o Subtle or gradual change shifts emphasis within a piece Musicians can listen to the same dense ostinato over and over, and hear different melodies throughout Changes to the ostinato are gradual
Excursions 8: Africa 4 Moving on from a variation too quickly or changing the pattern too drastically can be considered poor musicianship Africa General and Africa Specific Discussion of general principles risks oversimplifying the diversity of African music, painting with too broad a brush o Complex, centralized, hierarchical states have existed side-by-side with small-scale societies from early times o Diversity of Political systems Economic systems Family networks and relationships Social structures o Small-scale, tribal societies of hunter-gatherers are a small minority o Most societies rely on agriculture and animal husbandry To counter threat of oversimplification, Turino offers insight into various societies and their musical traditions Central African Forest Peoples Gabon, Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi Double life o Nomadic hunters on their own o Participate in Bantu rituals on visits to village Communal sharing of work, daily tasks reflects in music o Net-hunting: Men hold nets Women and children beat the brush to scare game into nets Share the game o Little specialization within age and gender groups o No formalized hierarchy o Survival depends on cooperation rather than competition Travel: lots of instruments are made out of the materials immediately surrounding o Whistles and end-blown flutes from cane o Rhythm sticks, rattles, trumpet-like instruments (molimo trumpet), musical bow o They may borrow drums and lamellaphones from Bantu neighbors Vocal music is at the core of Pygmy musical life o Music is non-specialized o Communal singing for ceremonies is considered most important o Certain contexts call for gender separation Men are primary singers for molimo ceremony (maintain relationship with forest) Women are primary for elima, a puberty ceremony Men and women sing together before hunt General musical practices
Excursions 8: Africa 5 o Anyone within group who wants to participate is welcome to do so o Ostinato o Interlock o Call and response (leader and chorus) o Hocket (two voices make up one melody) (kind of interlock) All of this creates a dense, overlapping texture Spirituality Forest provides life: forest is a living and benevolent deity o No single, named god o Forest and world are basically good o Misfortune results when the forest/deity falls asleep o Sing to the forest (in nightly molimo ceremony) to wake it up May last several months o Song texts are minimal: ex. The forest is good Music: not a means to communication with the spiritual realm It is communication with spiritual realm Example: Elima Girls Initiation Music Same melody repeated over and over Variations add to dense, layered sound Polyphony Voices move in and out of texture (mirroring communal lifestyle) Mande of West Africa Mande o Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast Several sub groups o All lead back to the 13th c. Mali empire Mande society features social hierarchy and professional specialization Two major social groups o Sula: ordinary people Farmers Merchants People in urban occupations Aristocrats o Nyamalo: people with specialized crafts Metalsmiths Wood and leather workers Musicians Jali (pl. jalolu): term for professional musician Hereditary position Service providers to kings and general population Low-status profession o Paradoxically, viewed as very powerful, based on command of specialized knowledge
Excursions 8: Africa 6 o Singers (primarily women) could offer praise or criticism for leaders o Seen primarily as working with words o Relate history through song Today, the social castes (sula and nyamalo) not as strictly observed o Jali still maintains important roles: Oral historian Musician Praise singer Genealogist Announcer for aristocracy Diplomat o Still play at Weddings Child-naming ceremonies Religious holidays Affairs of state o May specialize in one of several instruments Balo: xylophone Kontingo: five-string plucked lute (like a banjo) Kora Kora o 21 strings o 3+ octave range o Photo in text o Gourd, cowhide, strings o Two rows of strings, played with thumbs and forefingers o Scale spread out btw two sides o Bottlecaps on bridge for buzzing timbre Example Two playing techniques o Ostinato: kumbengo o More elaborate, improv interlude: birmintango Two vocal sections o Basic vocal melody: donkilo o Improv, declamatory style: sataro Points of comparison/contrast to other societies Specialization in music rather than general participation Hereditary professionals within a hierarchical society More dramatic departures from basic ostinato pattern Similarity: piece is a set of resources arranged in a specific way for each performance
Excursions 8: Africa 7 The Ewe of Ghana (Dance-Drumming) Section focuses on Anlo-Ewe Society has a great deal of hierarchy o Chief o Town and territorial chiefs o Clan leaders o Lineage leaders o Ward leaders (village subdivision) Musical practices shaped by social hierarchy and social ID (age, gender, lineage) Voluntary dance clubs: main organizations through which trad s are performed o Hierarchy: chairperson, secretary, dance leader, leaders of drummers and singers, etc o Club organization can be seen as reflecting social hierarchy Musical performance reserved for special events: not every day Clubs serve as support structures for members during times of crisis Clubs play at funerals o Like Shona, Anlo-Ewe ancestors intervene in the world of the living o Honorable funerals are extremely important to guide transition to death o Dance club performances at funerals are extremely prestigious Dance Clubs/Musicians Between Pygmies and Mande on specialization/professionalism scale o Groups rehearse together o Learning is rigorous o Most performances are paid o But most musicians have other primary employment Performance Gankogui: double bell (repeated ostinato over a 12-pulse cycle) o Provides point of reference for other instruments o Core instrument in core-periphery organization Axatse: gourd shaker (similar role) Different sized drums o Large: lead, draw on improvised and established patterns o Mid-sized: chorus: limited set of patterns, call and resp with lead o Smallest: ostinato, which interlocks with the bell and the rattle to form the ground o Dance steps are an important part of the polyrhythmic fabric o Singing expressed unique identity of club Interlock: If any one part changes, the whole texture is seen as different The Buganda Kingdom Formerly the most powerful independent kingdom in the Lake Victoria region in East Africa o Bantu-speaking people: Baganda o Good agricultural conditions
Excursions 8: Africa 8 Bananas: staple crop Kabaka: king o Centralized power o Made all appointments (local chiefs and their subsidiaries) o Primary allegiance for everyone was to kabaka himself Court was center of musical activity o Several ensembles played at court Musicians lived as retainers on land granted by the king o Akadinda: xylophone 22 large keys Played by six musicians at once Extensive interlock o Entenga Most important ensemble Twelve drums Diff sizes and precise tunings Played melodies on the local pentatonic scale Performance limited to royal enclosure Central emblems of the kabakaship Hist of Buganda kingdom underscores the importance of the entenga o Colonial period: British left structure in place Helped ease transition, allowed them to rule indirectly o After independence (1962), newly formed state felt the need to consolidate authority and dethrone kabaka Troops stormed the palace, exiled kabaka, burned drums in powerful symbolic gesture Examples of Baganda can be found on Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries Professional to non-professional Mande and Baganda extremely professionalized musicians Ewe semi-professional musicians Pygmies non-professional musicians o Music is part of socialization A Sampling of Instruments Percussion Instruments Huge variety of idiophones o Lamellaphones (many varieties) o Rattles, bells, cymbals, rhythm sticks, scrapers o Old and new materials (gourds, soda bottles, etc.) Provide pitch and timbral contrast with other instruments Drums and Drum Languages Great variety of drums, many with huge importance
Excursions 8: Africa 9 o Political power tied to drums in many societies o Spiritual power as well For the Yoruba, specific drumming patterns beckon the orisas (deities) to possess spirit mediums Pitch of drums is extremely important o Some ensembles feature sets of fixed-pitched drums o Other traditions have drums with variable pitches Tension drums Squeeze lacing supporting the drum head to increase tension, raise pitch Drums that imitate speech o Many Niger-Congo languages (incl. Bantu languages) are tonal o Drums articulate verbal formulas by imitating rhythm and inflection of speech o Listening example demonstrates this Wind Instruments Trumpets (often side-blown) Flutes (side-blown and vertical) Panpipes o Usually played collectively, in interlocking fashion Stringed Instruments North American banjo ws modeled on West African lutes Harps and fiddles Musical bows o Often amplified with gourd attached to the stick or mouth cavity of player o Strings are plucked or struck with a stick Guitar: local and cosmopolitan acoustic and electric traditions all over Africa Popular Music in the 20th Century Has become extremely important in Africa and abroad Combination of local and foreign influences o European, North American, Latin American instruments, practices, aesthetics Syncretism: The combination of multiple cultural practices, culminating in the creation of new cultural practices In this case, aesthetic principles persist and musicians adapt African priorities to new instruments and musical frameworks You will hear the common features of African music that we learned last class in much of today s music Factors influencing how syncretism played out in Sub-Saharan Africa Colonialism o European powers take over areas through military conquest
Excursions 8: Africa 10 Together with force, used educational system and legislation to teach Africans to view European civilization as superior to their own, and to accept subservient position Small African middle class emerges: working for white colonial authorities in low-level positions Understood European education as the means to advancement Internalized colonial values and aesthetics, music and dance o Colonial authorities and missionaries taught European instruments and musical systems Military and community bands (esp. in British colonies) Church, mission, school choirs Different aesthetics, values, practices o Euro. Diatonic melodies and chordal harmonies o Clear, precise phrasing instead of dense, overlapping texture o Written scores instead of oral transmission o Musicians with experience in several styles start fusing elements to create new styles Mass-production of instruments o Working classes have small amount of disposable income o Buy instruments in cities and larger towns Guitar Harmonica Concertina Accordion Autoharp Banjo Mass-media o 1920s and 30s, recording, film, and radio take off Becomes possible for people across the world hear styles from other parts of the world Primarily, but not always, emanating out from centers of power o Dissemination of recordings in Africa: 1930s and 40s Cuban son Trinidadian calypso North American jazz,, country, later rock and roll, soul, rap Country and western performers like Jimmy Rodgers and Tex Ritter were extremely popular in Africa o 1950s: local, original acoustic guitar styles had emerged all over Africa African nationalism: search for new, politically relevant kinds of music during post-wwii and mid-century independence movements World Beat phenomenon of 1980s and 90s West Africa Highlife
Excursions 8: Africa 11 Developed on the coast of Ghana o Port cities become centers of commerce, sites of international musical influence o Training of African musicians in brass-band music since 18th century By the 1920s, brass bands playing Euro genres (waltz, fox-trot, etc.) at highsociety events o Musicians incorporate local Akan melodies and rhythms into repertoire o Genre called highlife Roots are somewhat obscure After WWII becomes a major force o E. T. Mensah: one of the pioneers (recordings available on itunes) o Swing, samba, son, calypso were huge worldwide o Artists incorporate these styles in writing arrangements of local rep Caribbean music North American swing W. Af. traditional genres o Instruments include Electric guitar Trumpet Trombone Saxophone String bass Cuban-style percussion Palm-Wine Guitar-band version of highlife Played for working class audiences (whereas highlife was consumed largely by more affluent audiences) Combined aesthetics and practices from big-band highlife with music learned from West Indian sailors o West Indian music, which in turn drew on African influences, came back around to influence new styles of African music Jùjú Draws on palm-wine Created by the Yoruba of Nigeria o 1930s: Small ensembles with guitar-banjo, tambourine, and sèkèrè o After WWII, amplified vocals and guitars enables the creation of larger ensembles, more complex arrangements (esp. percussion) o Addition of various instruments Talking drum Agogo Bongos Congas Maracas Clave (latter 4 from Cuba)
Excursions 8: Africa 12 Style continues to change up to the present o Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade Add pedal steel, synthesizer, electric bass, Uses interlocking ostinatos, call and response, and other common features Congolese Rumba More profound impact on popular music throughout Africa than any other style Blends local likembe (lamellaphone) dance music with Afro-Cuban music (esp. son, which often traveled internationally under the name, rumba : see Chapter 10) Caribbean genres were popular in many places around the world where recordings were available o Rumba crazes throughout 20th c. o In French and Belgian Congo (Present day Rep. of Congo, Dem. Rep. of Congo, etc.) Artists emulate Cuban soneros Inst s, repertoire, even language o Pieces organized around one or two guitar ostinatos High, sweet singing style Performances usually include Long guitar solos Sparse horn entrances Danceable rhythm in duple meter Cuban Percussion o Franco and O.K. Jazz o Docteur Nico o Kanda Bongo Man (all available on itunes) This music becomes hugely popular throughout Africa and beyond South Africa Popular music sounds very different from other areas Local Nguni traditional styles are different from the rest of Africa o Predominantly choral-vocal o Slower tempos o No polyrhythmic accompaniment Christian missionization (which started earlier than other areas) had a strong impact o Choral tradition North American popular music also important Isicathamiya Blends Christian and Zulu choral traditions Developed by migrant workers from rural areas, forced to look for work in mines and cities Vocal/dance troupes form
Excursions 8: Africa 13 o Competitions became an important social outlet Ladysmith Black Mambazo: contemporary example Mbube by Solomon Linda, popularized internationally in versions by Pete Seeger and the Tokens North American popular music also important Urban popular styles influenced by American music Several American styles were popular o Early on: minstrel shows, ragtime, jazz o Later on: soul, rock, hip-hop Mbaq anga o Emerges in the 1960s and 70s o Straight-ahead 4/4 beat o Vocals Female chorus Male soloist ( growler ) o Instruments Electric guitars, trap drums, electric bass, accordion, violins, pennywhistle, saxophone Zimbabwe Long history of engagement with syncretic popular music o 1940s: itinerate musicians adapt traditional Shona music for guitar o 1950s: Congolese rumba or soukous became popular o 1960s: rock bands start incorporating Shona music into their repertoire o 1970s: Electric band renditions of Shona music become extremely important o Heightened African nationalism o Violent war of independence o Thomas Mapfumo chimurenga ( revolutionary struggle ) o Guitars and bass guitars play mbira ostinatos o Later he adds actual mbiras o Keyboard might play kutsinhira part o Highhat plays pattern similar to hosho ostinato o Hand-clapping patterns and actual hosho o Trad. village singing style yodel and low-pitched Trad lyrics and own compositions o Play example Summary recaps major points about commonalities, social structure s relation to music, and development of popular styles in the 20th c. Additional Resources Videos: o Mbira Music: The Spirit of Zimbabwe o Listening to the Silence: African Cross Rhythms o Rhythm of Resistance o Amandla
Excursions 8: Africa 14 Note: The Spirit of Zimbabwe video has an excellent video of Oliver Mtukudzi performing in another Zimbabwean popular style called jit. I believe the clip is about 45 minutes in.