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Cool Stuff: Sub-Saharan Africa

 Music from Sub-Saharan Africa:

1. Like the Native American culture, Sub-Saharan Africans highly valued the drum. In their culture, drumming is important in religious ceremonies, communal dancing, communication, and for pleasure, praise, militancy, and work. The traditional African percussion instruments are not just limited to drums, but there are also instruments made of metal, wood, plants, and other materials. These other idiophones, like the "Amandinda" and "Balafon", produce definite pitches. There are other percussion instruments like shakers, rattles, hand claps, are un-pitched. Many of the percussion instruments have an extensive history in Afro-Cuban religions and in dance music. In America, drumming was banned, and percussion instruments were not introduced until the 20th century when the drum became a standard component in music for social dancing and jazz. 

Here is a video of the Balafon being played:


2. Something that makes traditional Sub-Saharan African music so unique, is its use of polyrhythm. Polyrhythm is the art of layering rhythmic patterns to create an intricate pattern. There are two main principles that are essential to polyrhythm: a time cycle and the practice of interlocking rhythmic patterns. A time cycle is an overall length that can be measured in equal time units. The figure below displays the simultaneous rhythmic patterns within the time cycle of 6 units. The drum strokes are indicated by the black, and red X's. The strokes of each drum coincide in the beginning of the cycle, then interlock with units 3, 4, and 5. 

Time Cycle of 6 units            1     2     3     4     5     6   |   
Pattern 1                                  X           X            X          |   
Pattern 2                                 X                   X                 | 

Scenes in this video display how the djembe (drum) and agogo (double bell) are made and played poly-rhythmically. They meld of music and dance; and transmit the music-dance culture. 

Here is the video with a piece of music in which polyrhythm is displayed:




3. Another aspect that is extremely significant to the tradition of Sub-Saharan African music is "Call and Response". In this tradition, the leader (or soloist), sings phrases, and the other singers (the group) respond in unison. The line of the Soloist can be improvised but the response must be the same each time. In these songs, different aspects of the history and culture are recalled. For example, royal history, stories, the praise of a patron, or discussions of political and civic affairs. Call and response is now a common practice in Cuban and American popular music, where it takes on many different forms through modification and transformation of Sub-Saharan call and response. 

Here is an example of Call and Response music:


Bibliography:

https://scalar.usc.edu/works/music-in-global-america/musical-traditions-of-sub-saharan-africa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFWRcXYsYMo

Comments

  1. Julia GergleyJanuary 25, 2021 at 3:01 PM

    Hey Madeline, drumming really is important for the African culture because their style includes a lot of complex rhythms, without the drum the culture would not be the same . The FOLI video shows how all sounds have rhythm and without music and rhythm there would be no liveliness or color in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sabrina RocheJanuary 25, 2021 at 7:55 PM

    Hey Madeline! I loved your blog. "Call and Response" has been something I've noticed to span across all of the cultures we've learned so far. I never knew that the soloist line was mostly improvised and the response line had to be the same each time. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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