Part 3: Regional Case Studies

1. Part 3: Regional Case Studies

2. West Africa

3. West Africa: An Introduction

4. Savannah region • Savannah groups in contact with each other through empires • Musico-cultural similarities throughout the Savannah regions • Some influence from North Africa, Islam

5. Savannah regions – other general traits • Social organization involved professional class of musicians (i.e., griot, dyeli, jali) • All classes of instruments, though some areas have primarily membranophone instruments • Contexts include: • Ceremonial music • Praise singing • Religious rites

6. Far more differentiation, less homogeneity in forest belt • Secret societies important • Percussive instruments with complex rhythms predominant musical trait • Elaborate traditions of court music and masquerade

7. Yoruba Popular Music

8. The Yoruba • Live in Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Togo • Lagos center of Yoruba popular culture • Yoruba is a tonal language

9. Yoruba Popular Musical Identity • The dùndún (talking drum) a symbol of pan-Yoruba identity • Mixture of global and local • Instruments & ensembles organized with lead (“mother”) and accompaniment, hierarchy • Instruments “speak”, like language • “Spraying” provides most income for popular musicians

10. Muslim genres • Wákà • Spiritual inspiration, female performers • Unaccompanied, hand-clapping • Sákárà • Instrument, genre, and dance style • Solemn, social dancing and praising • Àpàlà • Lyrics are essentially praise songs • Social dance drumming style

11. Yoruba Highlife • Ghanaian highlife bands performed in Lagos, spread popularity • 3-5 winds, string bass, guitar, bongos, maracas, conga • Bobby Benson’s Jam Session Orchestra • Worked in England • First electric guitar in Nigeria • 1950s was Golden Age

12. Jùjú • Emerged in early 1930s • Named for tambourine (jùjú) • Built on palm wine guitar music • Rhythm from dance drumming style • Trio (singer + banjo, tambourine, gourd rattle)

13. Jùjú – Early styles • High tessitura, nasal style • Metaphorical lyrics • Tunde King • 1940s changes included: • Amplification • Expanded instruments, conga-type drums • Slower tempos

14. King Sunny Adé • The Green Spot Band, 1966 • Style modeled after Tunde Nightingale • Patron was Chief Bolarinwa Abioro • Known for skilled guitar playing • After 1972 split from Abioro, formed “African Beats” band • Became a major international star

15. Afro-Beat • Began in late ‘60s as mixture of highlife, jazz, and soul • Basic style is 3 layers: • Interlocking electric-bass and bass drum • Rhythm guitar, congas, snare back beat • Percussion sticks and gourd rattle, horn sections supports singer

16. Fela Anikulapo Kuto, 1938 - • Studied trumpet in London • Played with Bobby Benson • Late 1960s influence of soul (from Geraldo Pino) • Travel to US in 1969 led to more activism • Run-ins with military, song lyrics political • Mother killed by military • Slogan was “Music is a Weapon”

17. Fújì • Grew out of Muslim Ramadan tradition • Features drums • Syncretic style (highlife, American pop, Muslim recitations, Christian hymns, jùjú)

18. "The Tradition" and Identity in a Diversifying Context

19. Ivory Coast

20. Ge (genu=plural) • An institution that serves as base of Dan religious, social, and political life • Provides a sense of ethnic identity • Involves performance of forest spirits, sometimes as masked dancers

21. Dan religion and Islam • Many residents of Petit Gbapleu are Muslim, do not believe in worship of two Gods • But many still practice Dan, blend the two (syncretic practice)

22. PDCI Party for the Hairdressers • PDCI was leading political party at the time • Held a party for hairdressers, as political move • Ge masked dancer performed, along with master drummer • Ge and drummer incorporated popular music elements, also non-local traditional elements

23. Creolization • Karin Barber, Christopher Waterman Creolization is what happens when “local selectively ‘appropriate’ elements from metropolitan cultures in order to ‘construct’ their own hybrid medium in which to articulate their own, historically and socially specific, experience.”

24. Creolization Advantages of this theory: • People seen as active cultural producers • Something qualitatively new, not just dilution or corruption of “authentic” forms • Function & significance determined by specific new context

25. North Africa

26. North Africa • Population consists of Arabs, Berbers, Gnawa • Historic conquest by Romans, Scandinavian tribes, Christian Byzantines, & Muslims • Cultural area includes Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, parts of Mali and Niger

27. Arab-Andalusian Tradition • Influence from Spain to Africa • Original repertoire was nuba (suite of songs) • Modal • Oral-poetic

28. Music and Islam • Call to prayers, Koranic chant not considered music • Religious songs during Ramadan • Sufi chants • Curing ceremonies

29. Music in folk life • Annual, calendric celebrations • Life-cycle events • Professional musicians (griots) • Sung poetry • Instrumental music rare • Many forms of dance (even with camels)

30. Popular music • Genres • Tahardent • Rai • azri • Arab-Andalusian • Arabi • Hawzi • Sha’bi • zendani

31. Tuareg Music

32. Tuareg • Tuareg society consists of 8 large units or confederations • Culturally diverse • Nomadic tribes

33. Music • Mostly vocal, but various drums & flutes • Primary instruments are anzad, tende, and tahardent • Prominent position in everyday life • Verbal genres highly esteemed • Dance includes camel dances

34. Anzad • One-string lute-like instrument • Played only by women • Heroism, courage, love are subject matters • Solo instrument or vocal accompaniment • Many regional variations • Takes years to master

35. Tende • Mortar drum • Central to camel festivals & curing ceremonies • Not as much status

36. Tahardent • 3-stringed lute • Compositional formulas • Urban genre for entertainment

37. From Village to Vinyl: Genealogies of New Kabyle Song

38. A vava inouva • Algerian song by Idir, text by Ben Mohamed • Important for Kabyle Berbers • Based on traditional song • “internal gaze”

39. Authenticity vs. modernity “Authenticity came from the Kabyles, modernity could only come from the State.”

40. Internal Gaze • Internal Gaze is accomplished by….. • Stylization • Folkloric time • Process of story-telling put on display

41. Transmission • Played in France, towards French audiences • Translated to many languages • Tapes & cassettes in Algeria Transmission of the song made Berber culture desirable

42. East Africa

43. East Africa – An Introduction • Nomadic, semi-nomadic and settled groups • Indonesian influences • Arabic & Islamic influences • European influences

44. Music of Tanzania

45. Tanzania • Least urbanized African country • Mainly Bantu-speaking people • Swahili spoken w/English

46. Music in Tanzania • 8 stylistic areas • Membranophones include royal drum sets • Untuned & tuned idiophones • Range of chordophones and aerophones

47. Forms (neotraditional) • Beni ng’oma • Taraab • National training centers • Jazz

48. Music and the Construction of Identity Among the Abayudaya (Jewish People) of Uganda

49. Abayudaya Jews • Converted to Judaism in 1920s, interruption by Idi Amin, revival in 1980s • Only about 750 people in Eastern Uganda • Primarily 5 Bantu ethnic/language groups

50. Boundaries • Boundary-leveling strategies for… • Local ethnic groups • North American Jewry • Boundary-maintaining strategies for… • Christian and Muslim neighbors