Music 320C Fall 1999
The Music of Africa and the Diaspora

Dr. Andrew Schloss
Office: A174 or B002 Local: 721-7931 or studio: 721-7929
Office hours: Tues 4:30-5:30 pm, Weds 2-3 pm or by appointment (call to confirm)

Classes: MacLaurin A168 Tues, Weds, Fri 11:30 pm —12:20 pm

MU320C Videos Shown in Class and Library Reserve Materials


On reserve or available in the library (See complete list posted in Music and Audio)

J. Kwabena Nketia 1974 The Music of Africa
John Storm Roberts 1998 Black Music of Two Worlds
Peter Manuel Popular Music of the World
Jaap Kunst Ethnomusicology
Helen Myers, et alia Ethnomusicology, An Introduction
Joseph Conrad 1902 Heart of Darkness
Andrew Apter 1992 Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba Society
Liisa Malkki 1995 Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Consciousness Among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania
Sipho Sepamla 1981 A Ride on the Whirlwind
David Hecht et al 1994 Invisible Governance: The Art of African Micropolitics
Jared Diamond 1998 Guns, Germs and Steel

(Encarta Africana -- Microsoft CD-ROM available late 1999)

plus numerous CDs and LP's on reserve (see reserve list)

Grading:
paper 30%
video journal 10%
in-class presentation 25%
Final exam (listening) 35%

Africa is the birthplace of humankind, and therefore also the birthplace of music.
Africa today is an incredibly diverse and complex continent; over seven hundred distinct languages and a multitude of musical cultures abound. During the 20th century, the influence of African music and culture has become a worldwide phenomenon—popular culture as we know it today would not exist without the existence and profound power of the African aesthetic. Interwoven with this story of global influence are multiple histories of imperialism, colonialism, slavery, dictatorships, markets, nationalism, and neo-colonialism.

This course serves for many students as an introduction to the perspective of Ethnomusicology as well as to African music and culture. We will examine and attempt to understand in context, the numerous and complex differences between the "Eurological" versus "Afrological" views of the universe. We will study Africa's folklore, traditional, popular and religious music, all of which are interrelated. Because Africa's history and culture are so unfamiliar , documentary film and video will be used to help us understand African culture beyond the intellect.


Visiting Lecturers (on video)
Robert Farris Thompson Yale University Cuba, Nigeria (Yoruba)
Henry Frank Caribbean Cultural Center Haitian dance
Errol Hill Dartmouth College Trinidad Carnival
Margaret Drewal Northwestern University Yoruba culture
Orlando Puntilla Nueva Generación Cuba, New York
Mackie Burnette Brown University Trinidad
Mor Thiam Senegal/New York Senegal
Milford Graves jazz musician, drummer African influence in Jazz
Veve Clark Brown University Haiti


Class summary (subject to modification):

Week 1 Introduction, overview
Sept 10

Week 2 Ethnomusicological approach to African music
Sept 14 Reading: Nketia, Section 1

Week 3 Aesthetic differences between Africa and Europe
Sept 21 Video: Nigeria

Week 4 "Drum Talk" Language surrogates and the influence on drumming and rhythm.
Sept 28 Tonal languages in Africa, playing "nonsense."

Week 5 Organology of African instruments
Oct 5 Reading: Nketia, Section 2

Week 6 The structure of African rhythm: bell patterns, mesoperiodicity
Oct 12 Reading: Nketia, Section 3

Week 7 The Black Diaspora, Slavery, Colonialism and Hegemony
Oct 19 Heart of Darkness (Conrad/Apocolypse Now)

Week 8 Islamic/Christian influences in African music
Oct 26

Week 9 African Popular music vs traditional music
Nov 2 Paper Due

Week 10 Reading: Nketia, Section 4 (Reading Break)
Nov 9 The New World/Africa: Reflections in both directions
eg Africando: revisit Cuba via Africa, and other examples (anthology)

Week 11 In-class presentations
Nov 16 Video Journal Due

Week 12 In-class presentations
Nov 23

Week 13 Review for exam
Nov 30 Last Class December 3


December X, 1999 —FINAL EXAM


Videos (partial list):
Shanachie Nigerian popular music video (Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, et al)
Mamady Keita documentary djembe and Guinean music
Ballet National du Guinea
Divine Horseman (Haiti) possession and trance
*Maluala
*Nigerian Batá ensemble—Egungun

Musical styles (selected examples):

Cuba: Rumba, Santería, Abakuá, Arará, Tumba Francesa, Bembé, Palo
Haiti: Vodun
Jamaica: Reggae, ska
Brazil: Candomblé, batucada, samba, bossa nova, capoeira
Colombia: Cumbia
Dominican Republic: Merengue

African ethnicities (sampling):
Ghana: Ewe, Ashanti, Akan, Ga, Dagomba
Nigeria: Yoruba, Tiv, Ibo, Efik, Hausa
Senegal: Wolof, Malinke, Tucalor
Mali: Bambara
Zaire: Pygmy
Zimbabwe: Shona
Tanzania: Masai
Mozambique: Chopi
South Africa: Xhosa, Zulu

Books on Reserve or available in Library:

Abraham The Mind of Africa
*Roger Bastide African Civilizations in the New World
Lydia Cabrera El Monte, Sociedad Secreta Abakuá, Anaforuana
J. F. Carrington Talking Drums of Africa London, 1949
John Miller Chernoff African Rhythm and African Sensibility
*Maya Deren Divine Horsemen
*Cheikh Diop Precolonial Black Africa
*Margaret, H. Drewal Gelede: Art and Female Power Among the Yoruba
*Lynn Emery Black Dance From 1619 to Today
*Sheldon Gellar Senegal—An African Nation Between Islam and the West
*Geoffrey Gorer Africa Dances
Ronnie Graham The Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music
Judith Lynne Hanna To Dance is Human
*Paul Carter Harrison The Drama of Nommo
Paul Carter Harrison Totem Voices
*Errol Hill The Trinidad Carnival
*Errol Hill (editor) The Theatre of Black Americans
Michel Huet The Dance Art and Ritual of Africa
Janheinz Jahn Muntu Grove 1961
A.M. Jones Studies in African Music
Alfred Métraux Voodoo in Haiti Schocken
Jean Price-Mars Lemba, 1650-1930: A Drum of Affliction Garland
John Mbiti African Religions and Philosopy
*Joseph Murphy Santería: An African Religion in America
*Rex Nettleford Dance Jamaica
Fernando Ortiz Los Instrumentos de la música afrocubana
Fernando Ortiz Africanía de la música folklórica de CubaLa Habana
Gilbert Rouget Music and Trance Chicago 1985
Curt Sachs World History of the Dance
Curt Sachs Rhythm and Tempo
*Thomas Sebeok Speech Surrogates: Drum and Whistle Languages (2 vols)
Wole Soyinka Death and the King's Horseman
Michael Taussig Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man
*Rbt Farris Thompson African Art in Motion
*Rbt Farris Thompson Flash of the Spirit
Jeff Titon (editor) Worlds of Music
*Victor Turner The Ritual Process
*Derek Walcott Dream on Monkey Mountain and Other Plays




Articles For Paper:

Agawu, V. Kofi " 'Gi Dunu,' 'Nyekpadudo,' and the Study of West African Rhythm," Ethnomusicology, Winter 1986

Amoaku, W. Komla "Toward a Definition of Traditional African Music: A Look at the Ewe of Ghana," (source?)

Bailey, Ben E. "The Lined-Hymn Tradition in Black Mississippi Churches," The Black Perspective in Music, (date?)

Baklanoff, Joy Driskell "The Celebration of A Feast: Music, Dance, and Possession Trance in the Black Primitive Baptist Footwashing Ritual ," Ethnomusicology, Fall 1987

Behague, Gerard "Bossa & Bossas: Recent Changes in Brazilian Urban Popular Music," Society for Ethnomusicology and The American Musicological Society, November 1971

Berrett, Joshua "The Golden Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation," The Black Perspective in Music, Summer 1987

Blacking, John "Political and Musical Freedom in the Music of Some Black South African Churches," from Ladislov Holy and Milan Stuchlik's The Structure of Folk Models, ASA Monograph 20, London Academic Press, 1980

Blacking, John "Some Problems of Theory and Method in the Study of Musical Change," Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council , 1977

Blacking, John "The Structure of Musical Discourse: the Problem of the Song Text, Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol.14, 1982

Blacking, John "The Value of Music in Human Experience," Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, 1969

Booker, Queen "Congregational Music in a Pentecostal Church," The Black Perspective in Music (date?)

Burnim, Mellonee "Culture Bearer and Tradition Bearer: An Ethnomusicologist's Research on Gospel Music," Ethnomusicology, Fall 1985

Coplan, David "Go to My Town, Cape Coast! The Social History of Ghanaian Highlife," Eight Urban Musical Cultures (source, date?)

Crook, Larry "A Musical Analysis of the Cuban Rumba," Latin American Music Review, Vol. 3, No.1, Spring/Summer 1982

Cowdery, James R. "A Fresh Look of the Concept of Tune Family," Ethnomusicology, September 1984

Drewel, Margaret Thompson "Art and Trance Among Yoruba Shangó Devotees" African Arts vol 20 no 1 1986

Drewel, Margaret Thompson and Henry John Drewel "Composing Time and Space in Yoruba Art" Word and Image vol 3 no 3 1987

Erlman, Veit "Trance and Music in the Hausa Boorii Spirit Possession Cult in Niger," Ethnomusicology, January 1982

Feld, Steven "Linguistic Models in Ethnomusicology," Journal of Ethnomusicology, XVIII:2 (date?)

Feld, Steven "Sound Structure as Social Structure," Ethnomusicology, September 1984

Fiagbedzi, Nissio "On Signing and Symbolism in Music: The Evidence from among an African People," (source, date?)

Gridley, Mark and Wallace Rave. 1984. "Towards Identification of African Traits in Early Jazz" The Black Perspective in Music v12 p 44-56.

Guilbault, Jocelyne "Fitness and Flexibility: Funeral Wakes in St. Lucia, West Indies," Ethnomusicology, Spring/Summer 1987

Hatton, Orin T. "In the Tradition: Grass Dance Musical Style and Female Pow-Wow Singers," Ethnomusicology, Spring/Summer 1986

Herndon, Marcia " Toward Evaluating Musical Change through Musical Potential," Ethnomusicology, Fall 1987

Hornbostel, E.M. Von "The Ethnology of African Sound-Instruments," Africa: Journal of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures, April 1933

Kauffman, Robert "African Rythm: a Reassessment," Ethnomusicology, September 1980

Kerr, David. 1987. "Unmasking the Spirits" TDR vo 31 no 2

Kirby, E.T. 1974. "Indigenous African Theatre" TDR vol 18 no 4

Koetting, James "What Do We Know About African Rythm?," Ethnomusicology, Winter 1986

List, George " Acculturation and Musical Tradition," International Folk Music Journal, 16, 1964

Midgett, Douglas "Performance Roles and Musical Change in a Caribbean Society," Ethnomusicology, January 1977

Needham, Rodney. 1967. "Percussion and Transition." Man n.s., 2:606-14 (date?)

Neher, Andrew. 1962. "A Physiological Explanation of Unusual Behavior in Ceremonie Involving Drums" Human Biology 4:151-60

Nettl, Bruno "Speculations on Musical Style and Musical Content in Acculturation," (source, date?)

Porter, James "Prolegomena to a Comparative Study of European Folk Music," Ethnomusicology, September 1977

Rice, Timothy "Toward the Remodeling of Ethnomusicology," Ethnomusicology, Fall 1987

Roberts, John Storm "Salsa! The Latin Dimension in Popular Music" BMI Magazine (date?)

Rosenberg, Bruce A. "The Genre of the Folk Sermon," Negro Folk Music, 1963

Singer, Roberta and Robert Friedman "Puerto Rican and Cuban Musical Expression in New York," New World Records, recorded anthology of American Music

Stanford, E. Thomas "The Mexican Son," Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council, 1972

Smith, Barbara Barnard "Variability, Change, and the Learning of Music," Ethnomusicology, Spring/Summer 1987

Snead, James "On Repetition in African Culture" Black American Literary Forum 15, no 4 (Winter 1981).

Stigberg, David K. "Jarocho, Tropical, and 'Pop': Aspects of Musical Life in Veracruz, 1971-72," Eight Urban Musical Cultures (date?)

Stone, Ruth M. "Commentary: The Value of Local Ideas in Understanding West AfricanRhythm," Ethnomusicology, Winter 1986

Teske, Raymond H. & Bardin Nelson " Acculturation and Assimilation: a Clarification," American Ethnologist (date?)

Thompson, Robert Farris "An Aesthetic of the Cool" (source, date)

Ventura, Michael "Hear That Long Snake Moan," Whole Earth Review, Spring 1987

Waterman, Richard Alan "African Influence on the music of the Americas,"
Tax: Acculturation in the Americas, Vol. II (The University of Chicago Press, 1952)


VIDEO JOURNAL:

Keep a journal of questions/issues that come to mind while watching the videos in class. to be handed in on Fri, November 26.


Available in the library (so you can try out before buying):

Afro-Cuba: A Musical Anthology Rounder
Los Van Van: Songó Mango Records
Mongo Santamaria: Afro Roots Prestige
Conjunto Folklórico Nacional de Cuba Bembé Records

Available in the music office:

Grupo Ilu Aña—Sacred Rhythms of Cuba Fundamento Pdns.
¡Afrocubanismo! at Banff Fundamento/Bembé

Yoruba talking drum (dundun) with equivalent "speech" played on drum: