Africa

1
Africa

• Lecture II
• March 21, 2005

2
Senegambia
3
Caste Society

• Profession and Status in society is determined by
  birth.
• Limited mobility among Castes (yet there is
  some!)
• BASIC CASTE SYSTEM
• Nobles (Horon)
• Artisans (Nyamalo)
• Carpenter
• Leather smith
• Ironsmith
• Storytellers (Jali)

4
The Jali Tradition

• Jali (pl. Jalolou Fr. Griot)
• Experts in speech, song, and instrumental musical
  performance
• Public entertainers
• Educators
• oral historians
• transmit religious knowledge (local beliefs)
• moral advisors (esp. to royalty)
• Politically important
• praise singers
• diplomats
• cultural exporters
• Supposedly date back to 13th century, but
• Kouyate lineage 150 generations old ( 3000 years)

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The Paradoxical Social Status of Jalolou

• Nyamalo (low in social order)
• But possess nyama (life force)
• Provide essentials for society
• Power of the spoken word most important
• Have power of knowledge
• Can praise and criticize
• Economic patronage based on this power
• Offerings and gift exchange (material wealth for
  praises)
• Interdependence of praiser and praised
• Social Ambivalence

6
Jaliya

• Play various instruments
• Balafon
• Talking drums
• Kora
• What is missing?
• Borong (4 stringed kora like instrument)
  Associated with Hunters
• Djembe! (Well-known in America. Goblet Shaped
  Drum performed associated with ?????

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The Kora Lambango

• Specific to Senegambian Jali
• Instrumental terms
• Kumbengo melody (ostinato)
• Birimintingo virtuosic passages (usually
  descending)
• Vocal terms
• Donkilo tune with sung text
• Sataro extemporaneous spoken or chanted passage

8
Oral and Written History

• Which is better record of the past?
• Which is remembered better?
• Who gets to write/tell history?
• Is a piece of paper really a neutral record of
  the past?
• How much is left open to interpretation?

9
Jaliya

• Play various instruments
• Balafon
• Talking drums
• Kora
• What is missing?
• Borong (4 stringed kora like instrument)
  Associated with Hunters
• Djembe! (Well-known in America. Goblet Shaped
  Drum performed associated with ?????

10
Two Senegambian Performance

• Traditional Setting African Aesthetics
• Ballet Setting European Aethsetics
• First well examine the performances on their own
  terms. Then we will consider them in comparison.

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The Scramble for Africa1884 Congress of Berlin
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Ethno-LinguisticGroups ofAfrica
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Generic African Musical Aesthetics

• Rhythm but really
• Complex textures
• Polyphony
• Polyrhythm
• Participation
• Repetition
• Improvisation
• Lyrical creativity
• Entendre and double (triple, quadruple) meanings

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Concluding Thoughts

• Oral historians bring the past to life into the
  present
• Recitations and invocations lineage important
  because
• Ancestors retain power over the living
• Must be remembered so they can protect the living
• Might torment the living otherwise

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Instruments Cross culturally

• Cuba Bata Drums / the Orisha Ana
• Ecuador Harp
• Andes Panpipe
• Mande Djembe construction and spirituality