The Aesthetics of African Music: Indigenous Instruments, Rhythmic Structures and Performance Practices across Africa (Published)
People love African music for its rhythmic power, instrumental hues and group energy. However, these attributes for which it is loved can be misinterpreted as cultural logics. In this opinion piece, it is argued that one should not apply the concepts of autonomous sound, written composition and that of a passive listener to African musical aesthetics but rather, embrace the concepts of relation, embodiment and socially useful music. Three claims are developed in the article. The first claim is that native instruments are not just instruments that produce sound, but material archives of language, memory, craftsmanship, spirituality and social authority. Secondly, the rhythmic devices of polyrhythm, ostinato, syncopation and micro-timing and call-and-response are also forms of social intelligence, which coordinate difference without uniformity. Thirdly, participation in the experience of music and dance is important in determining aesthetic value, as the experience of African performance is co-created with the musicians, dancers, audiences, spaces, costumes and occasions. The article however, challenges the idea of a ‘Music of Africa’ and provides a regional, historical and gendered perspective. It also argues that digitalization, global circulation and hybridization in themselves are not threats as long as communities have the interpretative authority, ownership, and benefit. Preserving sustainable practice must thus go beyond archiving and embrace living transmission via education, apprenticeship, instrument making, performance and community led technological practice. The beauty of African music is not in isolation but in continuity by means of creative change.
Keywords: African musical aesthetics, African rhythm, Cultural Identity, Indigenous instruments, Musical Heritage, embodied performance
SNAIL SHELL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: A DYING MUSICAL HERITAGE IN GHANA (Published)
The purpose of this study was to explore the use of the snail shell in making music in Ghana and to interrogate the problem of what scholars of African music in Ghana are doing about the threat to extinction of some of their traditional music. The theoretical framework of the study which was based on the problem of meaning in African music (Nketia, 1976, 1973, 1962) favoured the integrated approach to the problem of meaning. Using the qualitative research paradigm, the study obtained specific data on the values, opinions, behaviours and social contexts within which the musical performances took place. It was discovered that the Axim Nwaba instrumental group was formed in 1972 but disintegrated in 1993 as a result of competition from the local brass band. During a live performance by the group, all the children and many of the adults heard snail shell music for the first time in their lives. The findings on snail shell music at Axim have shown that the research efforts of scholars on traditional African music in Ghana are not being matched by the potentially vast world of available traditional Ghanaian music. A solution to this problem must be found within the expansion of traditional music archival resources in the country and the need to step up research work on traditional African music in Ghana.
Keywords: Dying, Instrumental Music, Musical Heritage, Nwaba Group, Shell, Snail, Traditional
SNAIL SHELL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC IN GHANA- A DYING MUSICAL HERITAGE (Published)
The purpose of this study was to explore the use of the snail shell in making music in Ghana and to interrogate the problem of what scholars of African music in Ghana are doing about the threat to extinction of some of their traditional music. The theoretical framework of the study which was based on the problem of meaning in African music (Nketia, 1976, 1973, 1962) favoured the integrated approach to the problem of meaning. Using the qualitative research paradigm, the study obtained specific data on the values, opinions, behaviours and social contexts within which the musical performances took place. It was discovered that the Axim Nwaba instrumental group was formed in 1972 but disintegrated in 1993 as a result of competition from the local brass band. During a live performance by the group, all the children and many of the adults heard snail shell music for the first time in their lives. The findings on snail shell music at Axim have shown that the research efforts of scholars on traditional African music in Ghana are not being matched by the potentially vast world of available traditional Ghanaian music. A solution to this problem must be found within the expansion of traditional music archival resources in the country and the need to step up research work on traditional African music in Ghana.
Keywords: Dying, Instrumental Music, Musical Heritage, Nwaba Group, Shell, Snail, Traditional