Sub-Saharan African Music

World Music - Unit Check #3 (Part 1)

What is the African Continent? (2)

1. Over 50 countries, at least 800 ethnic and linguistic groups

2. Broken up into nation-states by European colonial powers at the end of the 19th century (Berlin Conference, 1884)

What was the result of the African Continent not being broken up by culture groups?

Many groups spread out over the borders of several different countries.

What was the role of music in sub-Saharan Africa? (4)

1. Basic part of life

2. “If you talk, you can sing. If you walk, you can dance” - Zimbabwean proverb

3. Close connection between the performing arts = no separate term for “music”

4. Musical performance traditionally judged by the work it does on behalf of a community

What are the social characteristics of traditional repertoire? (2)

1. Participatory: Linked to community activities, everyone present and all skills levels welcome, more improvisation and looseness (often over a repetitive structure)

2. Presentational: More formal, clear divide between performer and audience, performance scripted and rehearsed, more about taking in than taking part

What is participatory music-making vs. presentational?

Distinction made by ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino in 2008

What is the importance of participatory musicking?

Prevalence of group musicking

What are 2 social characteristics of traditional repertoire? (2)

1. Social focus on community (includes both living and passed): shared work, child-rearing, property in most sub-Saharan African societies.

2. Use of the body

What are 3 musical transmission, traits, and aesthetics in sub-Saharan Africa? (3)

1. Music/dance transmitted orally: by observing and imitating

2. Call-and-response form

3. Timeline structure: open-ended repeating pattern that orients performers

What is Core vs. Elaboration?

Together create a compelling creative tension

• Looped or cyclic melodies or rhythms (core)

• Improvisation, variation, embellishment (elaboration)

What are 3 examples of rhythm complexity in sub-Saharan African music? (3)

1. Polyrhythm: combination or juxtaposition of contrasting rhythms

2. Syncopation - rhythmic “hiccups” where musical accents feel displaced from the primary beat

3. Perceptual shifts - hearing the downbeat in different places

What is Duple against Triple feel?

Forms the elemental timing ratio of most sub-Saharan African and Afrodiasporic music

How do you navigate polyrhythm?

By navigating obstacles and tensions in life

What is the additive principle in sub-Saharan music?

“The more interlocking parts, timbres, and pitched and unpitched sounds, the merrier”

What is “The Ewe” (3)

1. Reside in present-day Ghana, Togo, and Benin

2. A minority group forced to migrate often - dominated by the Yoruba and Fon

3. Represented -10% of enslaved Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade

What is “Agbekor”? (3)

1. An Ewe drumming-and-dance form: many of these ensembles throughout West Africa (Guinea, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria)

2. Historically associated with warfare, to prepare warriors for battle

3. The name translates as “clear life” (the battle is over, danger is past)

What is “Agbekor”? cont. (2)

1. Since colonial rule, no longer a “wartime” genre, but perpetuated in presentational contexts and for other village events

2. A very complex genre, difficult for many to learn

What are examples of instruments used in a slow Agbekor? (6)

1. Gankogui - Iron Bell

2. Axatse - Shaker

3. Kagan - Timekeeping support drum

4. Kidi - Response support drum

5. Kloboto - Response support drum

6. Totodzi - Response support drum

What is Jali/Griot? (2)

1. Jalolu/griots: praise-singers and oral historians, indicated by surname

2. Occupation passed down patrilineally

What are 5 traits of Jali/Griot - Social Role? (5)

1. In the Mali and Songhay empires, jalolu worked in the royal court, singing jaliya (praise-songs) that honored their patrons by recounting heroic acts and family lineages

2. Low social status but highly respected - valued for impartiality

3. Formal apprenticeship required for learning the music and epic poetry

4. Besides royalty, patrons included wealthy merchants and traders, reputable scholars, and land-owning farmers

5. Often paid through “spraying” keeping ancestral figures invoked in jaliya happy (still common today)

What are 2 qualities of Jali/Griot - Jaliya (praise-songs)

1. Jalolu blend Middle Eastern (Saharan) musical elements with Sub-Saharan West African:

   • “in-between” notes

   • declamatory/nasal vocal style

2. Vocality: Alternation between - and sometimes combination of singing (donkilo) and speaking/chanting (sataro)

What is Lambango?

A jaliya performed in The Gambia in 1970

What are 3 qualities of Lambango? (3)

1. Performers: Mariatu Kuyateh (donkilo), Kekuta Soso (kora), Seni Joblen (sataro/percussion)

2. A jaliya directed to 20th century Gambian leaders, using formulaic poetic phrases

3. Some famous singers of donkilo have been women

What should you listen for in Lambango? (3)

1. Difference in sataro (speaking) and donkilo (singing) vocals

2. Middle Eastern influence in vocal style

3. Melodic scale - similar to Western major scale

What are some Jalolu court instruments? (2)

1. Balafon: a Mande xylophone

2. Kora: a harp-lute

What are qualities of the Balafon construction? (3)

1. A bamboo frame and hardwood keys

2. Keys tied to frame with a single piece of cord from each side

3. Amplifying gourd attached to each key underneath - tuned to its key and made to buzz when the key is played

What are features of the Balafon (2)

1. Often 21 keys, but vary in size and shape

2. Keys played with padded sticks

What is the Kora?

A 21 string-harp-lute

What are 2 qualities of the Kora?

1. Two sets of strings run perpendicular, rather than parallel, to the resonator

2. Played with thumbs and forefingers

What is the function of the Kumbengo?

Repeating ostinato part highlighting the vocals an establishing the tonality and polyrhythmic foundation

What is the function of the Birmintingo?

Improvised passages during vocal breaks, adding musical interest and displaying technical skills.

What is the relationship between Kumbengo and Birmintingo a good example of?

Core vs. Elaboration

What are qualities of Jalolu/griots today? (3)

1. More itinerant post-1600 go where the work is

2. Songs still recount past events and family histories/lineages, but often champion Mande history and heroics today

3. Jaliya instrumentalists still mostly men, but women and non-Jalolu are now playing balafon and kora

What is the influence of the Mande jalolu on African American music? (3)

1. Most enslaved Africans brought to the U.S. came from the Mande region and other parts of the N.W. African savannah region

2. Country/Downhome Blues (EX. Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Son House) - similar to kora playing and donkilo singing/sartaro speaking

3. Hip Hop - Verbal dexterity/word play and storytelling that plays homage and relays history and current events very similar to the art of the jalolu