Chapter 23 Music in America: Jazz and Beyond

1. Chapter 23Music in America: Jazz and Beyond Global Perspectives: Global Music

2. Globalism Homogenization Reggae Localized music-making Isicathamiya Choral declamation Key Terms

3. Global Perspectives 3 • Global Music • European efforts to colonize never totally replaced native cultures • Resulted in new, complex, mixed cultures • Recorded sound is now changing the mix • Listeners around the world have access to greater musical variety than ever before • Thanks to recording technologies, radio, TV, ease of travel & commerce, & the Web • As a result, musical styles are changing

4. Complexities of Globalism (1) • Two opposing tendencies have arisen • Homogenization & localization • Homogenization – many world styles now share common features • Electric instruments, especially guitars • Strong percussive presence • Extensive use of syncopation • Relatively brief song-form presentation • African American styles a major influence • Rhythm & blues, rock, soul, rap

5. Complexities of Globalism (2) • Musical currents can flow both ways • Reggae was a 1960s merger of Jamaican styles with rhythm & blues and soul • By the 1970s it crossed back over to exert a great influence on American rock • Dispersion enabled by recording industry • Increasingly rich, multinational, & influential • Are we forging a “universal pop aesthetic”? • Is world beat the music of the future?

6. Complexities of Globalism (3) • Localization opposes move to sameness • Musicians never borrow a foreign style without making it their own in some way • Many new, distinct styles haves resulted – fusions of American pop styles & local musics • Pop music is now recognizable worldwide • Easy to tell apart from folk & classical musics • But it comes in an immense variety of distinct idioms • They derive from specific interactions of global and local tendencies

7. South African Choral Song:Isicathamiya (1) • Old example of diversity-within-sameness • A style familiar to listeners worldwide • By way of Ladysmith Black Mambazo • Known through recordings & participation in Paul Simon’s 1986 Graceland album • An all-male, a cappella song style • Created largely by Zulu-speaking migrant laborers • The style developed in Saturday night singing group contests at laborers’ camps

8. South African Choral Song:Isicathamiya (2) • Roots of isicathamiya • Native Zulu tradition of choral polyphony • Choral tradition merged easily with Christian hymn-singing brought by 1800s missionaries • American minstrel shows toured in South Africa in the 1880s & 90s • Most popular of all was McAdoo’s Virginia Jubilee Singers, an African American troupe! • Syncopated minstrel songs had an impact • 1st isicathamiya group emerged c. 1914 • Basic style features in place by 1930

9. Solomon Linda and Mbube (1) • Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds • 1st recording stars of Zulu singing scene • Greatest hit was “Mbube,” or “Lion” (1939) • “Mbube” was so popular that isicathamiya is often called mbube music • Recorded 1952 by Pete Seeger as “Wimoweh” (he didn’t hear “Mbube” correctly) • Recorded dozens of times since 1952 • The Tokens’ 1961 version, “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” was a top-40 hit

10. Solomon Linda and Mbube (2) • When you heard this song in a McDonalds commercial a few years back… • With Disney animation at the time of Lion King • You heard a song that was: • 1st recorded in Africa half a century ago • A mix of African choral polyphony, European hymn-singing, & African American ragtime • Remade by Disney, a multinational corporation • Exploited by another to sell hamburgers • The global village is small but complex!

11. “Anoku Gonda” (1) • Song by Solomon Linda • “Anoku Gonda” = “You must understand this” • Uses two distinct isicathamiya styles • Uses free choral declamation at the start • Richly harmonized homophony with frequent pitch slides from high to low • Chorus recites the text with no clear, consistent sense of meter • Two phrases stated & repeated – a a b b a a

12. “Anoku Gonda” (2) • Switches to call-and-response style • Now the music takes on a strong beat • Still organized in repeating phrases & simple ascending-descending patterns • But now with call-and-response techniques • 1st Solomon Linda “calls” & chorus answers • Later basses “call” & full chorus answers • Call-and-response phrases alternate with a falling cadential phrase for full chorus