Chapter 6: Introduction to the Region

2. Chapter 6: Introduction to the Region • Many Africans reckon the bonds of family not only laterally, that is, as a relationship between siblings, cousins, and so on, but linearly back in time, sometimes far back • Thus an entire village may trace their genealogy back to a common ancestor. • In some cultures it is the job of a professional caste of musicians to memorize these genealogies and recite them in song. • Many Africans consider each musical instrument to have a spirit of its own that musicians must respect.

3. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music Polyrhythm • the most distinctive of traditional African musical characteristics • different meters or metrical starting points going on at once

4. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • Polyrhythm • Referring to rhythms that occur simultaneously in two different meters, or with different starting points • polyrhythm is found only occasionally elsewhere in the world • Polyrhythm can be very difficult and, in traditional African music, extremely complex. • Responsorial Forms • These forms feature an exchange between a single performer’s vocal or instrumental call and a group response. • Often simply called call-and-response, this practice is very common in African music, sometimes in very subtle ways.

5. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • Ostinato • A short pattern that repeats over and over • ostinato most often refers to a repeating melody, but can also refer to a repeating rhythm. • In Africa, ostinatos often form foundations for improvisation, variation, or the addition of other patterns. • Use of Percussion • This characteristic reflects the Sub-Saharan emphasis on making music with drums, rattles, bells, xylophones, and mbiras. • Some orchestras include only percussion instruments, and non-percussion instruments are sometimes played in a percussive manner • such instruments as harps, lyres, horns, and flutes are equally important in many areas.

6. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • Background Shimmer • African musicians often attach beads, coins, or other small objects to their instruments to create a constant buzzing or rattling sound in the background of a performance. • Close Connection between Music and Language • Drums executing a combination of rhythm and pitch that represent spoken syllables and form a kind of speech illustrate the close association between music and words. • Nearly all traditional African music involves song. • Even purely instrumental pieces are considered songs without words—that is, pieces in which melody and rhythm imply words.

7. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • The Participatory Nature of the Arts • Most traditional cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa share the expectation that music is something everyone does. • While many societies have professional musicians and some musicians are recognized as having more talent than others, no Western-style gulf separates musician from audience. • A Close Connection between the Performing Arts • Many African languages have no separate word for “music,” and while a word for “song” often exists, it may also imply poetry and dance. • Thus most African cultures share the expectation that a musical performance will involve singing and dancing. • Music without dance is rare. • Even in solo performance, the musician may also dance or move while he plays, remembering the physicality of the performance as much its sound.

8. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • POLYRHYTHM • Below is one of the simplest examples of polyrhythm • mixing a meter that is two groups of three pulses (compound duple) with a meter that is three groups of two pulses (simple triple) • Both meters take the same amount of time—they are just different groupings of the same six pulses

9. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • POLYRHYTHM • Downbeats - the stressed beginning of the metrical cycle • Below is an example of polyrhythm formed by combining simple triple with compound duple, but offset by two pulses

10. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • Music and Language • Tonal - words may have different meanings depending on their inflection • Inflection - the relative pitch at which words are spoken • talking drum - a drum that can imitate the rhythm and most common pitch levels of speech

11. Chapter 6: Elements of Traditional African Music • Music and Language • Below is a graphic of musical instrument language transcribed from a portion of a recording of the Ndokpa people in the Central African Republic. • The graphic demonstrates how a xylophone (black rectangles) can imitate the rhythm (shown left to right) and three pitch levels of speech so that listeners can understand what is being said without spoken words • The sentence here means, “It rained just now; it will be fine tomorrow.”

12. Chapter 6: Traditional African Instruments • Membranophones • Drums are the most famous instruments of Africa, and they come in a variety of forms: • cylindrical • conical • goblet-shaped • hourglass-shaped • barrel-shaped • elbow stick - made of two sticks attached at an angle or carved from a single piece of wood, the elbow stick allows the player to stand behind the drum and strike the head with a solid, straight impact

13. Chapter 6: Traditional African Instruments • Idiophones • sounded by shaking, hitting, or rubbing the entire instrument • They range from a dancer’s tiny jingles to large multi-player xylophones • Examples of idiophones include: • log drums • slit drums • pottery drums • xylophone

14. Chapter 6: Traditional African Instruments • Aerophones • whisper singing - a soft, breathy, almost growling tone • Yodeling • Alternation playing – the practice wherea large group can create a melody by dividing the notes up among the different players • one player plays the first note, another the second, another the third, and so on • The alternating parts may also be polyrhythmic ostinatos, becoming rather like pitched versions of drumming ensembles

15. Chapter 6: Traditional African Instruments • Chordophones • musical bow - consists of a single string attached to two ends of a curved stick, like the bow archers use • bow harp - most common type of harp in Sub-Saharan Africa which is similar to the musical bow, except that it has several strings instead of just one strung across a curved stick • triangular harp - consists of a wooden frame of two or three parts with strings strung between them

16. Chapter 6: Drumming in West Africa • A Drumming Orchestra Performance • Some Ewe music clubs specialize in the drumming orchestra piece Atsia, which is several hundred years old, according to the Ewe.

17. Chapter 6: Drumming in West Africa • A Drumming Orchestra Performance • Atsia - means simply “display” or “style,” referring to the musicians and dancers showing off their performance. • The song lyrics speak directly of the music itself and the club, sometimes bragging about the performance • This suite begins with a bell song, a hatsiatsia, accompanied in a beautiful polyrhythm by two types of iron idiophones: • the atoke, a folded piece of iron and • gankogui, a clapperless double iron bell

18. Chapter 6: Music of the Jali • Griots - the specialized caste of musicians, one of the most important traditions in West Africa, who have different names in each of the languages of the region • Jali – musicians among the Mande people of Gambia, Senegal, and Mali • Not anyone can become a jali—normally one must be born into the profession • many of these musicians trace their musical lineage back to a time when their ancestors were important members of the royal retinues of West Africa’s historical kingdoms

19. Chapter 6: Music of the Jali • Kora • principal instrument of the jalolu • a large chordophone that has been described as a hybrid harp-lute • Kumbengo - standard ostinato patterns, which kora pieces are mostly based on • Birimintingo – contrasting embellishments which periodically interrupt the constant cycle of kumbengo

20. Chapter 6: Music of the Jali • Balafon • Another instrument of the jalolu • a wooden xylophone with gourd resonators under each rough-hewn bar • Both the balafon and the kora are heptatonic (seven tones per octave)

21. Chapter 6: Mbira Music • Mbira - an instrument consisting of rows of metal tines stretched over a series of bars so that the ends can be plucked with the player’s thumbs • known as the mbirato the Shona people of Zimbabwe, this instrument has a number of names for its many variations across the continent • the instrument also has a deep spiritual significance among the Shona, for it has the crucial function of calling to the ancestors in a ritual called the bira • there must be at least one other mbira to form the community of the ensemble—that is, to play interlocking polyrhythms with the first player • A kind of rattle called a hosho and sometimes a small drum called a ngoma are also common additions to the ensemble • singing and dancing are often just as important

22. Chapter 6: Mbira Music • An Mbira Performance • The Shona consider Nyamaropa to be among the oldest and most representative traditional pieces in the standard repertoire • It can be played for rituals as well as for entertainment • The basic mbira part for Nyamaropa (after Berliner 1978) is shown below

23. Chapter 6: Mbira Music • An Mbira Performance • The graph below shows the same graph, but now with the notes of the three melodies distinguished by color • the three melodies that make up the mbira part are colored • red for the high melody • green for the middle melody • and blue for the low melody, demonstrating the different layers that the mbira player creates.

24. Chapter 6: Mbira Music • An Mbira Performance • each of the different layers has its own meter and start time • Below the three melodies are separated and their pulses numbered to show the metrical cycle for each one.

25. Chapter 6: Mbira Music • An Mbira Performance • what most distinguishes Nyamaropa from other mbira pieces is not the melodies themselves, but the sequence of available pitches during the cycle. • As seen in the graphic below, for the first four pulses (counting from the point shown), only the tonic (pitch 1) and the fifth note of the scale (shown above as 5) are allowed. In the next three pulses, only pitches 3 and 7 are allowed, and so on.

26. Chapter 6: African Popular Music • Popular Forms in West Africa • Highlife – West African popular music style • lively guitar music, originally known as palm-wine music • Juju – a similar popular band music in Nigeria • Fuji - Draws from a tradition of Islamic praise songs, traditional talking-drum music called apala, and popular dance music • featured huge percussion sections but no guitars • Mbalax – West African popular music stylein Senegal that also popularized innovative connections to traditional instruments, styles, and forms

27. Chapter 6: African Popular Music • Popular Forms in Southern Africa • gumboot music or isicathulo - a style of dance performed by workers at the diamond mines, who wear long waterproof boots • to the accompaniment of a guitar they clap and slap their boots, creating their own percussion. • Mbube – South African popular music style • a cappella

28. Chapter 6: African Popular Music • Popular Forms in Southern Africa • pennywhistle jive or kwela – music played by the homemade bands of cheap pennywhistles and one-string basses • related to British “skiffle” music • sax jive or mbaqanga – a style originated with the influence of American rhythm and blues, traditional ostinatos, and gumboot music • Iscathamiya - a cappella music