music of subs aha ran africa

5/14/2018 Music of Subs Aha Ran Africa

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7ATLANTICOCEAN

TheMusicofSub-SaharanAfricaThomas Turino

A SHONA MBIRA PERFORMANCE IN ZIMBABW EHeading toward the roundhouse after dark, I heard the powerful sound of peopleplaying hosho (large maraca-like shakers) from some distance down the path. As Ientered the dimly li t kitchen hut where the ceremony was being held I could makeout other people clapping, singing, talking, and drinking; one frail old woman wasdancing by herself in the center of the room. Beneath all of this there was stillanother sound, soft yet deep and moving like the combination of water and bells.This was the mbira. Two men, leaning against the far wall, sat with their hands hid-den inside large calabash gourds playing mbira. They were the foundation of themusical activity, and the singers, dancers, and hosbo players created their rhythmicpatterns and improvised vocal parts based on the many simultaneous melodies thatthe mbira played.

During a break in the music I asked the mbira players to show me their instru-ments. Twenty-two slightly rusted metal keys were tightly fastened over a metalbridge on a wooden soundboard, with bottle caps attached to a metal plate on theboard (Fig. 7-1). A necklace of bottle caps was also strung around the gourd res-onators, creating the buzzing sound a torn stereo speaker makes. The musiciansexplained that, ..vithout the gourds, the mbiras were too soft to be heard in occasionsfor communal music making, such as the bira ceremony that we were attending, andwithout the buzzing of the bottle caps they would not sound like Inbira.


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172 THE M USIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Figure 7-1 Shona lnstrurnents (left to right): karimbn, hosho rattle; 22-key mbira incalabash gU~1H1;22-key mblm, side view,

Belon in to a general class of instruments known as larnellaphon s (pluckedtongues or keys mount d on a soundboard or soundbox), the mbira is r f ned to a"thum b piano" and sometimes thought of as a toy in the United States, Yet the mbirathat these men were playing is one of the most highly developed classical instru-ments of the Shena, a 'Bantu speaking people of Zimbabwe in south ast 11 1 AfricaAlthough dift r nt types of lamellaphon s are played all over Africa, this class oinstruments has been most highly d veloped by tho. Shena and oth r groups isouthern Africa. The Shona playa variety of lamella phones associated with differentregions of Zimbabwe including the karirnba, the njari, and the matepe, bupres ntly, the 22-key mbira is the lost popular type (Fig. 7-1), Shona mbira playersoften specialize on on vall ty of instrument, each with its own distinct scal patternand playing techniques; changing from a karimba to an mbira or njari is like switching from a guitar to a mandolin 01' a banjo,

The musicians sat down and began playing another piece. Listening moreclosely to the mbira this time, [ could bear distinct bass, middle, and high melodicparts corning From the two instruments. I watched their hands closely. Th y wouldplay the sam patterns for a long time before changing, perhaps, only on or twpitches by striking different keys, and then would repeat the n w variation mantimes. But even when they were playing the same patterns, I sometimes thought tha


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THE MUSIC OF SUB SAHARAN AFR ICA 173I beard changes in the melodies. During their next break the musicians explainedthat it was always like that. Even simple rnbira pieces contained many "innermelodic lines" that resulted not from cbanges in the keys played but rather from theparticular combination of right- and left-hand parts that the listener focused on.They explained that mbira music was an art of creative listening as well as playing,and that the mbira itself seemed continually to suggest new inner melodic lines tothe musician even when his bands continued to play the same keys. They told methat this was one reason why rnbira players can perform the same pattern for a longtime without getting bored or Feeling the need to create constant contrasts. It wasalmost as if the mbira itself magically created its own variations; one simply had tohave patience and learn to hear what it had to offer. I enjoyed talking to these musi-cians, and was learning something of the art of listening to Shona music, but it wastime for them to return to playing for the ancestral spirits in the bira ceremony (Figs.7-2,7-3).

The BiraInthe local Shona religion there is the belief that one's ancestors continually interactwith and affect th lives of th e living. As in many places, Shona people emphasizemaintaining good relationships with their parents, grandparents, and other elder rel-atives; for the Shona, however such relationships do not cease when someone dies.Interactions with dec ased relatives take place through spirit possession when anancestor enters and speaks through the body of a living person-a spirit medium.

Figure 7-2 Shona mbira playersEmmanuel Chldzere and David Mapfumowith Singer and hosho player PyoMurungweni, Murehwa District,Zimbabwe,


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Figure 7-3 Shona women of Mhemberesinging and playing bosho, MurehwaDistrict, Zimbabwe.

174 THE M USIC O F SU B"SA HA RA N A FR IC A

ot everyone who dies comes back as a spirit. However, those that do return selectone person to be their medium for life. (Family spirits are usually within the pastthree generations.) Once spirits make therns Ives known in this way, family mem-bers can can them back to speak with them at family-sponsored community eventsknown as bira. Misfortunes such as illness or losing a job are sometimes interpretedas the result of offending a particular ancestor. People also commonly tum to theiranc stars for aclvic during times of trouble, Even when there isn't a specific prob-1 m some families p riodically hold ceremonies to honor an ancestor or simply tokeep in touch (just as we might feel the need to call our par nts when living awayfrom them), These ceremonies often involve mbira music and dance in central ways,although in various Zimbabwean regions drums are used instead of mbira.

As the bira be ins people arrive gradually, those already present casually talkand joke together to the music of the mbira and hosho which will play all night.Mbira players (and drummers) ar musical specialists who are invited to perform atthe ceremony. They supply the musical foundation, but as th everting progresses,family and community members join in by clapping different patterns and dancingin th center of the room. Men and women also may contribute to the performanceby singing melodies that weave in and out of the mbira's bass part, or by performinin a high-pitched yodeling style. (Thes types of singing do not often involve words,only nonsemantic syllables.) Both well-known verses and improvised words are alsosung to fit the occasion, and the poetry moves people as do the dance and the musicat this participatory vent. After one piece has ended, the two mbira players beginagain, each with his own specific part, and again the cliff, r I1 t participants add whatthey will, until the performance becomes a dense, rich fabric of sound, movement,and feeling. As the spirit medium shows subtle signs that the ancestor is coming, therest of the participants often begin playiLlCT,ancing, and singing more intensely.This collectiv nergy h Ips to bling on possession.


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T H E M USIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 1 7 5Good mbira playing and concentrated communal effort ar essential for the

success of the bira, because music is one of the main attractions that call the spiritinto the ceremony_ As the intensity mounts and the energy within U1eroom becomesright, the spirit enters the body of the medium. Spirits are particularly attracted bythe music that they enjoyed whil th y were living. Thus, playing the right tunes isimportant for bringing on possession. Once possessed, the spirit medium is usuallydressed by an attendant in a special robe. The medium then follows the will of thespirit and may continue singing, dancing, or she or be may become quiet and with-drawn. After the spirit has participated in the event for a brief rune, the music comesto a halt. Tb host of th bira welcomes the spirit with a formal greeting as U1 y sit inthe center of the hut. H also offers special beer brewed by the family for sevendays, and snuff. The host and other people then consult the ancestor about the prob-lem or issues that occasioned the bira, and a discussion ensues between the spiritand concerned participants. After the consultation, the music, singing, and dancingstart up again and continue until morning, even if the Spilit decides to leave themedium some time during the night.

THE MBIRA AND SOME G ENERAL PRINCIPLES O F AFRICAN MU SICA closer look at Shona mbira P rformance reveals a series of features and aestheticpreferences that are common to many Sub-Saharan musical traditions. Theseincludethe practice of interlocking: fitting your pitches and beats into the spaces ofother pmts, or alternating the pitches or phrases of one part with those of another tocreate the whole. As w will see, this OCCUl"S at a variety of levels in rnbira perfor-mance and in th oilier African traditions we will study. Call-and-respons =-thealternation of leader and chorus parts, or of a vocal and instrumental part-illus-trates the principle of interlock at the macrolevel of musical organization. Call-and-response is a very common practice allover Sub-Saharan Africa. A second generalfeatur of African music is the aesthetic preference for dense overlapping texturesand buzzy timbres that contribut to a dense sound quality. Third, African music isoften cyclical and open-ended in form involving one or more repeated melodies orrhythmic patterns (ostmatos) as the basic foundation of a performance. These re-petitive, cyclical pieces are often repeated for a long time with gradual variationsadded as a p rformanc progresses. Comrnumty participation is valued in manyAfrican musical traditions; repetition and long performances facilitate participationby giving nonspecialized participants a chane to get their bearings and to enter theperformance.

African music is famous for its rhythmic complexity. At the most basic level thisinvolves the juxtaposition or simultaneous performance of dupl and triple rhythmicpatterns (patterns of two against patterns of three). The multiple layering of din r-ent rhythmic patterns creates a tension and, at times, an ambiguity such that a lis-tener can bear and feel the same music in a variety of ways depending on which


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176 THEM USIC O F SU B-SA HA RA N A FR IC Arhythmic part or pattern he or she is focusing on. A final g neral characteristic is thaAfrican music, and musical ensembles, often involve "cor' and "elaboration" partsThe "core" musical roles and parts are those that must be in place for a perfonnancto go forward. Core parts are the foundation, the vehicle, that make other contributions, variations, and improvisations possible. In mbira performance, core roleinclude the basic rhythmic How maintained by the hosho, and the basic melodicharmonic ostinato played in the midrange and bass of the mbira, The "elaboration"parts, no less essential to an artful performance, include clapped patterns, voclines, high mbira melodies and bass variations, and dancing,

InterlockingThe longest, lowest keys on the mbira are found in the cent r, they become shorteand higher as they fan out to each side. The keys on the left side are played by ththumb of that hand and the right thumb and forefinger play the keys on the righside (Figs. 7-1 and 7-2). Mbira pieces are constructed so that the left thumb alternates with the right thumb and forefinger to playa Single midrange melody. Thesnotes played by the two hands interlock to create a single melody. On many piecesthe left thumb also alternates between the midrange keys of the upper-left manuaand the bass keys of the lower-left manual to produc an ind pendent bass linwhich interlocks with the midrange melody. Finally, th right forefinger plays thsmallest, highest keys (far right) to produce additional descending high melodilines; these pitches are, again, alternated with the left band part in interlocking fashion. The bass, midrange, and high melodies creat a variabl polyphonic texture, ana listener's perception of the piece can chancre substantiaUy by shifting attentionfrom one line to another, or to the resultant melodic patterns that emerge from threlations between different parts (CD 1, #26).

While the mbira can be played solo, a piece is not really considered completeunless two players are pres nt to play their separat complementary parts whicinterlock to create the whole. On part is called th kushaura, {"to lead the piece" tplay the basic piece), and the other is called kutsinhira, a second accompanying pruOn many pieces the kutsinhira pmt is almost exactly the same as the kushaura butis played a beat behind so that each pitch played by the first part is doubled by thsecond. This doubling effect produced by the two instruments can be beard on thhigh descending lines of Nhemamusasa (CD 1, #26). With the exception of the higmelodies, however, Nhemasnusasa (cutting branches for a shelter) involves a secondtype of kushaura-kutsinhlra relationship in which a completely different accompanying part is composed to interlock with the kushaura part,

The hand-clapping patterns, dane movements, and vocal m lodles P rformedby participants at the bira and other occasions frequently do not simply reproducethe basic beat and, typically, are not performed in unison. Rather, each participant


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THE MUSIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 177may add his or her own clapped patterns, sung parts, or dance movements, so thatthey fall in between or around central beats and pitches-in the spaces-of otherpeople's parts, thereby providing another series of interlocking aspects. A basicmusical value among the Shena, and in many African societies, is the ability to addone's own distinctive part to the ensem ble wbil making it blend with th whole.Call-and-response singing is also very common in Shalla musical culture.

DensityThe final polyphonic, polyrhythmic character of a communal Shona performanceresults from the interlocking and dense overlapping of the participants' contribu-tions. The Shona, like many African peoples, prefer dense, rich sounds. Bottle capsor shells attached to gourd resonators and mbira soundboards create a buzzing auraaround the discrete pitches that contrast with th clear, "pur "Instrum ntal timbres(tone qualities) preferred in the European classical tradition. The multipl layersproduced in a communal performance also add to the density of sound, as does thevery nature of the mbira, on which keys previously struck continue to ring throughthe following pitches sounded with each key producing multiple ov rtones.

Cyclical Form and VariationThe form of classical mbira music is a melodic-harmonic cycle, or ostinato, of 48quick beats; the particular ostinato of any classical rnbira piece is divided iota four12-beat phrases resembling 1218 meter: (CD 1, #26). As an mbira performance pro-gresses, small variations, including traditional formulas and improvised lin s, aregradually added to, and over, the basic ostinato. Mbira players say that a skilled musi-cian must have patience and not rush the variations. It is not considered good play-ing to use overly apparent or dramatic contrasts; rather, one variation must be builton the last and subtly lead to the next within th ostinato cycle. Usually, each varia-tion will be repeated a number of times before furth r development is attempted.

Conceptions of MusicThe very definition of what constitutes a "piece" in Shena culture, and in many Sub-Saharan societies, suggests another characteristically African feature. Althouzhmbira pieces have titles, the composition is conceived as an aggregat of musicalresources that may be put together and improvised upon in different ways, makingeach performance recognizable as "the piece" and yet unique. Such resourcesinclude: the harmonic, temporal, and melodic character of the basic ostinato, a seriesof stock variations and motifs associated with the piece; and certain sung melodiesand lines of text. The length of a given performanc , the num ber of variations usedand the order in which they are performed, the speed and character of development,


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178 THE MUSIC OF SUBSAHARAN AFRICAand the improvisations on the basic patterns, however, make each performance fundamentally distinct, so that in a sens , a n w piece is cr ated in very performance.This approach resembles that of jazz, blues, and of some rock performers, indicatingone way that people working in these styles may have been influenced by the Africaheritage.

In Shona villages, ..the piece" and music itself are conceptualized as a proceslinked to specific people and particular moments or contexts, whereas for sommusical traditions in th West, music has become a reproducible sound object thacan be, and is, isolated and abstracted as a thing in itself. Recordings and writtenscores perhaps facilitate thinking about music as an object that can be purchasedconsumed, collected, and copyrighted. It is significant that the Shona words for thtwo basic parts of a mbira piece-kush aura and kutsinlura=-are not nOW1S, referringto things, but rather are verbs ("kushaura" means literally' to lead the piece")underlining the notion of music as an interactive process.

AFRICA G ENERAL AND AFRICA SPECIFICIn the pr vious section I have tried to link certain features of Shena mbira playinwith more widespread African musical characteristics, and indeed there is a tendency among North Americans and Europeans to think of Africa as one place, anAfrican music as a Single, identifiable phenomenon. The continent of Africa has ove50 countries, however, and linguists have identified at least 800 ethnolinguisticgroups. In Nigeria alone, 386 different languages have been identified. The organization of Sub-Saharan Africa into modem nation-states is primarily a colonial legacbased on the way the continent was carved by the European powers at the end of thnineteenth century, It has little to do with internal ethnic divisions within these territories or with the Single linguistic groups that cross national borders. (Mande soceties, for exampl ,span parts of Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, IvOJYCoastGuinea, and Sierra Leone.) Because many musical traditions are linked to specifiethnolinguistic groups and cultures, it is often better to think about African music ithese rather than in national terms.

In contrast to the st reo typic vision of small, so-called primitive tribes iAfrica, it has been shown that there were various kinds of traditional indigenouspolitical organization including: (1) complex, hierarchical, centralized states witpolitical authority vested in the hands of hereditary rulers; and (2) more decentral-ized, smaller-scale societies where political power was regulated by interactionsbetween kinship groups such as clans or lineages. Centralized kingdoms with highldevelop d political or anization have existed in Africa from early times. One example is the state of Zimbabwe (the modern nation being named after this earlempire) which was thriving by the twelfth century. On the other hand, small egalitarian bands of hunters and gatherers such as the BaMbuti Pygmies have lived for centuries in the central African rain forest. Hunter-gatherer groups such as the Pygmie


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THE MUSIC O F SU SSA HA RA N A FR IC A 179and the San (Bushmen) are ina small minority, howev r. The majority of traditionalAfrican soci ties depended on agriculhu-e and animal husbandry for subsistence-stable agriculture being important for stat formation. Just as political and economicsystems differ widely between specific African societies, family and social structuresar also diverse.Ethnomusicologists have begun to find that sometimes there are importantcorrelations between economic modes of production, social structure, and musicapractices and style. Given the socioeconomic diversity among African societies, wwould expect musical diversity as well. Indeed, there ar important differences inthe styles, processes, and functions of music making between different African societies, just as there are differences in conceptions about music, the role and status omusicians, and the tYl)es of repertOlY, instruments, and dances p rformed. As I suggested earlier, however, there are some basic similarities in musical style, practices,and aesthetics that span the Sub-Saharan region, even among such diverse groups athe Shona in southeastern Africa, the BaMbuti Pygmies in the central rain forestand the Maude peoples in the northwestern savanna region. Taken at the most general level, it is these similarities that allow us to speak of "African music" (much athe European harmonic system, among other general traits, allows us to identifymainstream 'Western music"). onetheless, it is th facets that distinguish the diff rent African musical cultures, rather than th similarities, that will probablyappear as most Significant to Africans themselves.

In the sections that follow, similarities with th major characteristics outlinedfor Shena mbira music will serve as a focus for the discussion of several specificAfrican musical cultures. At tile same time, differences between th musical cultures will be emphasized, and these will be considered in Lightof the distinct ways olife and worldviews that characterize different African societies.

MUSICAL VALUE S, PRACT ICE S, AND SOCIAL STYLEThe Pygmies

Groups of Pygmies are found in the equatorial forest area stretching from Gabonand Cameroon in the west to Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in th east. The IturForest, bordering on Uganda to the east and Sudan to the north remains a majostronghold for Pygmies, and about 40,000 live in this region. The majority of groupmaintain a semiautonomous hunting-and-gathering existence. Centuries ago, thPygmies found their central forest region invaded from the north by Bantu (a majolingUistic category in Sub-Saharan Africa) and Sudanic groups who were cultivatorsand pastoralist. The Pygmy languages were abandoned for those of the neighboringgroups, with whom they ent red into types of patron-client relationships. Theanthropologist Colin Turnbull, however, suggests that the BaMbuti Pygmies of thIturi Forest I ad a kind of daubl life, maintaining th ir own traditional ways (wit


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180 THE MUSIC OF SUB -SAHARAN AFR ICAthe exception of language) when alone in the forest and taking part in Bantu ritualand musical life on their visits to the villages. Here we will concentrate on Pygmy lifeand music in their forest home.

The BaMbuti net-hunters maintain a nomadic existence, setting up camps fora month or so in different places in the forest as they continue their search of game.Net-hunting, like most aspects of Pygmy life, is a communal affair, with male familymembers stringing their nets together in a large semicircle and the women and chil-dren beating the brush to scare game into them. The catch is shared. Bands are com-posed of nuclear families, and while certain individuals ar considered to have moreexpertise in some realms of activity than in others, there is little specialization ofsocial and economic roles within age and gender categories. A formalized hierarchi-cal system of leadership is not present. Because survival is dependent on coopera-tion rather than competition, th keystones of Pygmy society are egalitarianism,consensus, and unity. B ecause of their nomadic existence, the ownership of goodsand property is minimal among most Pygmy groups.All of these aspects strongly influence their musical culture. The Pygmies havefew musical instruments of their own. Pygmy instruments includ whistles and end-blown flutes made from cane. They may b used to accompany singing, or in duetsfor informal music making. In flute duets, one instrumentalist plays a repeating osti-nato pattern, while the other plays a part that interlocks and overlaps with the first,reminding us of the basic principles of Shona mbira performance. Rhythm sticks andrattles are found, as are several trumpet types such as the long, end-blown molimotrumpet. Some Pygmy bands also use a musical bow. A few other instruments suchas small lamellaphones and drums, may be borrowed from their Bantu neighbors.

Vocal music is at the core of Pygmy musical culture. Some songs are sung byindividuals inforrnally such as lullabies and game songs, however, communal singingfor collective ceremonies and occasions is considered much more important. Likemost aspects of Pygmy life, musical performance is a nonspecialized activity. As innet-hunting, where m n and women fulfill different rol s, however, musical partici-pation may be differentiated by gender, depending on the context. For example,men are th primary Singers for the molimo ceremony, through which the benignrelationship with the sacred-and hving-forest is maintained. Women are the pri-mary Singers for the elima, a puberty ceremony. On other occasions, for instance,befor almost every hunt, m nand women sing together.

Except for the ritual occasions when gender and sometimes age distinctionsare made, musical performance involves anyone in.the band who wants to sing. Songfanns are van d but follow two basic principles that we have already encountered inthe Shena mbira music and the Pygmy flute duets: the use of ostinato and interlock.A standard organizational feature found in and among th BaMbuti Pygmi. s and inmany other African societies is the use of a leader and chorus in call-and-responseformat, The leader, or one group of people, sings a melodic phrase and is immedi-ately answered by a second group singing another phrase so tl at the two interlock to


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THE MUSIC OF sua-SAHARAN AFRICA 181create the entire melody. Pygmy vocal practic frequently uses the hocket technique(singers alternating short melodic fragments to create a melody), reproducing thesame practice of interlocking parts. Yodeling is also frequently practiced by somePygmy groups and is often considered a hallmark of their vocal style.In its simplest form, the call and response phrases are simply repeated contin-ually, creating a cyclical ostinato pattern like that described for Shona mbira music.People within a Mbuti chorus help to create a dense, layered sound by Simultane-ously singing a number of individual variations of the basic melodic parts (CD 2, #1).Among the Pygmies of the Central African Republic, ostinatos without call-and-response organization constitute a basic structure. On top of the basic ostinato,singers may add a second complementary ostinato, and others will perform varia-tions on both melodies, thereby creating a dense, overlapping contrapuntal texture(a texture consisting of different Simultaneous melodic lines). The tim span of thebasic ostinato serves as the reference point for various clapped and percussion parts.Thus, one percussion part may be a six-beat pattern and another may last eight beats,dividing the overall time span of the song, say of twenty-four beats, into different-length cycles.

Certain individuals may begin or lead a song, just as different individuals areconsidered to have particular expertise inother realms of life. Once a performance isin motion, however, musical roles and leadership may shift, different voices maymove in and out of the background. Hence, Pygmy musical style and practice growsout of and reflects, the specific egalitarian nature of Pygmy social and economic lifejust as certain features (e.g., ostinatos, density, and interlock) are consistent withAfrican musical practice inother societies.

As in Shona culture, Pygmy musical performances often involve communica-tion with the spiritual world. What differs is the conception of the divine andhumans' relations with it. According to Colin Turnbull, the Pygmies recognize thatthey cannot see, truly comprehend, or give a Single name to God. Since they view theforest as the benevolent provider of their lives and livelihood, however, they associ-ate divinity with the forest, itself living and divine. They b lieve that the world andthe forest are basically good, and ifmisfortunes such as a bad hunting period, sick-ness, or death=-come, it is because the forest is sleeping. Their response is to wake itby singing to it eve,), night during a ceremony known as the molimo, which may lastseveral months. The long, tubular, end-b lown trumpet known as mol imo is used tocreate the sounds of the forest and answer the men's singing, thereby realizing,through ritual, the relationship the Pygmies feel with their natural surroundings andthe divine.

Unlike the Shona, who use elaborate and varied sung poetry in performancesfor the ancestors, communicating with the divine occurs among the Pygmjes primar-ily through musical sound alone; song texts are kept to a minimum, even to a Singlelin such as "The forest is good." Since the Pygmy conception of the divine cannotbe formulated with words, it may be that music, whose xistence and meaning are


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182 THE MUSIC OF SU BSA HA RAN A FR IC Alikewise both concrete and diffuse, provides a more direct mode of relating to anrepresenting God. Nonetheless, it is interesting that the Pygmies emphasize singinmuch more than instrumental music and yet grant so little attention to sung poetryand the power of the word. In this and other important respects these people of thforest are very different from the Mande on the savanna in West Africa.

The Mande of West AfricaThe Mande represent one of the most important ethnoltngutsttc groups in SubSaharan Africa. A number of Mande subgroups, including the Mandinka of Senegaand Gambia, the Maninka of Guinea and Mali, the Bamana (or Bambara) of Maland the Dyula of the Ivory Coast all claim a common descent from the thirteenth-century Mali empire. Connected historically to the Mall state, Mande societies archaracterized by a social hierarchy as well as by occupational specialization. Whilslavery once existed, the two main social categories in contemporary Mande soceties are sula and nyamalo. Sula refers to "ordinary people," farmers, merchantspeople in urban occupations, and it includes the aristocracy as well. According tRoderic Knight,.' who has studied Mande music for many years, the term nyamaJo

designates those who rely on a specialized craft as a profession. In Mande culture thmeans metal smiths, wood and leather workers, and musicians, known by the term jaJThe "material" that the musician works with is not the musical instrument (althoughthey do typically make their own), but the uiord, whether spoken or sung.

In the traditional hierarchy, the craft specialists, as "service providers" to the kjnand the general population, occupied various slots below the general populace, but athe sole providers of goods and services needed for both agricu lture and war, they werat the same time regarded with awe and respect AlI of the nyamalo, by virtue of theispecialized knowledge, were regarded as having access to a special life force (thnyama) that gave them a certain power over others. The jail, with the power to manipulate words, had the greatest power. He or she (women being the prime singers) coulpraise when praise was due, or criticize if necessary, incorporating oblique commentary and poignant proverbs into their song texts if a public figure exhibited lacklustebehavior.At the present time the distinction between the sulaand nyamalo social group

are not as strictly maintained as they once were. Yet the jali (pl. jalo[u) still maintainmany of his or her traditional roles as oral historian, musician, praise singer, genealogist, announcer for the aristocracy, and diplomat, and they still perform at importansocial events such as weddings, child-naming ceremonies, religious holidays, anaffairs of state.

'Personal communication from Hoderie Knight, September, 1995.


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THE M USIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 183The Mande case clearly differs in some ways from conceptions about music

and musicians within Pygmy society, where music making is a nonprofessional,largely nonspecialized activity. In contrast, the jab is a hereditary specialist workingas a professional musician and verbal artist, whose status position derives from hi r-archical rath r than egalitarian social relations,

Anoth r distinction between these two soci.eties regards the power of the wordand the importance of song texts. Although vocal music is very important in bothsocieties, [ali performance often emphasizes verbal artistry and elaborate texts,whereas some of the most important Pygmy music such as singing for the molimoceremony involves very littl text inde d. onetheless, certain features of Mandemusical style are consistent with the general traits discussed for the Pygmies and thShena.

The main instruments played by the Maude jali to accompany singing are thebalo (a xylophone), the kora (a bridge harp), and the kontingo (a five-stringedplucked lut with a skin fac like the banjo); male jalolu specialize on one instru-ment. The kora is unique to the Mande. Ithas twenty-one strings, and a range justover three octaves. Cowhide is stretched over the gourd sound box, and strings comeoff the neck in two parallel rows perpendicular to the face of the sound box (Fig.7-4). The tuning is such that the scale series alternates for the most part between the

Figure 7-4 Mandingkora player KunyeSaho, o r the Gambia. P / l O t O : Bodenc KI!ight.


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18 4 THE M USIC OF SUB -SA HARA N AFR ICAtwo rows and the two hands (right hand-do, left hand-re, right hand-mi, leftband-fa, etc.), Th basic playing techniqu for the kora often involves the pluckingof altemat notes by the light and 1 ft hands so that the melody results from thinterlocking of these two, similar inprinciple to mbira playing and the principle ofinterlocking parts in general. Another similarity between the kora and me Shonambira is the attachment of a m tal plat with jangles to the bridge of the kora. Thisproduces the buzzing timbral effect favored in so many Sub-Saharan societies.

Mande music performed on the kora consists of several components. Eachpiec has a basic vocal melody known as donkilo and a second kind of improvised,declamatory singing style called sataro. Sataro sometimes rec ives major emphasisin jali performance, as does text improvisation and the insertion of proverbs and say-ings appropriate to a given context. It was traditionally through the performance offormulaic praise and proverbs for a given occasion that the jali earned his living-praising a patron, telling a stOIY,or recounting history. The use of songs to fulfillthese social functions isWidespread throughout West Africa and in other parts of theSub-Saharan region.

The jali accompanies his singing with th kumbengo paIt-a short ostinato, themost basic organizing feature of a performance-s-played on the kora. The kumbengois played for long periods dunng which subtle variations are gradually introduced, asiJ1 Shona mbira playing. Improvised instrurn ntal interludes known as birimintingoare inserted between the long ostinato sections. Th nature of the four componentsof a jali perfonnance-kumbengo (K), birimintingo (B), donkilo (D), and sataro(S)-wiU become cI arer by listeninz to Ala I'a ke (CD 2, #2) and following alongwith the text.'

KoraKKKKKKKKK

VoiceD

(Instrum ntal introduction)A, Ala l'a ke, silan jon m'a ke(Ah, God has done it, 110W it was not a man)Kuo be kari bai, (all things can be delayed,)Kunfa: kuno te baila. (but not the wishes of God.)A la y men ke te balla,(What God has done can't b d layed.)Kori bali ku la manse Ie (The omnipotent king)Kun fara kina ngana nin tabisi nani,(head-splitting celebrity and ... )N'ali be nganalu lala, nganalu man kanyan.(If you are calling great people, they're not all equal.)Damansa Wulandln nin Darnansa Wulamba(Damansa Wulan the small, and Damansa Wulan the big [?])

oDDDDss

"The txt, designation of parts. and translation Wa.1 kindly provided by Hod ric Knight.


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THE M USIC OF SUBSAHARAN AFRICA 18 5K s Make Musa nin Make Dantuma

(Make Musa and Make Dantuma)Tarokota Bulai bangeta. (Tarokoto Bulai was born.)(Instrumental interlude, with vocable singing)Ala ye men ke te haila ...

KBK

sD

On this recording one can clearly hear the metal jangles buzzing and the rela-tively soft volume of the kora compared to the voice. As is apparent here, the birim-in tingo sections provide a greater degree of musical contrast, departing from thebasic kumbengo ostinato. This type of instrumental interlude contrasts with Shonambira performance or a Pygmy song where variations and improvisations are addedto and over the basic cycle. Nonetheless, the conception of what constitutes a"piece," that is, a series of stock resources that are uniquely arranged and improvisedupon according to the needs of a given performer and occasion are very similarbetween the Mande and the Shena,

The Ewe of GhanaNorth Americans often have the general impression that African music primarilyconsists of drumming. As we have seen, vocal music, strings, and other types ofmelodic instruments such as the mbira and marimba may in fact have equally, ormore, prominent positions in certain musical cultures. One of the most famous Sub-Saharan regions for dmmming however, is the West African coast, and among theAnlo-Ewe of Togo and the southeastern coast of Ghana dance drumming is the mostimportant type of musical activity.The Anlo-Ewe, who remain musically and socially distinct from other Ewegroups farther north and inland, work primarily as farmers and fishermen. SouthernEweland is divided into autonomous political districts, with the Anlo district havingthe largest population and cultural influence. The district, which traditionally func-tioned like an independent state, was ruled by a paramount chief with largely cere-monial and sacred status, although he had the important role of mediating disputes.The chief stands at the pinnacle of a political hierarchy over geographically orga-nized territorial and town chiefs and finally over clan, lineage, and ward (village sub-division) leaders. The clans and lineages (tracing descent to a common maleancestor) and wards thus form an important basis of the social system. Age sets(groups of people of similar age who identify with each other on this basis) areanother important feature of social organization. Social organization is often a key tounderstanding basic aspects of a musical culture, because the formation of en-sembles, the definition of genres, and even the organization of musical events arefrequently shaped by local conceptions of social hierarchy as well as according to thegroups (e.g., gender, age, lineage) that people use to define their social identity.

Among the Anlo-Ewe, voluntary dance clubs, organized by individual villages,wards, or age groups, are the primary institutions through which the all-important


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THE MUSIC OF SU BSA HA RA N A FR IC A 187

Figure 7-5 EweDrumEnsemble: Gideon FoBAlorwoyie ofChana.Iead drummerfor the Yewe Cult, funeral music. Photo. lui Daois.

p rformance. This characteristic, common to many African musical traditions, is aresult of the practice of interlocking multiple parts.

Among the Anlo-Ewe there are a numb r of different lances. Depending onthe specific dance tradition performed, each club uses various typ s of music. Forexam pl , clubs involved in th takada tradition have different g nres for processions,for more leisurely types of dancing, and for the vigorous styles of dancing that areaccompanied by th full drum ensembl . The specific instruments used also d pendon the dance traditions performed by a given club, although c rtain instruments arewidespread (Fig. 7-6).

Typically Ewe drum ensembles include a double-bell (


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188 THE MUSIC OF SUBSAHARAN AFRICA

Figure 7-6 Ewe dnndon drum player o r Chana, memher o r the Brekete Cult. Z'/IO/(J :Art Daois.

parts. In the takada tradition, the small st drum (kaganu) plays a Single repeatedosrinato which, in combination with th bell and rattles, creates the ground of thoverall rb y th 1 . 1 1 ic organi zati on that consists of the co II I bination of the different parts.In the Ewe Gadzo dance, the singers begin the piece and then the bells and shakersestablish the basic time cycl before thr e drums enter with their interlocking partsto cr 'at a rich t xtur and wonderful rhythmic excit ment (CD 2, #3).

Within these ensembles we thus find musical pnncipl s and aesthetic valuesthat have already been discussed for other African societies: cull-and-response,interlock ostinato organization, improvised variation based on stock formulaic pat-t rns, and density in the resulting sound of th ntire ensemble. Th drum ensembleaccompanies both the dancing and th sin ina, and it is the songs th mselves thatare considered particularly important to Ewe participants for expressing the distinc-live identity of the club. As elsewhere in Africa, the dance steps performed can beonsidered integral to the polyrhytbrnic fabric of th total performance.

TheBuganda KingdomBuganda is the name of the country that was formerly the most powerful indepen-dent kingdom in the Lake Victoria region inEast Africa; Baganda is the term for itsBantu-speaking people. The kingdom was particularly w ll-oH economically


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THE MUSIC OF SUB -SAHARAN AFR ICA 189becaus of ecological conditions favorable to azricultur and particularly to the rais-ing of bananas, the staple crop. UnLikemany African kingdoms, the Canda king, orkabaka, did not have divine" or sacred status. His notably strong, centralized powerwas supported by a system in which the king directly appointed and could removesubordinate chiefs, and by his ultimate control over many states. (This contrastswith other African kingdoms, where middle-level chiefs could appoint their ownsubordinates, thereby creating an ind pendent power base.) While individual citi-zens belonged to clans and other social groups, primary allegiance was to the stateand to the kabaka himself.

The kabakas court was a major c nter for musical activity. The kabaka sup-ported a number of different ensembles, and the musicians lived as retainers on landgTanted by the king. One important court ensemble consisted of at least five side-blown trumpets made of bottle-shaped gom-cls.The different gourd-trumpets eachproduced different pitches necessary to complete a melody and were thus playedstrictly in ir terlocking fashion. Like most o f the Buganda instruments, the trumpetswere associated with a specific clau. Anoth r court ensemble, of less prestige than thetrumpets, consisted of five or six end-notched flutes accompanied by four drums.Specific to the court was the akadinda, a large twenty-two key xylophone in which thekeys were freely set on two supporting logs running p rpendicular to th ~keys. A single akadinda was played by six different musicians, thre sitting on each std of theinstrument. Th most important royal ensemble of all was the entenga; this consistedprimari ly oftwelve drums carefully graded in size and tuned to the local pentatonic(five-tone) scale, thus actually serving as melodic instruments, These were played byfour musicians; th y wer accompanied by thre oth r drums played by two drum-mers. The performanc of th eut nga was strictly limit d to the royal enclosur .

The same principles of interlocking parts and ostinato organization that havebeen described for the Shena, Ewe, Pygmies, and Mande are also basic to entengaand akadinda p rformanc . Each piece contains two distinct melodic rhythmic partsknown as okunaga (meaning "to start") and okwawula ("to divid "), each of which icomposed of two or more phrases. On the akadinda xylophon ,the due players foone of the parts sit across the keys facing the three musicians who play the other. Thepitches of the starter and divider parts literally alternate, thereby reproducing thebasic hocket or interlocking technique between the players on opposit ~ sides oth keys. The parts themselves involve ostinato patterns. A third part comprisingonly two pitches, called th okukoonera (or 'binder") mphaslzes composite pat-terns formed by the interaction of the okunaga and okwawula The okukoonerahelps the players orient themselves within the dense ensemble texture.

The political importance of the royal drums and the demise of an African courtradition in the postcolonial p rtod is dramatically illustrated by the story of theBuganda kingdom. DUling th colonial. p riod African kingdoms were often left in


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190 THE MUSIC OF SUB SAHARAN AFRICAcoloniz rs, the kabaka of Buganda was officially recognized in 1900 as the ruler of hissemi-autonomous state, with the provision that be obey the British Governor of theUganda Protectorate.

After independence, many new African states had to deal with the threat tonational unity and state sovereignty that independent kingdoms within their bound-aries might pose. While such problems have been handled variously in differentAfrican countries, in Uganda violent means were used to suppress the powerfulCanda king. Only a few years aft r gaining independence in 1962, troops underUganda's first leader, Apollo Milton Obote, stormed the kabakas palace and sent himinto exile in an effort to stamp out the independent kingdom.

It was no accident that the royal drums were among the things destroyed in theattack on the palace. Traditionally, the drums were sucb central symbols of thekabakaship that potential heirs to the throne were known as the "Princes ofthe Drum." InDesecratio n o f M y Kingdon" (London: Constable, 1967), a book writ-ten in exile by the last kabaka, he says that

Among the sad news of who is dead, who is in prison and what is destroyed comes theconfirmation that the Royal Drums are burnt. I saw this work begun and feared that itmust have been completed. Thes drums, of which there are more than fifty, are theheart of Buganda, some of them hundreds of years old, as old as the Kabakaship. Totouch them was a terrible offens ,to look after them a great honour. A Prine is not aPrince of the Blood but a Prince of the Drum and his status is determined by whichDIU!l1. They all had separate names and Significance and can never be replaced.'With the destruction of the former political system and way of life in the nameof nationalism carne the demise of musical traditions that were central symbols of

that kingdom. Although often less dramatic in nature, transformations of Africanmusical cultures have taken place and are still occurring, throughout the sub-Saharanregion under the pressures of capitalism, nationalism, urbanization, and influencesfrom cosmopolitan culture.

A SAMPL IN G O f INSTRUM EN TSJudging from th few musical cultures already touched on, we can s e that Africanmusical performance includes all the major instrument types (percussion instru-ments, skin-headed drums, winds and strings), and the importance of given instru-ments may valY from on SOCiety to another, Vocal music, however, seems to beemphasized by a great majority of African societies, with the SWlgpoetry often con-sidered as important as the musical accompaniment-if not more so.

We have also seen that aspects of the social and economic organization influ-ence the number and ty p s of instrum nts used within a given SOCiety.For example,

'Mutesa l I, King of Bug"lIcia. Desecration of M y [(j"gdom: The Kabaka of Buganda (Loudon: Con-stable, 1967), p. 193.


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THE MUSIC OF SUB 'SAHARAN AFR ICA 191

the Pygmies and the San of the Kalahari Desert have relatively few permanentinstruments and a minimal material cultur generally because of their nomadic wayof life. In societies where the royal court was an important site for musical perfor-mance, the number, size, and elaborateness of instruments may be greater becauseof both available wealth and a more stable environment for performance, This wasthe case for the large Cauda drum-chim (entenga) and xylophone (akadinda)ensembles as wel1as for court traditions of other East and West African kingdoms.

The tremendous variety of specific African musical instruments, either playedsolo or combined in various types of ensembles, makes ven a partial list difficult.Here it may be useful to highlight some of the most important instrument types aswell as some that are less well known.

Percussion InstrumentsClassified as percussion instruments, lamellaphones (known as mbira, karirnba,kisaanj, likernbe, and by many other names depending on the region) and xylo-phones are two of th most widespread and important instrum nt types in the Sub-Saharan region. Although it has diffused to the Americas, lameUapbones like thembira are instruments Uniquely of African origin. Rattles, bells, cymbals rhythmsticks, stamping tubes (hollow tubes with an open end made to sound when struckagainst the ground), and scrapers are also among the most common instrumentsfound. For each of these general types, however, there are many different varieties,each with a specific local name. For example, there are rattles with the seeds insidethe gourd (the Shona hosho) and those on which beads are sewn into a net stretchedaround the outside of the gourd (the Ewe axatse, and the sekere of the Yoruba ofigeria). ew materials such as soda bottles and cans are becoming increasinglyimportant for the construction of percussion instruments.

Although percussion instruments such as bells, scrapers and rattles primarilyserve rhythmic functions, th aspects of pitch and timbre are important considera-tions in their construction and incorporation into a given ensemble. The parametersof pitch and timbre allow the given percussion instrument to contrast with and com-plement the other instruments used, For instance, the clear, high-pitched, metallicbell in Ewe ensembles contrasts in both pitch and tone quality with the drums andtb hosho both provides a tirnbral contrast and selves to augment the density inrnbira performance.

Drums and "Drum languages"The variety of African drums and their social importance in many societies is strik-ing. In Ghana, for example, the relative status of Akan chiefs of different communi-ties and regions is indicated by the size of their atumpan drums; a subordinate chiefcannot have drums larger than his superior's drums, Among the many Yoruba king-doms of igelia, each court was said to have its own dance rhythms provided by aspecial set of royal drums. The very power of the drum music, and the styles played


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192 THE M USIC OF SUB -SAHARAN A FR ICAwere supposed to express the elevated nature of the aristocracy. Also among theYoruba, some of the most important orisas (deities) have specific types of drums andrepertories associated with them. Drumming is used to call the gods into their m di-ums during Yoruba spirit-possession ceremonies, much as was described for Shonaceremonies. Thus, in these societies, drums are tied to both political and spiritualsources of power.African drums are usually carved from a Single wooden log (e.g., the Candaentenga, Yoruba dundun and igbin, and Akan atumpan, and the Shona ngoma) butmay also be constructed with wooden staves and hoops, as described for the Ewe.Drums are also mad from ceramics, gourds, and even tin cans and oil drums. Bothdouble- and Single-headed types are found in hourglass, conical, cylindrical, andbowl shapes, among others. Metal jangles, shells, or seeds are attached to drumsamong West African groups such as the. Hausa, Dagbamba, Yoruba, and Akanpeoples to create th same type of buzzing effect described for the kora and mbira,

The attention paid to the pitch of drums is notable in many African societies,and it may involve the combination of different-sized, fixed-pitcb drums in en-semble. Some drums, like the Yoruba dundun and the lunga of the Ghanaian Dag-bamba, however, are used to produce multiple pitches. These are hourglass-shapedtension drums; the different pitches are produced by squeezing the lacing that con-nects the two drum heads under one arm while the other hand beats it with a curvedstick. The impOltance of pitched drums goes beyond merely creating contrasts; aswe have seen, it is sometimes xtended to making tuned drums serve as melodicinstruments (e.g., the entenga). More interesting still, pitched drums are used inmany African societies to imitate speech.

Many languages in the Niger-Congo family, including the Bantu languages, aretonal; that is, the meaning of a word depends on the relative pitches applied to givensyllables. Drums, Iamellaphones, and even instruments such as the guitar are usedby the YOIlJbaof Nigeria to articulate verbal formulas-for example, proverbs orpraise narnes-by imitating the tonal patterns of the words. Longer messages can beplayed by drumming the tonal contour of different well-known stereotypic verbalformulas. Since many words may share the same number of syllables and tonal con-tours, the meaning of a given "word" (drummed tonal pattern) can be claimed byfol1owing it with a formula of its own (e.g., "cat" might become "cat walks quietly atnight"), the tonal patterns of the whole phrase bing easier to recognize. The socialand "linguistic" contexts are crucial to interpretation. The Akan atumpan, a set oftwo large tuned drums, are used as speech surrogates, as are the Dagbamba lunga,the Yoruba dundun, and wooden slit drums and paired skin-headed drums in theConzo region, among other examples.

Wind InstrumentsIn som societies, wind instrum nts, especially horns, are also used for Signaling.Trumpets, made from metal or animal horns and often side-blown, are particularly


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THE MUSIC O F SUB SAHARAN AFR ICA 193prevalent throughout the Sub-Saharan region, and are frequently played in inter-locking fashion, as was described for the Canda. Side-blown and vertical Hutes arewidespread African wind instruments. It is perhaps less well known that panpipesare al 0 found in different parts of Africa including among the Venda of southernAfrica the Soga of Uganda, the Yombe of Zaire, the Shena, and in Mozambique.Ranging from a Single tube closed at one end and blown like a bottJe to instrumentswith multiple tubes and pitches, panpipes are usually played collectively in inter-locking fashion, the tones of the scale being divided among the various instrumentsof th ensemble so that each performer inserts the pitches that he or she has withthose of others to create a complete melody.

Stringed InstrumentsWIllie we usually think of the banjo as the most American of instruments, it wasbrought by slaves during the colonial period. The banjo was modeled on WestAfrican lutes, which are known by various names depending on the linguistic groupand region (e.g., tidinit in Mauritania, halam among the Wolof in the Senegambiaarea, kontingo among the Mande). The sound box is made from a gourd or a calvedwooden back with a stretched skin for the face. A neck is attached, and these instru-ments have between two and five strings depending on the region.

A wide variety of harps exist in different African societies. Th kora, which wehave already discussed, combines features of the lute (with a sound box and neck)and the harp, Instruments of this type with both straight and curved necks ar foundall over th Sub-Saharan region. Single- or multlple-string fiddles made with roundsound boxes and skin faces are also important in West Africa (e.g., the gog of theHausa people of igeria) as well as in central and eastern Africa,

The oldest and one of the most widespread stringed instruments of Africa isthe musical bow. Like the bows used to shoot arrows, it consists of a singl shingattached to each end of a curved stick. Depending on the tradition either a gourdattach d to the stick or th mouth cavity of the player s rves as a resonator. Thestrtng is either plucked or, alternatively, struck with another stick; it is sometimesstopped with a hard implement to raise the pitch. The playing technique results in apercussive and yet beautiful and delicate sound. One of the n west and most wide-spread stringed instruments is the guitar. There are local acoustic guitar traditions alover Africa, and electric guitars have become central to the new urban styles.

POPULAR M USIC IN THE TW ENTIETH CENTURYOver tile cours of the twentieth century, new popular music styles emerged incountries throughout the Sub-Saharan region alongside the indigenous musical tra-ditions that. continued to be performed, African musicians combined European,North American, and Latin American musical instruments, scales, harmonies,rhythms, and genres with local musical instruments and styles to create their own


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194 THE MUSIC OF SUB -SAHARAN AFRICAdistinctive forms of popular music. Local elements and musical sensibilities maeach emerging style unique whlle the cosmopolitan elements served as a kindcommon denominator among them. During the first half of the twentieth centurEuropean colonialism generated institutions and social attitudes that led to temergence of new musical styles. Mid-century, African nationalism becam a pmary force for local musical cr ativity, By the 19 Os, in the context of the "worlbeat" or "world music" phenomenon, African musicians were attractedint mational markets and thus shaped their styles to cater to cosmopolitan audnc s in Europe, orth America, Japan, Australia, and elsewhere.

Through military conquest, various European powers colonized the SuSaharan rezion in order to control resources and labor for production and ulmat ly to expand capitalist markets. Along with th use of force, colongovernments and missionaries also used legislation and education to teach Africato accept European "civilization" as superior to their own ways of life, and thusace pt their 0\>111 subservi nt position. Through colonial education a small Africmiddle class began to emerze in the different colonies. Serving as clerks, teacherforemen, and in other low-level administrative positions, this group understooEuropean ducation as the 111 ans to upward social mobility within th colonord r. In the process, middl -clas Africans internaliz d colonial values and aestheics and became attracted to European and cosmopolitan music and dance styles.

W'opean musical instruments and styles were first tauzht to Africans througtwo colonial institutions, military bands and schools. Particularly in th Briticolonies, Africans were trained in military band music and these musicians oftwent on to form dane bands that played cosmopolitan styles such as European poular music and jazz; it was often these musicians who also cr ated new local populstyles. In the process of Christian conversion, missionaries taught school childrereligiOUSsongs and hY111ns,which were sometimes translated into their own laguages. Through singina in school and church, Africans learned how to r ad musthey b came accustomed to European diatonic m ladies 0 .. , melodies based on tstandard do-re-mi scale) and harmonies with basic Western chords (I, IV, V). Thalso 1 arned vel)' dlfferent a sthetic values. For instance, instead of the dense ovlapping sounds typical of indigenous performance, school children w re taughtvalue clear, precise phrasing (e.g., everyone singing the same notes at exactly tsame time), and pr cise vocal diction. Tb se values influenced certain urban populstyles such as highMe in Ghana, and "cone rt" music in Zimbabwe that esp ciapertained to the African middle class.

In addition to schools and the military, commercial interests also played a krole in diffusing cosmopolitan instruments and styles in Africa. B the 1920s, a vaety of relativ ly inexpensive instruments such as mass-produced auitars, harmonicaconcertinas, accordions, autoharps, and banjos became available in dl)' good storin larger towns, cities, and in mininz centers. Thes Instruments becam populamong th emerging working class who, through wage labor, had some money


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THE MUSIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFR ICA 195spend. Commercial recordings of European popular music, Latin American andCaribbean styles (especially Cuban son, and Trinidadian calypso), and u.s. popularmusic including jazz, country & western, and popular groups such as the MillsBroth rs b cam available by the 1930s and 1940s, as rock 'n' roll, soul, and rapwould become later.

By mid-century, local acoustic guitar styles had emerged in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Sometimes the guitar was simply adapted to styles formerly playedon local indigenous instruments. For example, in Zimbabwe and South Africa, theguitar was used to play mbira and bow music, or in West Africa to play music for-merly performed on indigenous lutes (e.g., halam, or kontingo). In other cases,African musicians used the guitar to play foreign styles; surprisingly, early Americancountry &western performers sucb as Jimmie Rodgers and Tex Ritter were popularmodels for African guitarists in many re~ons. The acoustic guitar usually accompa-nied by percussion instruments, was also used to play Hewstyles that were fusions offoreign and local musical elements Examples include West African "palrnwine" gui-tar music and various acoustic guitar styles in the Congo region, and in southern andeastern Africa. Common to African guitaJists in many places, a two-finger (thumband index) picking sty1ewas us d to play independent bass and melody lines withinsimple chord progressions (e.g., I, IV,V;I, V;I, IV, I, V;I, IV , ii,V) in first position (onthe first three frets of th gUitar). By the 19605, electric guitars had begun to replacacoustic instruments inpopularity.

West AfricaIn West Africa, dance-band highlife music Originated on the Ghanaian coast, wh rthe training of local African musicians in the brass-band idiom had begun as early asthe eighteenth century, and where port life had introduced the locals to many Inter-national musical styles. By the 19205, big bands using brass instruments and playingEurop an popular dance genres like the waltz and fox-trot began perfonnin atupper-cl"llst social affairs for the westernized African elites and Europeans. DUI;ngthis period local Akan melodies and rhythms began to creep into the highlife reper-tOIY,thereby Africanizing what was more or less a Western musical style in terms ofrhythm and orchestration.Itwas not until aft r World War II, however, that the fusion of Western andAfrican elements became more integral inbig-band lughbfe. Accordinz to DavidCoplan, E.T. Mensah, the "King of Highlife," was the first to orchestrate both tradi-tional themes and indigenous rhythms for dance band in conjunction with the use oforth and Latin American genres such as swing, the samba, the Cuban son, and

calypso (see Chapter 9). By this time the electric guitar' had be n incorporated, andMensah's group used that instrument as well as trumpet, trombone saxophone, siI;ngbass, and a Cuban-style percussion section. While these groups were playing for higher-class patrons, a parallel development of "guitar-band" higblife grew up among the


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196 THE MUSIC OF SUB 'SAHARAN AFRICAlower classes in urban centers. This style fused the t chniques and repertorieslocal Ghanaian instrumental traditions with those of the guitar and songs learnefrom sailors. The music of West Indian sailors, whose rhythms were originally baseinAfrican larnellaphone and strinz t chniques, came full circle and began to inflence West African highlife.

"Palm-wine" music, played on acoustic guitar and accompanied by various pecussion instruments, spread throughout British West Africa, In Lagos, Nigeripalm-wine and other syncr tic urban working-class styles served as a basis for jumusic. ow associated with th ~names Ebenezer Obey and King Sunny Ade, juhas become one of the internationally best-known "African-pop" styles. ChristopheWaterman suggests that after World War II, the us of amplification influenced jujuevolution to include both mor modern and increasingly traditional African featuresimultaneously. With the lise of electric gujtars and amplified vocals, it became posibl to reintroduc larger and more complex percussion sections using the Yorubsekere (rattle) and the hourglass-shaped "talking drum," among other instrumentsTh pedal steel zuitar has also b n added to juju instrumentation, an element thmight be traced back to the popularizing of North American country and Hawaiiamusic on 78-rpm records in earlier decades. The highly polished "studio" soundcontemporary juju bands is also aided by the use of S)'I thesizers, Juju groups combine the traditional functions of prais singing and social-dance drumming, and peform both at urban bars and neotraditional Yoruba ceremonies (naming ceremoniesweddings, funerals). Although Western harmonies ar us d, juju music is organizearound a series of interlocking ostinato parts played by the guitars and drummerand Iader-chorus call-and-response singing.

Congo-ZaireWithin the Sub-Saharan region, th r is no doubt that the urban-popular guitamusic of the Congo-Zaire region has had a more profound impact than any otheSingle African style. Leading exponents of the styl include Franco and his banO.K. Jazz, Docteur Nico, and Kanda Bongo Man amana others. Local likemb(lamellaphone) dance music (accompanied by struck bottles and a drum) and AfrCuban music served as the foundations of the Zaire-Congo style. By the mid-1950the l ikernbe had been replaced by acoustic guitar, and by the late 1950s Caribbeamusk b came a primary mod , , 1 with lectric guitars as well as saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, and flutes sometimes being used. Different international "danccrazes" involving Afro-Cuban music were fueled throughout the Americas, Europeand Africa by the recording industry For some reason, th Afro-Cuban son and thdistinctive Cuban "clave" pattern (see Chapter 9) took hold in the Congo region.

At first, groups copi d the Cuban recordings to the extent that some even imtat d th orizinal Spanish texts. As tim went on, howev r, the Congolese groupbegan to develop their own distinctive sound as well as incorporate new foreiginflu rices such as riffs from North merican sou) music. Less rhythmically comple


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THE MUSIC OF SUBSAHARAN AFRICA 197than juju, the Congolese style is organized around one or more guitar ostinatos,which serve to accompany th high, sweet singing style of performers like Franco.This style is now knowninteruationally as soukous, A performance usually includeslong improvised guitar solos as well as the sparse, orchestrated entrances of the homsection over a danceable rhythm in duple meter. Perhaps inspired by the Congolesesound, the us of Cuban-style rhythms and rhythm sections can be heard in East andWest Africa as well as in the modern music of Mali where, as in the style of theSuper-Rail Band, such elements are fused with lectric-guitar ostinatos and solosthat are clearly based on kora music.

South AfricaTh urban-popular music of SOUtlIAfrica-a particularly early European settle-ment-cliffers in various ways from the styles created in other countries. The tra-ditional music of th Nzuni (Zulu-, Swazi-, Sotho-, Xhosa-speaking) peoples of theregion is itself stylistically distinct from the music of other African areas. For ex-ampl , in contrast to all the African musical styles that we have discussed so far,Nguni music is a pr dominantly choral-vocal style using slower tempos and lackingth polyrhythrnic percussion accompaniments found in, say, West Africa. The musictauzht by Christian missionaries, also a choral tradition, bad a particularly strongimpact in South Africa, as did North American urban-popular musical traditions.

Various related syncretic choral styles were created using these sources in thecontext of the dismal living conditions of rural African migrant workers, who wereforced by harsh circumstances to seek employment in the mines and cities. Withinthe workers' compounds, vocal-dance groups formed and participated in competi-tions, which became a primary social outlet. Styles such as mbube, bombing, and isi-cathamiya blend d the harmonies taught by missionaries with the slow Zulu choralstyl characterized by multiple overlapping ostinatos. The music of Ladysmith BlackMarnbazo ~U1dti l arlier 1939 hit of Solomon Linda, popularized Internationally byPete Se gel', "Mbub " ("Lion," or "The Lion Sleeps TOnight") are examples thatcome out of this line of development. In addition to the vocal traditions, urban-BlackSouth African music was also bighly influenced by African-American instrumentaltraditions, including the music of minstr 1shows, ragtime, jazz, and more recentlyrock. Black jazz and rock groups flourish in the cities, as do artists who play locallycreated variants blending indigenous and international styles. ContemporaryZulu "jive" or mbaq'anga bands blend electric gllitars, bass, and trap drums withaccordions, violins, and penny whistles tor a straight ahead, dJiving dance beat in4/4 time.

ZimbabweLike elsewhere in Africa, "Zairian rumba" has been popular in Zimbabwe since thelat 1950s, and South African styl s such as mbaq'anga hav also been very influentialamong 101:almusicians as have lorth American rock and soul Two urban-popular


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198 T H E M USIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAguitar genres, however, stand out as unique to Zimbabwe. The most famous of theseinvolves the performance of classical mbira music by electric dance bands; the sec-ond geme known as j'it or jiti, is associated with dance drumming and songs per-formed ill informal gatheJings in Shena villages. Both mbira music and jit wereplayed by solo itinerant acoustic guitarists by at least the late 1940s (at the time jitwas called marabi, tsaba, and by other South African names). Similar to much Shenavillage music (but unlike mbira music), jit has a two-phrase ostinato, each phrasebeing 12 quick pulses with beats 1,4, 7, and 10 receiving equal accents. These char-acteristics remain regardless of whether [it is performed by village drummers andsingers, solo acoustic guitalists or electric dane bands.

By the mid-1960s young Zimbabwean rock" bands b gan to add a few Shenavillage songs to their typical repertoires of Zairian rumba, South African mbaq'anga,and North American rock and soul. It was in the 19705, however, during a periodof heightened black nationalism and the violent war to end white rule, that urbanaudiences began responding to electric band renditions of Shena village music.Inspired by positive audi nee r actions, a numb r of Zimbabwean guitm handsbegan to play increasingly more local Shena music especially mbira-based songsand jit, in symbolic support of Shena identity and the war effort. This Zimbabweanguitar style continued to be refined throughout the 1980s by artists such as ThomasMapfumo.

Mapfumo's music is a wonderful example of the blending of indigenousAfrican and Western-popular musical elements. He began his professional career inth 1960s playing cover versions of English and American rock and soul music, aswell as some Shona village songs. He recorded his Hrst song based on classical mbiramusic in 1974. On this recording and throughout the 1970s his bands played mbiraand jit songs with electric guitars, bass, drums, and horns. In the mid-1980s, whenhe began to tour internationally, however, he added an actual mbira player, and bythe early 19905 he had three mbira players in th band.

Classical mbira pieces like Nhemamusasa are used as the basis for man)' ofMapfumo s pieces. Electric guitars play the basic four-phrase kushaura ostinato aswell as melodic lines that would be on the higher mbira keys; the electric bass playsthe part of the lower mbira keys of the kushaura. In recent recordings according toMapfumo, the keyboard often plays the kutsinhira mbira part, and the mbiras dividethese parts as they normally would (see Mango MLP 9848 in the discography). Thedrummer plays a rhythm on the highhat that sounds like the traditional hosho usedto accompany the mbira, and Shona hand-clapping patterns and an actual hosho arealso added. Mapfurno sings in Shona village style including the high, yodeling tech-nique and low-pitched singing of vocables; he also sings traditional lyrics as wellas texts of his own composition. While Shona people who remain in the villagesand who hav migrated to the cities still play mbira and bosho, or drums at spirit-possession ceremonies, Mapfumos music, like that of urban-popular bands all over


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THE MUSIC OF SUB-SAHARAN AFR ICA 199Africa, illustrates the creativity and adaptability of African musicians in the contextof ever-changing social conditions.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA BIBLIOGRAPHYAfrican Music, General Robert Kauffman, "African Rhythm: A Reassessment,"Ethnom1.lsicology 24 (3),1980; Alan E Merriam, "Traditional Music of Black Africa,"in Phyllis M. Martin and Patrick O'Meara, eds., Africa (Bloomington: Indiana Uni-versity Press, 1977); J. H. Kwabena ketia, The Music of Africa ( ew York: W.W.orton, 1974); Ruth Stone, ed., Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol, 1:

Africa ( ew York: Garland Publishing, 1998).Ewe and Ghana John Miller Chernoff, Afl"ical1 R.hythm and Afdcan SenSibility:Aesthetics and Social Action 'in African Musical Idioms (Chica 0: University ofChicago Press, 1979) Alfred Kwashie Ladzekpo and KobJa Ladzekpo, "Anlo EweMusic in Anyako, Volta Region, Ghana," in Elizabeth May, ed., Musics of Many Cul-tures (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980).Ganda Music Lois Ann Anderson, "Multipart Relationships in Xylophone andTuned Drum Traditions in Buganda," Selected Reports in Ethnomusico[ogy, [Vol-wne 5:] Studies in African Music (Los Angeles: Program in Ethnomusicology,Department of Music, UCLA, 1984); Peter Cooke, "Canada Xylophone Music:Another Approach," African Music 4 (4),1970.Mande Peoples Roderic Knight, "Music in Africa : The Mancling [Mand ] Con-texts," in Gerard Behagu ,ed., Perjormance Practice: Ethnomusicologi 'al Perspec-tives (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1984); Eric Charry, Mande Music (Chicago:University of Chicago, 2000).Pygmies Colin Turnbull, The Forest People: A Study of the Pygmies of the Congo(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962); Michelle Kisliuk, Seize the Dance! BaAkaMusical Dife and the Ethnography of Performance (New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1998).Shona of Zimbabwe Paul F. Berliner, The Soul of Mbira (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1993); Thomas TUJ;no ationalists, COS17WpoUtCl/1S,and PopularMusic in Zimbabu:e (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).Studies in African Urban-Popular Music John Collins, "Ghanaian Highlife,"African Arts 10 (1), 1976; John Collins, Africa'rt Pop Roots (London: Foulsham,1985); David Coplan, In Township Tonight! South Africa:", Black City Music andTheatre (London: Longman, 1986); David Coplan, "Go to My Town, Cape Coast!The Social History of Ghanaian Highlife," in Bruno ettl, ed., Eieh: Urban MusicalCultures (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978); Veit Erlmann, African Stars:


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200 THE MUSIC OF SUB -SAHARAN AFR ICA

Studies in South African Performance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991);Ronnie Craham, The Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music ( ew YorkDa Capo, 1988); Christopher Waterman, JUjtL A Social History and Ethnography ofan African Popular Music (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990).

AFR ICA D ISCOGRAPHYAnthologies Musical Instruments 1: St'rings, Music of Africa Series No. 27 (CALP1322); Mustcal Instruments 2: Reeds (Mbira), Music of Africa Series No.2 (CALP1 32 3); M u sica l lnstrumerus 3: Drums, Music o f A frica Series No. 29 (KaleidophoneKMA 3); MuS'icallnstruments 4: Flutes and Horns, Music of Africa ieries No. 30(CALP 1325); Musical Instruments 5: Xylophones, Music of Africa Series o. 31(CALF 1326); Mu.sical Instruments 6: Guitars 1, Music o f A frica Series No. 32(CALP 1327).Ewe and Ghana Folk Music of Chana (Folkways FW 8859); Drums of WestAfri-ea:Ritual Music of Ghana. (Lyrichord LLST 7307); Ewe Music of Ghana (AschMankind Series AHM 4222); Songs of War from the Slave Coast: Abutia-Kloe Ewe(Ethnic Folkways FE 4258).Ghana Uganda 1, Music o f A frica Series (Kaleidophone KMA 10).Mande Kora Manding; Mandinka Music of the Gambia (Ethnodisc ER 12101);Mandinka Kora par Jali Nyma Suso (Ocora OCR 70); Rhythms of the MandingAdama Drame (Jembe) (U ESCO Collection, CREM DSM 042); Malamin;Jobarteh & Dembo Kortie , JaUya (Bounder 5021); Sounds of West Africa: The Kora& the Xylophon.e (Lyrichord LLST 7308).Pygmies Music of the Rain Forest Pygmies (Lyrichord LLST 7157); Pygmies of theItuti Forest (Folkways FE 4457); Music of the Ituri Forest (Folkways FE 4483).SllOna The Soul of Mbira: Traditions of the Shona People of Rhodesia ( onesuchH-72054); Africa: Shena Mbtra Music ( onesuch H-72077); The African Mbim:Music of the Shona People of Rhodesia ( onesuch H-72043); Rhodesia I, Music ofAfrica Series (Kaleidophone KMA8), Ephat Mujuru,: Master of Mbira from Zi'IJ1-babioe (Lyrichord LLST 7398).Urban-Popular Music Ju [u Roots: 1930s-1950s (Rounder 5017); Ki.ng SunnyAde and His African Beats; Juju Music (Mango 9712); Zulu JiDe (Earthworks ELF2002); Viva Zimbabwe (Earthworks ELP 2001); Voices of Africa: Highlife and OtherPopular Music by Saka Acquaye and His African Ensemble from Ghana ( onesuchExplorer H-72026); Black Star Liner. Reggae from Afri.ca (Heartbeat 41556);Mbube Roots' Zulu Choral Musicfrom South Africa, 1930s-1960s (Rounder 5025);Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited; Corruption (Mango MLP 9848).

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