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The History of Music in Africa
African Music in Social Context
Authentic African music - the traditional music of the black peoples of Africa - is little known abroad. The non-African listener can find the music strange, difficult, and unattractive; and therefore often concludes that it is not of interest. Both African and non-African music are human inventions and individual notes contain the same elements such as pitch, duration, tone colour and intensity. Music plays a similar role in most societies, as work songs, lullabies, battle songs, religious music, and so on. Generally speaking the same categories of instruments are found in Africa as in Europe, namely stringed instruments, wind instruments, and percussion.
The African concept of music is totally different to the Western one though. Traditional African musicians do not seek to combine sounds in a manner pleasing to the ear. Their aim is simply to express life in all of its aspects through the medium of sound. The African musician does not merely attempt to imitate nature by music, but reverses the procedure by taking natural sounds, including spoken language, and incorporate them into the music. To the uninitiated this may result in cacophony, but in fact each sound has a particular meaning. To be meaningful, African music must be studied within the context of African life.
Music has an important role in African society. Music is an integral part of the life of every African individual from birth. At a very early stage in life the African child takes an active role in music, making musical instruments by the age of three or four. Musical games played by African children prepare them to participate in all areas of adult activity - including fishing, hunting, farming, grinding maize, attending weddings and funerals and dances.
An intimate union forms between man and art in Africa. It amounts to a total communion that is shared by the whole community. This may help explain why some languages in black Africa have no precise noun to define music. The art of music is so inherent in man that it is superfluous to have a particular name for it. The drum is so important in African society that it is sometimes equated with a man. Women must consequently treat it with the same respect that they would show towards their menfolk. In some African countries women are not even allowed to touch a drum under any circumstance, though Islam and European colonial influence have softened some of these traditions. African music is nearly always coupled with some other art such as poetry or dance and is one of the most revealing forms of expression of the black soul.
It seems logical to conclude that everyone in black Africa must be a musician by definition. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to assume that all Africans are necessarily musicians in the full sense of the word. In some African societies music is a dynamic and driving force that animates the life of the entire community. This communal music may be quite elaborate in form. In other societies musicians form a semi-professional group. They earn their livelihood from their music for only part of the year and rely on some other activity for the remainder of the time. In numerous African societies, the right to play certain instruments or to participate in traditional ceremonies is not open to all, but is the privilege of the professional musician. Such musicians live solely by their art and belong to particular families or castes. Griot is the term used throughout West Africa to designate professional musicians. The role of the griot extends far beyond the realm of music and magic. He or she is the relater of history, philosophy and mythology, the archive of the peoples' traditions. He or she dispenses a healing therapy for the medicine man. He or she is a praise-singer, a troubadour - the counterpart of the medieval European minstrel. People fear griots, admire them but often treat them with contempt because they belong to one of the lowest castes. The fact that music is at the heart of all of the griot's activities is yet further proof of the vital part he or she plays in African life. The equivalent of the griot in equatorial Africa is the player of the mvet (harp-zither). This person is, in some ways, more fortunate than the griot because the admiration that he enjoys is not tinged with scorn, maybe because he does not normally sing the praises of the rich and powerful like the griot does.
The African musician is feeling the effects of the revolution that is currently sweeping the entire continent. Music, as it is conceived in traditional society, is not a function which enables its exponents to meet the demands of modern life. Furthermore, the competition is enormous and under these conditions music as a profession offers very little opportunity. In some societies, music is not conceived as a profession at all, a fact which is even more limiting. As things exist today, traditional music is threatened with eventual extinction and will gradually disappear unless the musician's future is assured. This is especially true for African traditional music which is of course not written down, but handed down from generation to generation.
This does not mean that the traditional African musician should be sheltered from the infiltration of foreign influences. Such infiltration can be a source of artistic enrichment contributing to the cultural cross-fertilisation described below.
Instruments and Style
Similar musical instruments are found throughout most of black Africa. However, the flora and culture found in any particular region influences the dominance of certain categories of instruments. Drums are for instance more popular in the forest regions of West Africa than in the tree-less savanna areas of southern Africa. Musical instruments often show a close link between sculpture and music. See the page on African Musical Instruments for more information on Instruments.
There is a great deal of homogeneity in the music of this vast continent but it is also clear that there are differences between regions and tribes. The Negro cultures south of the Sahara have evidently carried on a lively exchange of music with the inhabitants of the northern part of Africa. There is also a large area of borderline cultures that are related to both the Negro and the North African societies.
Much music is based on speech and the bond between language and music is so intimate that it is actually possible to tune an instrument so that the music it produces is linguistically comprehensible. Because music is a total expression of life, shared by all the senses, different cultures and lifestyles have significant influences on the music. In East Africa, the cultures are complex and revolve around cattle. The Khoi-San area of southern Africa has a simple culture dependent mainly on the nomadic gathering of food. The north-western African coast lacks cattle and is characterised by an elaborate political organisation which, before the imposition of European rule, gave rise to powerful kingdoms. The west coast of Africa between the Khoi-San area and the north-western part has a combination of the east African and north-west African traits. A number of Pygmy tribes are still living in relative isolation in the jungle. The northern part of the continent is largely under the influence of Islamite musical culture. Music within each of these areas is more or less homogeneous, differing from the neighbouring area.
The main characteristics of the west coast are the metronome sense and the accompanying concept of "hot rhythm", the simultaneous use of several meters, and the responsorial form of singing with overlap between leader and chorus. The central African area is distinguished by its great variety of instruments and musical styles and by the emphasis, in polyphony, on the interval of the third. East Africa has, for centuries, been somewhat under Islamite influence, though by no means to as great an extent as the northern half of Africa. Vertical fifths are more prominent here, and rhythmic structure is not so complex, nor are percussion instruments so prominent. The Khoi-San music area is evidently similar in style to East Africa, but has simpler forms and instruments. It contains a good deal of music performed with the hocket technique, as does the Pygmy sub-area of central Africa, which is also characterised by the presence of a vocal technique similar to yodelling.
The Popularisation of African Music
The history of Africa and the movement of people into, out of and across Africa would indicate that many a cross-fertilisation of musical influences affected African music. In spite of slavery and colonialism - or maybe because of it - the influence of African music has spread to every corner of the world and is flourishing back home.
Millions of people were transported from Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas to work as slaves for the European colonists there. Unlike the slave population in North America, the South American slave population was more of Bantu origin (primarily from Angola and Mozambique), although Yorubas (from Nigeria) were also shipped in large numbers to Cuba and Brazil. Little original African music survived intact in the new world, but some distinctive instruments have been handed down, particularly the xylophone, the berimbau and the cuica of Brazil. In the Latin American countries of the Caribbean and South America, some African music was preserved as slaves were allowed to maintain their social identities and culture. Slaves were more often kept as tribal units. In South America and Cuba, African social music blended with the Portuguese and Spanish idioms already influenced by the North African Moors since they occupied Spain in the eighth century. Many new styles of music flourished in the Latin countries including merengue and beguine in the Caribbean and tango, candombey and samba in South America. Rumba, muntuno, cha cha cha, bolero and salsa were other popular styles in this region.
In the Caribbean many elements of European tradition influenced the music of the African slaves. Spanish, British, French and even Asian music influenced early calypso. Calypso was heavily influenced by African work songs and the role of calypsions can be likened to the role of the griot in West African society. Soca followed calypso. Even though European instruments were used, the playing style often recalled African instruments such as the xylophone. Reggae developed through ska from soca when the West Indians absorbed American Rhythm and Blues (R&B). Dub followed with a rock influence.
In the USA, African music was virtually eliminated by slave owners. Slaves were mainly imported from the Mandingo, Wolof, Fanti, Ashanti, Yoruba and Calabari tribes of West Africa. Tribal groups were split up and drums were originally prohibited, but the American banjo is based on the West African gourd guitar. African work songs appropriately survived and slowly evolved into blues. New European instruments were taken up by the blacks. Jazz, which transformed European structured music with African techniques of interweaving rhythm and melodies, call-and-response patterns and 'vocalising' with instruments, became the first all-American music form. Originally jazz was dance music, a fusion of ragtime piano style with blues, spirituals and the brass music of marching bands common at the start of the twentieth century. African-American dance music was also kept alive in the form of R&B. The R&B idioms fused with country music and ballads to become rock and roll. After jazz, rock and roll proved to be the most influential fusion but as it spread across the globe, it soon became ‘white’ music. Soul also developed out of R&B fused with gospel music. Many of the best soul musicians developed their talents in church gospel choirs. Funk and rap followed.
All of these various musical forms (but especially the Cuban rumba, the American soul and jazz, the Caribbean merengue, calypso, reggae and zouk) returned to Africa later and invigorated the local African music. "Western" music was introduced to Africa by visiting musicians, through record sales, and by radio. Many African musicians have of course toured the outside world and came across new musical instruments there, which they took home with them. Western instruments were followed by radio, and African popular music was born.
In southern Africa, an European musical tradition exists in parallel to the black African one. It is interesting to note that much of the earlier Afrikaans folk music of the Cape has its origins in the Indonesian archipelago, resulting from the importation of slaves by the Dutch. Chinese and especially Indians imported into South Africa by the Bitish had an impact on South African music also, as had the music of the native black cultures. During the Afrikaner nationalist era, much music was "borrowed" from Europe, especially Germany. Today, mainstream Afrikaans and English popular music sounds very European or American to most listeners.
The popular music of the continent is therefore in most cases the product of two parents, one African, the other external. African pop styles have become centralised, clustered around the main cultural or commercial centres, so there is 'Manding swing' or 'electro griot' music from West Africa (between Senegal, Guinea and Niger), the 'Swahili sound' from East Africa (between Uganda and Tanzania), 'jive' and jazz from the south (around South Africa), Muslim music from the north (between Morocco and Egypt), makossa and 'liberation' music in between (the area between Cameroon and Gabon, and the area between Zimbabwe and Mozambique respectively), and pan-African syntheses like 'highlife' and Congo-Zairean rumba or soukous which have radiated furthest from their points of origin (the area between Sierra Leone and Nigeria and the Congo-Zairean area respectively). Of the many popular styles of music in Africa, these are really the only ones which have spread to new audiences outside their cultural base. Many other styles - too many to mention here - are prevalent throughout the continent.
It is often forgotten that prior to the European trade in African slaves, many slaves, especially from East Africa including Nubians and people from the Kenya region, were transported to the Arabian peninsula in the Arab slave trade. The Arab penetration into Africa started 1300 years ago. The voice, tonality and language of Islam have heavily influenced North African music, but also sub-Saharan African music in countries such as Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and even Tanzania and Madagascar. Later European invasions influenced this music again. Modern North African styles such as rai have established a keen following in Europe, and are influencing music in France especially.
The instruments of the Arab world and North Africa are believed to have been the original models for almost all Western instruments from the guitar and the violin to the trumpet and other wind instruments. Not many kinds of drums are used in Islamite music. The North African music today shows a cultural continuity which goes back to before AD 500. Classical Arab music itself was a fusion of pre-Islamite Arab music with Persian and Turkish elements.
It is hoped that the musical traditions of Africa will survive and grow and that the popularity of African music will spread even further around the globe. Hopefully that will foster a better understanding and appreciation of Africa and its cultures amongst the extra-African cultures of the world.
Africa! The country of the people!
African Music: A Historical Perspective
Set your minds to Africa.
Africa is the centre of the world.
Check your world map and see.
(Words from a song by Fela Anikulapo Kuti of Nigeria.)
Black African early history was never written down, but has been passed from generation to generation by word of mouth instead. In West Africa for instance, the griots - members of the musician caste - related the ongoing story of their people through the medium of music. It is impossible however to know exactly what had shaped Africa early history. Archaeology and genealogy (including DNA research) give us some clues, as do the histories of other peoples and nations with which Africa had contact with in the past. It is clear that many cultural exchanges took place between the people of Africa, and between Africans and non-Africans, and that African music was affected and enriched by these exchanges, as was that of the peoples who had contact with Africans. Other factors influenced African music over time. Some of these are wars, invasions, migrations, new religions, climate changes, population, ecological and economic pressures.
From a geographical and a cultural perspective, the Sahara desert has always been an important dividing line in Africa. This huge, barren desert, running from the Sudan in the north east of the continent to Mauritania in the north west, has essentially divided the continent as long as people have been around, between black Africa in the south and the now Arab north.
Thanks to the geneticists, we can now quantify the differences between human populations. It turns out that all the non-African races of mankind - Europeans and Middle Easterners, Chinese and Japanese, Indians and Indonesians, Polynesians, Amerindians and Australian Aborigines - have very similar genetic constitutions. This is because (according to a theory currently widely accepted) they are all descended from the very small number of Homo Sapiens who broke out from sub-Saharan Africa around 100,000 BC and moved northwards to populate the rest of the world. (Some historians claim that the Stonehenge in Britain was built by dark-skinned people from Africa). Present day sub-Saharan Africans have retained a rich genetic inheritance and different groups are as different from each other as they are from extra-African humankind.
Anthropologists recognise four distinct sub-Saharan populations: Negroes (whose original homeland was the forest and bush country of West Africa), Nilo-Saharans (the middle third of the Nile valley of Sudan and the area immediately round it), Pygmies (the rain forest of the Zaire basin), and the San (the rest of sub-Saharan Africa). By 8000 BC Africa north of the Sahara was almost totally inhabited by people descended from the 'out of Africa' contingent. The groups they belonged to included the Semites of Arabia (referred to as Afro-Asiatic), and the African (Hamitic) groups which consisted of the Berbers (in the Maghreb of Central North Africa), the Coptic contingent (around Egypt) and the Cushitic contingent (in the Horn of Africa around Ethiopia).
Kingdoms and empires came and went. Africa north of the Sahara formed part of the spheres of influence of several successive external empires from as early as 660 BC, when the Assyrians ran the Nubians out of Egypt. Many invaders followed the Assyrians, including the Carthage, the Greeks, the Persians, the Romans, the Ptolemies - and that was only before AD 1.
By AD 1, the Bantu and Zande speaking Negro peoples started moving south from West-Africa, slowly displacing the Pygmies and the San, and leaving behind the Niger-Congo language speakers.Within 500 years much of Africa south of the Sahara was occupied by Bantu speaking people. By this time boatloads of Muslim Indonesians had landed in the huge island of Malagasy off the east coast of Africa, Christianity was well established in parts of east Africa, and parts of North Africa had been invaded by German tribes. Islam had been introduced in North Africa by AD 650 by the Arabs and trade between Africa north of the Sahara and Africa south of the Sahara started about a century later. Commodities such as salt, gold and slaves were traded, but the different cultures definitely exchanged musical instruments and musical styles along with goods. It is known that the first Negro people to convert to Islam did so before AD 1050 in the region now known as Senegal. Islam with its more rigid structures and teachings had a significant effect on the cultures of its adopters. Of course parts of Europe were also invaded by the Muslim Moors. Western European Christianity had a much shorter history in Africa than Islam, and consequently had less impact on African music overall.
By AD 1100 the Arabs had established trading posts all along the East African coast and some tribes on the Somali coast had converted to Islam. This trade helped the first empire in Southern Africa to develop. Within 200 years the Zimbabwean Bantu empire was trading with the Arabs and indirectly even with the Chinese. The Swahili language in East Africa was a result of this contact between the Arabs and the Bantu. In the mean time a further southward migration of Bantu tribes.was caused by the southward movement of Nilo-Saharan tribes, reacting to pressure from the north. Continued Arab trade and religious encroachments meant that by AD 1400 Islam was established among all peoples of the Sahel - the area immediately south of the Sahara - from Senegal to Somalia, except for Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) which remained a Christian enclave.
Soon after AD 1400 the Spanish conquered islands off the coast of North Africa and the Portuguese seized parts of Morocco and established enclaves in Mauritania in North Africa. The era of European colonialism had started. Within a century or so, there were several Portuguese enclaves on the west coast of Africa between the Congo and Angola, and they had established their supremacy on the eastern coastal strip from Kenya to Mozambique, occupying the old Arab trading posts. The Ottoman Turks soon followed and occupied much of North Africa. In the mean time the Bantu movement southwards had been completed with the San and Khoi (a people of mixed San and Bantu ancestry) now occupying only the south-western tip of Africa.
More Europeans followed the Spanish and Portuguese: the Dutch, the Danish, the French, the English. They were not content with dealing in yellow gold - black gold was more profitable. By 1700 as many as 50,000 slaves were being shipped across the Atlantic every year, ten times as many as a century earlier. As we see later, this slave trade had a significant impact on music of the western world. The Portuguese were now well in control of South-East Africa and a Dutch colony had been established on the south-western tip of Africa. The Boers (descendants of Dutch, French and German settlers) soon began to move inland, a process which led to a rapid decline in the numbers of the local Khoi. A new mixed Boer-Khoi community appeared at the Cape. The Dutch also introduced slaves from Indonesia (who brought Islam with them), Madagascar (Malagasy), and other parts of Africa. This further contributed to the cultural mix at the Cape. Soon there were some skirmishes between the Boers and the Bantu as the Cape colony expanded. In the meantime, the other Nilo-Saharan tribes such as the Tutsi and Masai also moved further south into Bantu speaking territory, causing further Bantu migrations southwards, so that the population pressure was generally increasing dramatically in Africa south of the Sahara.
Still European colonialism flourished. By 1800 the British had established a colony in the Cape and the French one in Egypt (soon to be regained by the Turks). By 1840 the Portuguese were established in Angola, the French in Senegal and Algeria and the British in Ghana. In the meantime, the influence of Islam continued to spread further south into black Africa soon reaching Nigeria. Population pressure was also mounting in the black half of South Africa, as the Zulu mfecane (time of troubles) caused much political violence there. The Zulus became a potent political and military force under Shaka, gaining control of much of south-eastern Africa between the Portuguese and British territories. The result was violent contact between fleeing tribes and the British and Portuguese. Around the same time the Boers started trekking northwards, away from the British, helping to spur the northward migration of southern Bantu tribes into Botswana, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The size of the European populations in South Africa and Algeria now became very large in comparison with those in other colonies. This was a time of much upheaval in Africa.
The European 'scramble for Africa' began in all earnest during the 1880s initiated by the French and British. The Germans, Belgians, Italians, Spanish and Portuguese followed their examples. By 1900 most of sub-Saharan Africa was occupied by European colonial powers and at the outbreak of the First World War so was North Africa. By 1925 most of Africa 'belonged' to either France or Britain, but the British power showed signs of waning by 1950. Egypt was grudgingly granted independence from Britain (1947), and the Boers managed to win control of South Africa in elections (1948). France gave up control of Algeria with its large settler community soon after (in 1962), following a major war there. The process of decolonisation gathered speed, and soon most of Africa except the south was independent.
The year 1994 marked the final end of the colonial era in Africa. The whole of Africa, including South Africa, was now independent (excluding a few Spanish enclaves in Morocco and the continued French, Portuguese and Spanish occupations of several island groups off the coast of Africa). African countries were now well established, though the legacy of colonialism and exploitation combined with population and ecological and economic pressures are causing ongoing frictions, migrations across borders, etc, with ongoing cultural effects.
AFRICA'S BEST MUSICIANS
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Lucky Stars & Rosy Mornings: The 60s Ibadan Juju Scene
Original Music (Original Music, 418 Lasher Road, Tivoli, NY 12583 914.756.2767) is the warehouse of all things old and unusual, and they have unearthed more treasures on Lucky Stars & Rosy Mornings: The 60s Ibadan Juju Scene. The death last month of I.K. Dairo has brought a lot of renewed interest in the early roots of juju, and this CD helps to fill the gap of the late 60s and early seventies. Along with Sunny Ade and I.K. Dairo were the lesser known bands represented here, like the exuberant Michael Robinson And His Ever Ready Sports Band or the more Latin influenced Easy Life Dandies. They were the working stiffs of the scene, the club bands without the contracts or fame, but with plenty of musical muscle and local glory, the garage bands of Ibadan.
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LAMBARENA: BACH TO AFRICA
(Sony Classics)
Lambarena is a tribute to Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) in which of Gabon, where he built and directed the hospital at Lambarene; and the gospel according to his beloved Johann Sebastian Bach are aligned into manifold encounters with ecstasy, mystery and passion. The collaborators behind the massive project were the French producer Hughes de Courson (Malicorne, Kolinda) and Gabon's master composer, poet laureate and cultural figurehead Pierre Akendengue, both men of profound musical intuition and creative audacity. The classical choristers and players were brought together with ten Gabonese ensembles of mixed voices plus soloists and virtuoso instrumentalists in Paris under conditions of absolute parity. During a recording session that lasted nearly one hundred days, de Courson and Akendengue explored the common ground and telling contrasts between the Gabonese and Classical material. Brazil's Nana Vasconcelos, a percussionist of international renown, contributed an introspective and sinister Janguage, hissing and rattling among and between the voices and instruments. Highlights are incessant, but the juxtaposition of a traditional chorus led by a female soloist of nearly frightening power with "Lasset Uns Den Nicht Zerteilen" from Bach's "St. John Passion" exerts an inexorable fascination as it rushes by. Later, a muted moan from one of the African choirs exhaled over what sounds like a Zen temple bell foreshadows the tragic opening of the "St. John", "Herr Unser Herrscherr, which is itself orbited by tamtams and forest sounds. While a child wanders alone, piping fractured quotes from "Jesus Bliebet Meine Freude," a countertenor sings the pleading "Agnus Dei" and is met by women's voices chanting a pygmy rhythm. Bach addresses his God by erecting measured Baroque exaltations to His glory while the Gabonese agitate the divine by performing rituals that celebrate passages on the human timeline. Lambarena is an appropriate memorial to a man whose desire for the sacred caused him to love and heal suffering flesh. - Christina Roden
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Germany has been gaining ground as a source for especially fine world music recordings. The latest label to find a distributor over here is NETWORK (distributed by Stern's Music US, 598 Broadway, New York NY 10012 212.925.1648), a hard traveling crew whose declared ambition is ..."to go wherever the music of the world takes us" and to avoid..."overdubbing or other cosmetic effects"; and they are as good as their word. Network's catalogue currently numbers over thirty titles recorded either in Cologne at the studios of the West German Radio and Television Network or on location and each CD features copious liner notes in German, French and English. Release number twentynine is Senegal's YANDE CODOU SENE & YOUSSOU N'DOUR / GAINDE VOICES FROM THE HEART OF AFRICA is a return to Youssou's Serer tribal roots and to a 63 year old diva who has been a major inspiration to him. In this wondrous allacoustic recording, Yande Codou Sene's gruff gunmetal pearl vocals are heard either a capella or supported by her drummers and choirs preserving the voice of a sparsely documented culture. Youssou sings duets with her and also some ardent solos, including one ballad which sounds like a Senegalese take on "Stairway To Heaven," accompanied by a chiming guitar. The only quibble anyone could have with this set is the cover art, which could be made more arresting to better its chances of reaching its audience at the retail level. - Christina Roden
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DESERT BLUES AMBIANCES DUB SAHARA is the piece de resistance of the label (so far). It is a lavish compilation on two discs, each containing more than seventy minutes of musthave material by artists from the Sahara and its environs. It differs from Network's other productions in that it features previously released selections from various sources, while the balance of the label's output was recorded by and for themselves. The layout of the cuts could serve as a primer on the art of the segueway. Each tune is displayed to its best advantage via its chemistry with its neighbors. While considerable ground has been covered geographically and musically, a soothing unity of temperament and direction has been maintained. The packaging is a paragon of sheer loveliness and features an essay illuminated by several beautiful and atmospheric photographs. - Christina Roden
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The new KING SUNNY ADE E DIDE/ I GET UP (MesaBluemoon), which was recorded in Seattle, is not a complete bust. But should you get up to get down, thus following the advice so helpfully tendered by the title of this opus, you'll soon end up sitting down. As the cuts run between three and five minutes in length, probably to court mainstream airplay, the result is Juju Lite. The tunes are simply not given the time to coalesce into that hypnotic polyrhythmic Juju cool that burns like dry ice. and conversely they wind up lacking anything resembling a hook. Taken as a whole, this recording is a tease from someone who well knows how to satisfy. Alas, it may be that yet another master musician is in search of the Demon Crossover, a mirage that has been the source of so many musical Faustian bargains over the past decade or so. - Christina Roden
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When The New York Times flatly pronounced Senegal's singer and bandleader KINE LAM to be THE best female vocalist from that part of the world, anyone who wasn't at S.O.B.'s for her performance was desperate to hear her. An advance copy of her debut recording, Praise (Shanachie Records), which will be released on February 20, has proved most enlightening. While she's not the best this reviewer has ever heard, comparisons are notoriously subjective and she's awfully good. Her center of gravity is rocksteady amid the jagged tremors of Mbalax and her voice resembles a dusky sirocco, swirling with heat and motion. However, the vocals are not consistently merged with the melodies and some of the arrangements are a touch overeager with the backbeat or synthheavy. In any case, Kine Lam is a lady to watch and Praise offers enough splendor and promise to make it a welcome addition to any play list. The fifth and sixth cuts best show off what she can do, and that's a lot. - Christina Roden
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VARIOUS ARTISTS Jive Nation - The Indestructable Beat Of Soweto (Stern's Earthworks) is the fifth volume of Trevor Herman's much honored compilation series. Fourteen of the eighteen cuts are devoted to taking the pulse of postApartheid South Africa. which is thundering mightily. The impact of the tunes is only slightly mitigated by our long and blessed familiarity with the classic volumes that came before, which were important as musical revelations and as dispatches from the front. Groaner deluxe Mahlathini and The Mahotella Queens appear on this as on all previous volumes, along with Johnny Clegg, and Savuka, a band whose interracial membership is no longer a danger to life and limb. The smooth harmonies of the Soul Brothers contrast with the twangy, disorganized charm of John Maluleke and the Rotterdam Sisters while Phuzekhemisi No Khethani's strutting Zulu Trad packs scraped percussion like the caw of a raven. Colenso Abafana Benkokhelo sing disorienting,ly exquisite Mbube a cappella. Mbayanga, Jive and other styles are all represented and the acts jump in and mix it up. While the opportunity to renew ties with longtime favorites and discover that they have evolved but are fundamentally as they were is reassuring, the certainty that we are hearing the first fruits of the soundtrack to the new South Africa is downright exhilarating. - Christina Roden
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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Musiki Wa Dansi
Africassette, Box 24941, Detroit, MI 48224 313.881.4108 email: rsteiger@africassette.com
Absolutely, this is music for dancing. This second volume of hot floor burners from Tanzania (the first was Mlimani Park's Sikinde) from Africassette is solid, grooving, relentless dance music. The bands here are among the best not only of Dar Es Salaam, but of the eastern African continent. In the wake of the short cut, radio-briefed soukous and juju we have had presented on recent tracks by Sunny Ade and Rochereau, here's some of the stuff that keeps the house rocking until the wee house. The music of Tanzania's pop scene is a hybrid of all that's hot on the continent (especially soukous, rumba, highlife and a bit of the jive and pop sounds from South Africa and Kenya), but it takes interesting twists and turns that are uniquely eastern. Heavy on the horns, these large bands churn out a smoldering sound, romantic and sensual, full of life. Even in their six to eight minute, somewhat shortened state (these were mostly recorded by national radio in their studios in the early eighties), these four bands tear it up on every track. -Cliff Furnald
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HIJAS DEL SOL Sibèba
NubeNegra, Humilladero 8, Madrid 28005, Spain, Tel/Fax (+34) 1 364 02 29
Now here's an obscure treasure: music from the island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea, the first I've ever heard. The front for the group are two marvelous singers, Piruchi Apo and Paloma Loribo. They will remind you of Zap Mama, geographic neighbors of theirs. When they sing solo, they are a potent a capella force. When the band kicks in with its raw, mostly acoustic energy on guitars, bass and percussion, they absolutely steam. Little touches of soukous/rumba and lots of comparisons to Cameroon's bikutsi and even Malagasy music were made in conversation on the internet about this record. All valid, all irrelevant. If you like the Tarika, then this acoustic roots style of bands like
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Two Views Of Salif Keita's Folon
SALIF KEITA
Folon
Mango Records
Salif Keita is one of the great enigmatic characters of African music. He has made one of the most reviewed and praised albums in popular African music, Soro. His albums have also sparked more conversation and occasionally controversy than almost any other. Accused of cheap westernization on one hand and lauded as one of the first true innovators of contemporary music, Keita has seen his share of ups and downs in the press and at the record counter.But one thing no one has ever debated is that Salif Keita was his own inspiration and his own guide on his musical journey. Never one to find a trend, he has always chosen paths less travelled. Soro was a monument to that individuality, his second and third albums were a testament to his need to innovate, even if it meant failing. He learned some hard lessons about the dangers of consciously making "popular", and his last album, Amen often showed how rocky a trail that can be.
But with Folon (which means "the past") Salif Keita is returning after four years, with a roar. Here is an album that has all the best devices of pop music and all the powerful elements of tradition, forged with high musicianship and dedication by all the artists involved in the project. -cliff furnald
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Alternate Take
I personally think this is one of theose "important" recordings that come along rarely, and I may rave a bit. RootsWorld Internet field officer Eric Hines offers a another perspective, in response to an ongoing discussion a number of us have been having on the internet at alt.music.african. Here are some excerpts from our correspondence about the album
Eric Hines says: "I've never liked Soro. I kept it for years waiting for it to grow on me, but it always seemed like empty atmospheric music to me--so I finally sold it. Thankfully Folon is not another Soro (or another Ko-Yan or another Amen). Salif finally seems to have his western-oriented musical vision straightened out. Hurrah! While this is not a masterpiece, it is a fine record, well worth having, well worth repeated listening. I'll run through some notes I made during my second serious (i.e. doing nothing else requiring attention) listen:
"Tekere"- Lively, but not forced. A very nice piece of Manding rock; something reminiscent of the seventies, especially the balafon-style rhythm picking. Lead guitar rather disappointing. Bit too much brass in the mix. "Mandjou"- I had very high expectations from this, they weren't fulfilled. This is a good song, mind, but I don't see why they bothered if they were going to approach it this way. Salif is not truly re-envisioning the song, he is simply trotting out a classic song AS A CLASSIC. He's revising it in accordance with the status it has attained rather than really going back to the music and re-thinking it. This is sort of like the concert rendition of an old warhorse. The guitar, breathy synths, and the female vocalists only make one miss the original. Still an OK track, but lacking the drama and immediacy of the original.
"Nyannam"- I love Hendrix, too, but I must say Kouyate has an unfortunate taste in guitar distortion. Someone take away his fuzzbox. He has a rather ridiculous sounding solo on Kalongoman, too, I think. He's also got a gift for robbing the song of it's urgency (check out solo on 2nd bridge).
"Mandela"- Didn't like the English lyrics on first listen, but didn't mind them second time round. When I first heard this song in the car I though Salif had transformed into Lee Perry when he started the long count off. When I saw the song-title and listened again, I saw the force of it. Very good.
"Sumun" - good groove. Don't think I'll be listening to this during the next century, though.
"Seydou" - a masterpiece of the acoustic Manding style. Could have done without the simulated sounds of passing jet planes. All in all this stands up to the best acoustic Kante Manfila or Jali Musa Jawara.
"Dakan-Fe" - Dabblers in reggae usually send me running for the door, but this is well done all around. I look forward to hearing Salif with a real vocal trio one day.
"Folon" - nice, but they should have done this with a real string quartet a la Youssou's Xale instead of having the synthetic string section sit in.Summary- This is our first chance in a long time to see this man's genius relatively unobstructed on record. A considerable genius it is. Now that Salif seems to have found a comfortable approach to the crossover music scene, I think we can expect more and better from him in years to come. - Eric Hines (email: ehines@eden.rutgers.edu)
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AFRICAN ELEGANT
Sierra Leone's Kru/Krio Calypso Connection
Original Music
If there is a measurement of pure joy, perhaps it is in the music on this disk, twenty two tracks of unadulterated delight. The style of Sierra Leone is probably best known through the recordings of S.E. Rogie, but Original 's J.S. Roberts has dug deep for some exhilarating early 78s by Ebenezer Calender, "Famous" Scrubbs and a number of tracks of less known Kru and mandingo artists. Palm wine music is a close relative of Trindad's calypso, developing in the same period, and influenced or becoming an influence on that popular island style in the fifties. The music grew from the jamming of African sailors, Caribbean soldiers and locals in the bars of Freetown, and the easily stowed instruments they favored like the mandolin, guitar, accordion, and banjo became the backbone of the music. With the addition of percussion, and some wonderful brass sections, these songs mirrored not only the rhythms of calypso but also its topical tendencies, with stories of local events, politics and everyday life. It's a real "chicken or egg" thing, and Robert's investigation into the roots of the music related in the liner notes do little to clear up the mystery. Irrelevant! The Calender cuts with his Maringar Band are great, with renditions of familiar tunes like "Fire, Fire, Fire" coaxed on by a tuba bass line and a chorus. The wonderful penny-whistle and mandolin sound of the Kroo Young Stars' "O Gi Te Bi" is pure exhilaration. The sound of Mandingo band of A. Cambah is unusual, very European in its trumpet part, and yet heavily African in its call and response vocals. The Kru group Amukoke could well have had relatives in Memphis jug bands of the twenties. While the roots of the music may remain shrouded in history, the music itself is no mystery at all. It is simple, open euphoria.
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ORCESTRA MARRABENTA STAR DE MOÇAMBIQUE
Independance
(Piranha-Germany)
Recorded in Harare and produced by Radio Mozambique and Piranha, this band incorporates the music of South Africa, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and their own local traditions into a music that is at once folky and psychedelic, led by wonderful voices and unusual harmonies and tunings. This is hard hitting, salty stuff, full of horns and guitars and unique to its own environs.
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As always with Original Music, there's a twist to Yoruba Street Percussion... Five Takes on 60's Lagos (Original Music). It's not traditional, exactly. This was contemporary street music, influenced by popular idioms from Africa and beyond, but keeping to the heart of traditional Nigerian music by sticking to the basics, the voice and drums. There are Islamic influences, in particular, and the African-Cuban-African hybrid so impossible to trace or attribute. But because it doesn't bend to the western influence as deeply as juju and other pop styles, it is far more local. This is a joyous look at the roots of fuji, juju, and other soon to be slickified Nigerian styles, while they were still fresh and simple. They are well recorded, wonderfully remastered, and the notes by OM's J.S. Roberts are the most amiable, listener friendly guide to music I have read in a while. He says it all, so I'll just tell you to listen.
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THE PAN AFRICAN ORCHESTRA
Opus 1
Realworld/Caroline
If you swim the waters of Francis Bebey, Pierre Akendenque and other innovators out of Africa, then this album will find you drifting in the same stream. Just as Philip Glass and Steve Reich have done in America, the Pan African Orchestra seeks to find the territory that lies between tradition and new creativity, taking the rhythms and instruments of all of African and merging them into a new whole.
The PAO is based in Ghana, a traditional home to pan-African political and cultural movements that date back to the fifties, so it was a perfectly natural occurrence that this ensemble should come into existence here. Founder and director Nana Danso Abiam sought to break the colonial strong hold on his country's national orchestra, and failing that, decided to create a new on using the sanza, the drum, the flutes and strings of many African cultures in a new way, as a compositional tool for new music in the same way most western classical traditions use ensembles.
The music is anything but the usual classical music of the west, however. It is a genuinely African music, based not only on the traditions and instruments, but on the contemporary cultural experience. There is not only the skill and discipline that mark any great orchestra, there is also a vital creativity in both the composition and execution of this music. There are hints of European music from the 18th and 19th centuries, but they are transient and only mark the music as universal rather than colonial. The real heart of the music is the heart of the nations it comes from, the striving for unity that is the root of pan-Africanism.
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SALIF KEITA
Ko-Yan
Mango, 14 E. 4th St., New York, NY 10012
Salif Keita was born in Djoliba, Mali, and grew up in the capital, Bamako; in the early '70s, he was the driving force behind one of Mali's official provincial bands, the Rail Band of Bamako. In '73 he left the Rail Band to join Les Ambassadeurs, a band heavily influenced bythe Cuban rhumba popular in Zaire, and quickly came to dominate the band, adding more local music to the repertoire and giving voiceto a new "roots" music for Mali. The '80s see Keita in a solo setting, and his latest recording, Ko-Yan, follows the modern, Paris-pop direction of 1987's Soro. A friend in describes it as "more of a consolidation than a progression," and that's fine with me. Lots of percussion, synths tuned to the African marimba scales, a hard-hitting horn section, backing vocals from the heavens, an incredible electric bass player,
Hilaire Penda, and guitarist Ousmane Kouyate ripple and weave and spin an intricate, beautiful and powerful web that just barely contains the soaring voice of Keita. If you've not heard him sing, you're in for an adventure- he growls, howls and chants, and then reaches up to the top of the register and wails. Premier cuts include "Nods Pas Badger," the title cut "Ko-Yan," and a thickly textured, driving remake of "Primping," a hit in West Africa for the Ambassadors in the late '70s. If all the imitative "tribal" sounds you hear on Peter Gabriel records and car commercials have kept you away from modern African music, come back. Ko-Yan is deeply rooted in folk tradition, but it is not an archivesrather a broadening of tradition in a new and smaller world; Mali as a contemporary neighbor, not a textbook curiosity. And Salif Keita is one of its best ambassadors.
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ABDELLI New Moon
Real World
An interesting project is presented here, and it is as much "project" as artist. Berber singer Abdelli is given legendary status in the liner notes, the dreamer who sings his new songs in his sleep as a young boy, who magically knows how to play his instrument the first time he picks it up. Abdelli the man has a wonderful voice, one that is cool yet passionate, one that knows its roots. Abdelli the project is also cool, a studio creation based on an amazing singer's voice, and then enhanced as much by the world view of the producer as the talent of the artist.
Thierry Van Roy recorded the solo voice, and then brought in musicians and instruments from Algeria, South America and Ukraine. While the conection between ancient the Americas and north Africa are the result of some creative cultural anthropology, the connections made by the musicians and the music are all too obvious on an artistic level. This really does work, and the subtle crossing of mandola and cajón, gentle zither with fuzzy bendir has brought together some fine new music. This is not the explosive roar of rai, but a subtler music that is no less a challenge to the ears. It will be an odd experience of comfortably familiar and incongrous.
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More shimmer and shine from the soukous scene: MOSE FAN FAN AND SOMO SOMO NGOBILA are back to say Hello Hello (Stern's Music, 598 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 / 212-925-1648) with their usual style and grace. Under the subtitle of "The Last Pioneers Of Authentic Congo Rumba Music," the latest incarnation of Somo Somo is a formidable band. Guitars in the hands of Fan Fan, Syran Mbenza, Bopol, Nyboma and Wuta Mayi are a powerful force indeed. Add the voices of giants of Sam Mangwana, Saak Sakoul (aka "Sinatra"), Youlou Mabiala and Fan Fan himself with the massive rhythm section (and no synth drums!) of Komba Mafwala and Miquel Yamba and you have a band that is both elegant and tough, the trademark of their mentor and teacher Franco. This is real African roots rock.
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FEMI KUTI
Tabu/Mowtown
I dread this scenario. The offspring of a famous star gets his or her chance to rise, takes the same band, the same groove and runs off to a major label for fame and fortune. The results are going to be horrifying every time, right? Well, Fela has always been a case unto himself, and his son Femi Kuti seems to be his own case as well. On his debut CD, the son of the god-father of African pop has taken all the elements that made his father a legend and make them his own. Politics, soul, funk and groove ooze from every track, and if you loved or hated Fela Kuti for his "Afro-pop" music, you'll have the same reaction to Kuti the younger.
Femi Kuti's choice of going worldwide on his debut makes sense. His is a message of international power, unity and politics fused to a timeless sense of rhythm and a contemporary sense of pop. This is music that will access the mainstream without acquiescing to it. Jazz, rap and rock fans will all feel at home here, while still experiencing something of the regional sound and message of the music. I can already see the VH1 hype that will surely follow, and I hope that the news in the music survives it. Femi Kuti deserves his spotlight as a musician, and his soapbox as the budding political heir to the Kuti kingdom.
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While fusions like Baaba Maal's Lam Toro show where the music is going on an international scale, it's necessary to look to where the music comes from, and where it still thrives, as a local social and ritualistic art. Village Pulse is a small label looking to do the latter, and their first recording explores a unique musical phenomenon in west Africa. Tabala Wolof: Sufi Drumming Of Senegal (Village Pulse) records the music of the Khadriya drummers and singers of Senegal, live in Dakar at a ceremony. The emphasis is on the thick sound of the tuned tabala drums, in a bass-heavy percussion style that echoes both its Arab roots (seven centuries removed) and its African home. The problem with the recording may be the same drum emphasis. The chorus of singers featured on a number of tracks are so far behind the drums as to be lost at time, a prejudice of either the performers or the recorders, but a loss, because the vocal style is equally unique and alluring. This is but a minor complaint for an album that brings to America a musical culture unknown here.
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Village Pulse releases its second set of African drum recordings, this one by MAMADOU LY:Mandinka Drum Master. As with their first release of Senegalese drummers, this one is beautifully recorded in Senegal, in the winter of 1992. Mamadou is accompanied by two other drummers on 13 tracks that explore social, ceremonial and dance rhythms of The Gambia and Senegal.
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MALAGASY MAGIC
It's those unique "crossroad" locations, scattered around the world, that offer some of the most stunning examples of how humans are driven to make music that expands their own world view, bringing seprerate cultures together into new cultures. Such is the case with Madagascar, an island that , while situated in the Indian Ocean off the African coast and over run at various times by voracious Europeans, is neither African, European or Indian. Instead, it is a truly uniwue blending of cultures that over the centuries has become its own subset.
If you accept as I do that music is one of the best descriptors of a culture, then the music of Madagascar speaks volumes of its history. The Music Of Madagascar (Yazoo, via Shanachie, 37 East Clinton Street, Newton, NJ 07860 201.579.7763) is an early history lesson. It takes old 78s from the 30s on labels like Pathé, Odeon and HMV, beautifully remastered with just the right touch of lingering surface noise, and presents then in all their potency and richness. The European choral tradition is everywhere in this music, tinged with other Euro-devices like fiddle, accordion and concertina. The melodies are a blend of Indian Ocean and southern African, with their own cadences in sweet contrast to the vocal arrangements. The instruments, especially the bamboo and string valiha, are uniquely Malagasy.
The twenty recordings on this set range from deep, full a capella numbers to lively string ensembles (one of these tracks opens with a very Swedish sounding fiddle group). All the tracks are fabulous. If this is where the world music boom leads us, back to the early recorded roots of the world, lead on!
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Madagasikara One: Current Traditional Music Of Madagascar
Madagasikara Two: Current Popular Music Of Madagascar
Globestyle, via Rounder, 1 Camp Street, Cambridge MA 02140 617.354.0700
If the Yazoo set shows you the early days of Madagascar's modern music, then these two albums from 1986 are the record of the beginings of the contemporay roots explosion about to hit the island. Here are the current generation of stars in their developmental stage: Rossy, Tarika Sammy, Maheleo, compiled with their older mentors and fellow revivalists. Recorded on location by the Globestyle team 4 years before Birger Gesthuisen's equally wonderful collection (Feuer und Eis/Germany), 6 years before the Kaiser and Lindley expedition (Shanachie), these recordings literally blew the Malagasy scene open for the world to see, and did it by presenting the music on it's own terms, without fusion or interference. From the South African roots-rock drive of Trio Fa to the gentile European sound of Ny Sakelidalana, this compilation offers a lot of "where are they now" questions, too. This set has always been one of my "desert island" choices, ever since I fist triped over it in a record store and decided to take a chance on something new, and it turns out, wonderful.
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Other Malagasy Notes: Do go back and find these albums:
JEAN EMILIEN: Hey Madagascar (Melodie/France )
D'GARY: Malagasy Guitar Music From Madagascar (Shanachie)
MALGACHE CONNEXION: Bilo (Silex/France)
and of course, recent work by RICKY & MBASALALA, TARIKA and JUSTIN VALI. If you want to do a little internet web surfing, check out FolkRoots editor Ian A. Anderson's discography at
http://www.cityscape.co.uk/froots/ or check out the discussion on the Usenet group: soc.culture.malagasy
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MORE MALAGACHE
MAMA SANA Music From Madagascar
Shanachie
The music, like the title, is straight to the point. Like the blues of Robert Johnson or Robert Wilkins, Mama Sana's music is as old as the hills and as new as the daybreak. She plays the valiha and sings with a fervor that will seize your heart. She is the southern blues shouter that balances the pop energy of a Rossy or Tarika on the Malagasy music scene. There's little else to say. Listen, hear. (There is a clever interview with her in the liner notes, too. And a word to Shanachie: rewite the damn 1991 introduction you use in EVERY Malagasy rlease. It's time.)
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SAM MANGWANA Maria Tebbo
Stern's Music, 598 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 / 212.925.1648
This is one of those weird albums. I have had numerous friends refer to it over the last decade, some as "I heard this album by Mangwana" and most as "I heard about this album by ...." but I have never had the good fortune to connect with a human who actually owned and was willing to loan out a copy of it. I wait no more. Maria Tebbo and the preceding year's Waka Waka are out on one CD. Mangwana in the seventies was at the forefront of Zaire's pan-African pop movement, and this album certainly illustrates how to do it right. As a compatriot and companion musician to both Franco and Rochereau, he learned from the best, travelled throughout Africa and picked up enough good ideas for any lifetime. Here, on these 1979 tracks is a vision of the heights to be reached; proto-soukous, post-rumba, with influences from Cameroon, and brilliant flashes of chimurenga from Zimbabwe just as the revolution was flourishing there. It's this pan-African spirit of change and optimism that rules Mangwana's music, lifts his voice and propels his music forward.
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VARIOUS ARTISTS Dada Kidawa/ Sister Kidawa
(Original Music, 418 Lasher Road, Tivoli, NY 12583 914.756.2767 email: orimu@aol.com)
This is the second volume of earlier Tanzanian pop from original, a followup to The Tanzania Sound. Most of the bands are the same, but there's never enough of a great musical form, and the blend of African colored Latin and local African sounds imbued with a certain Arabic flavor is certainly unique. These recordings span the sixties in east Africa, reflecting both the dominence of the Congolese/Cuban hybrid that ruled most of the musical continent at the time and the local musicians' own instincts to make their own Tanzanian music. The results are as quirky as anything that came out of Senegal later, with local voices giving new life to the Cuban elements (which were, of course, African in the long view). Th Kiko Kids lay out genuinely mellow latin folk, while The Cuban Marimba Band follows up with a voice that could only come from east Africa. The horn parts follow a similar path, with some of them right out of the text books, while others have a locality all their own. As always from Original, the recordings are old and scratchy, mastered to make the music, not the technology, the center point. There may be some old vinyl noise here, but so what? The music is superb, after all.
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