Part 2

Describe the birth of African American Music.

When West African slaves were transported from their homeland to North America--often via the West Indies--they laid the groundwork for many new musical genres and traditions that come under the umbrella of "African American music".

A significant amount of the popular music we know and hear today can be traced back to these origins: jazz, blues, early rock-and-roll, R&B, rap, hip-hop. The instruments, rhythms and harmonies that the slaves brought with them were integrated with elements from European classical and sacred traditions. This was a process that gathered pace during the nineteenth century, as different points of cross-cultural contact emerged across North America.

What are the general gorups of Cuban music?

• son

• rumba

• canción

• danzón

• punto gúajiro

Describe the rhythmic underpinning of Cuban music.

Many Cuban musical styles are are built on a core rhythmic principle called clave.

Clave is the Spanish word for "code" or "key". In Cuba, the word refers to two things:

• the timing pattern found in many Cuban musical styles; and

• a musical instrument comprising two hardwood sticks (claves), which is used to play this timing pattern.

It can occur in either simple time (where beats are divided into 2) or compound time (where beats are divided into 3). It has two segments: a 3-note syncopated (off-beat or displaced accent) segment and a 2-note stable segment. The two segments can be played in either order: the three-note segment followed by the two-note segment (called a forward clave) or the two-note followed by the three-note (reverse clave).

First vid is simple time clave, second is compound.

Describe Rumba.

Rumba is a style which emerged in the nineteenth century in the north of Cuba, in the poorer urban neighbourhoods of Havana and Matanzas. In these areas, members of the Afro-Cuban working class--often dock workers and their families--lived in soláres, semi-communal, multi-family dwellings with common patios, which became hubs for socialising, celebrating and music-making.

Originally, rumbas were played on different-sized wooden boxes, But over time, a set of three barrel drums was developed, and this instrumentation became one of the defining features of the rumba. Known collectively as tumbadoras, the drums have the following characteristics and roles:

Drum name	Original drum name/translation	Role in the ensemble
Salidor (or tumba)	Hembra ("female")	This is the lowest-pitched drum in the ensemble, and it plays a steady rhythm.
Tresdos	Macho ("male")	The tresdos is pitched in middle registers, and plays supporting rhythms. It is often the first drum to enter a rhythm. The name tresdos "three-two" comes from the fact that this drum normally plays in combinations of three and two beats.
Quinto	Quinto ("fifth")	This is the highest-pitched drum, and it takes a leading role. The quinto player improvises and has dialogue with dancers, singers and the other drummers.

In rumba, these three drums are often joined by claves (see previous page), catá (wooden cylinders), chekeré (shaker) and/or other small percussion instruments. Rumba ensembles in their entirety are known as comparsas.

All genres in the rumba complex have the same vocal style (call and response, with improvisation) and basic musical structure. The lead singer starts with a section called the diana, before moving to a section of text that introduces the theme. These two sections are like an introduction to the rumba itself, where the drummers become more actively involved and the singing alternates between a soloist and a choral group.

Although there are many different types or sub-genres of rumba, there are three that have become particularly popular: the columbia, the yambú and the guaguancó. These three types are associated with specific dances and rhythms

Describe Columbian Rumba.

The columbia is a fast, energetic solo dance, typically danced by a solo male. It is in 6/8 time. It is an opportunity for the dancer to show off their strength physical prowess. In the video on the right, the dancer enters at 0:55. At 2.23, he balances a candle on his head while dancing, demonstrating excellent balance. Later on, at 3:34, he takes up two machetes and incorporates them into his dancing: this is a move designed to showcase his strength and imperviousness to harm.

Describe Yambú rumba.

The yambú is considered by many to be the oldest style of rumba. It is a slower-paced dance in 4/4 time, danced either by solo women or by older couples. Although there is someitmes an element of flirtation hinted at in the dancing, it does not have the same energy or sexual connotation as the guaguancó.

Describe Guaguancó rumba.

Guaguancó is the most popular style: it has had considerable influence on other areas of Cuban music, and is probably the sub-genre that most non-Cubans would most readily associate with the word rumba. It is a moderately fast and energetic dance in 4/4 time. Although it has some similarities with the yambú--from which it originated--it is danced by younger couples, and is primarily a dance about sexual energy and competition.

The "signature move" of the guaguancó is a single pelvic thrust performed by the male called the vacunao (literally meaning "vaccination" or "injection", a highly suggestive sexual symbol. The quinto is often used to accentuate this gesture. In this dance, the woman attempts to seduce the man while resisting or avoiding the vacunao.  

Describe son.

One of the earliest versions of son was changui, Changui set the parameters for the foundational son quartet, an ensemble of instruments as set out in the following table:

Tres	This is a guitar-like stringed instrument which has three pairs of strings. It is tuned differently to a guitar: the three pairs each consist of a fundamental pitch and the same pitch an octave higher. These strings are plucked in melodies that act as counterpoint to the singer.
Marimbula or botija	The marimbula is a bass lamellaphone, like those we found in Central Africa in module 6. The botija is a blown earthenware jug or jar. These instruments provide a bass line for the music.
Bongos	Bongos are small twin drums with a latch connecting them at the centre.
Guiro or guayo	The guiro is a gourd scraper, while the guayo is a metal grater--both instruments add a higher-pitched percussive element to the texture.

The structure of this early style is based around the solo singer alternating with a refrain sung by a small group (often the other instrumentalists). We can hear an example of changui in the video below.

Describe the evolution of son.

Once son became popular in urban areas towards the end of the nineteenth century, the makeup of the son ensemble began to change. Guitars, maracas and claves were introduced, and so sextets became commonplace. By the early 1920s, the double bass replaced the marimbula and botija to perform the distinctive bass line that today characterises a lot of Cuban music.

From here, many changes in Cuban and world societies influenced the continuing development of son as a popular music genre. Radio broadcasting began in Cuba in 1922, and this contributed to son's increasing popularity. Meanwhile, Prohibition in the United States (a ban on alcohol, from 1920 to 1933) saw Havana become an international hub for music and nightlife. Popular New York bands treated Havana as a second home. Over this period and well into the 1930s and 1940s, musicians continued to add instruments to the son lineup. These included piano, trumpets, saxophones, congas and other percussion.

How does culture change?

Internal change: cultures gthat change in response to locan and internal community factors. These changes occur slowly.

Changes through foreign contact.

New technologies.

The rapid changes we see and hear in African music from the early twentieth century fall into the second and third categories from the table above. Foreign and inter-cultural contact--often facilitated through new technologies--has led to significant change. In Africa and the African diaspora, the migration of labour (in other words, the practices of migrant workers) has been the main thing that has led to cultural exchange.

What is highlife?

The Kru, who we met on the previous page, were instrumental in developing a style of popular music in Ghana called highlife. The name originates from the 1920s, when dance bands played in venues for British colonial administrators and local Ghanaian elites. Less wealthy, working-class people, who listened to the music from outside the venue coined the term "highlife" because only those who were wealthy (living the "high life", as the expression goes) could enter the premises.

There are three main subtypes or streams of highlife music:

• adaha highlife, based on colonial military bands

• palm-wine highlife, a guitar-based style associated with palm-wine bars

• dance-band highlife, based on British and European ballroom dances, and, later, American bands.

Describe palm-wine highlife.

The Kru developed a distinctive two-finger technique of guitar playing, which scholars believe comes from the techniques used to play the traditional stringed instruments (e.g. lutes).

Solo and small group entertainers played mostly in palm wine bars for predominantly working-class people like labourers and farmers. Patrons sat and drank palm wine while listening to songs by the palm wine performers. In the second video on this page, you will hear the song "Yaa Amponsah", performed here by the Kumasi Trio. This song is significant because it became the template for many guitar-based highlife songs written and performed since this recording was made, right up to the current day. The playing style and chordal configuration as heard on this recording became known as "Yaa Amponsah style".

The recording you just listened to features the offbeat timing pattern that became a signature of Ghanaian highlife music. It is played on the clave. You already know this pattern from Kpanlogo, which is itself an example of highlife.

Describe dance-band highlife.

In the early twentieth century, British colonial administrators began to employ Ghanaian musicians to play in dance hall orchestras. They were engaged to perform at balls and parties, playing popular music of the time. From 1914 onwards, large dance orchestras (again, with Ghanaian musicians) were playing European and Latin American ballroom music and ragtime for colonial administrators and local Ghanian elites.

During the 1920s, musicians began to add local melodies and street songs to the music that was played in dance hall orchestras. It was during this period that the term "highlife" was coined, as you read about earlier in the module. This trend of including different musical styles continued into the 1930s, with musicians drawing on calypso, Cuban son and older African song forms. By this time, formal dance-band orchestras were cemented as the "ideal" ensemble for this type of music.

Ghana's capital, Accra, became an important military base during World War II in the early 1940s. We've examined how musical influences are transmitted through foreign contact: this is another key example. With the arrival of military forces came new international musical influences. These included musicians with jazz training, and American swing music recordings which Ghanaian musicians could listen to for the first time. 

The 1950s saw other significant changes in Ghana, as you found out earlier in the module. Independence and Nkrumah's presidency contributed to an economically prosperous period for Ghana, adding to the conditions under which music-making could flourish.

These conditions also led to the establishment of new ensembles. One key example is the band E T Mensah and the Tempos. The Tempos were originally a "jam session" group formed in 1946 by European soldiers in Accra. Local musician Mensah joined in 1947, and over time the Europeans in the band were replaced by Africans.

Describe Juju.

Jùjú is a musical genre that developed in Lagos in the first half of the twentieth century. Two of these styles were crucial to the origins of jùjú: palm wine guitar music, and ashíkò, an up-tempo dance-drumming style played on frame drums and a carpenter's saw.

In 1936, King issued the first recordings labelled with the term jùjú. According to King, the name originated from the performance act of throwing the tambourine into the air and catching it, which the audience called jù-jú, from the Yoruba word for “throw.” These recordings--an emerging technology at the time--were part of an increasingly lucrative and successful musical career, but he still needed to perform live (often at private functions) to earn an income.

Over subsequent decades, the typical jùjú lineup underwent further change. 1948 saw the dundun included in jùjú for the first time. By the 1950s, jùjú players had access to microphones and amplifiers, which was significant because it allowed bands to expand their percussion ensembles (bands grew to eight or nine members) without overwhelming the singer or upsetting the balance between voice levels and instruments. This period also saw the electric guitar become a feature of the jùjú lineup.

Describe the classic Dairo juju.

1. a short introduction on guitar or accordion, before the lead singer sings several verses of the main lyric (with guitar/accordion accompaniment);

2. a middle section where the percussion (e.g. dundun) predominates. As a "talking drum", it plays proverbs and slogans repeated by the chorus of backing singers in call-and-response style; and

3. a reprise of the main text from the opening of the song.

The first section ends at about 1:09, where the transition to the more percussive section happens. The main lyric and musical theme returns at about 2:01, when we hear the big accordion chord.

Describe the afrobeat ensemble structure.

Despite the fact that Kuti's musical style and band changed over the years, he established and preserved a basic vertical structure of Afrobeat music for much of his career.

We can talk about the rhythm section of his band in terms of three strata or layers:

Bottom layer	Interlocking electric-bass and bass-drum patterns
Middle layer	Rhythm guitar, conga drums, and a snare back beat
Top layer	Percussion sticks and shekere playing ostinatos

Meanwhile, the horn section performed two main roles: playing riffs in support of the vocals, and extended solos.