You should know this is not my own list - I found it in “The Anthropology of Music” by Alan P.
Merriam [Northwestern University Press, 1964]. It started me thinking about music beyond the Notes and Chord Changes. What I did was take a style of music I was familiar with and try to identify the functions it might or might not have in our culture. It was surprising to see how music works in our culture - and more so, that even in our corporate mass entertainment media these functions still have validity. Ours is a complex society and the components of this culture are complex. All of the music I worked with had more than one function ascribed to it. - it could be Physical response as dance music, Emotional expression as words describing lost love, Aesthetic enjoyment as OK I did like the Notes and Chord Changes, Entertainment as it was fun and enjoyable to listen to.
This was with musics I was familiar with! Something new and “foreign” would require a little set up work. That set up work was easy - listening. The following list is what I used:
• Roots of Black Music In America-music of the slave areas of West Africa and the music of the United States and the Caribbean; Folkways FA2694
• Music Down Home-an introduction to negro folk music, USA; Folkways FA 2691
• Negro Folk Music of Africa and America; Ethnic Folkways FE 4500
• Ballads of Black America; Folkways FC 7751 • Bantu High Life; Folkways FW 8857
• The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music, British East Africa; Columbia Ethnic Series 91A.02017 • Black Music of South America; Nonesuch H-72036 • The Country Blues:Vol 2, Edited by Samuel Charters; Folkways RBF 9
It’s not an all inclusive list - nor restricted to solely Tribal music. What I wanted was an overview - could I hear similarities in this mix of Traditional and Modern, Native and Transplanted, Authentic and Derivative musics. Well, I could not at first. I needed something to focus my listening. A good reference is a short book - “Folk and Traditional Music of the Western Continents”, Bruno Nettl, [Prentice Hall History of Music Series, 1973]. Two chapters were very relevant: Music of Black Africa and AfroAmerican Folk Music In North and Latin America. One caution: when we speak of African music don’t assume all music from Africa is the same - there are very many cultural differences and variations. The term African is just a geographical reference, not a single musical entity - the same can happen when Latin Music is used to describe all music from or rooted in the various genres and styles from Latin America.
One of the interesting items is that some of the general characteristics for tribal music are not found in African music. For instance, in tribal society [Nettl uses the term “non literate” or primitive. I don’t agree with this description for a tribal society], participation in musical activities is general and all persons participate equally. To the contrary, in African music, there are many instances of a class of professional musicians who earn their living from music and are regarded as specialists. In some tribes, there is a classification of different types of musicians. The status of musicians vary by culture but Nettl mentions one tribe the Basongye who: “regard musicians as being of low status. Musicians are said to be heavy drinkers, debtors, unreliable, impotent, adulterers, poor marriage risks…People do not want their children to become musicians, but the musicians are nevertheless tolerated because they are essential to the life of the whole group”
As a working musician, I thought this statement sounded rather familiar - except for impotent [I just thought that should be mentioned].
The functions of African music are many and varied as in any complex society - and Tribal society is a complex society. Nettl indicates that the uses of music in Africa “parallel those of European folk music”.
There is a large quantity of music used for religious and ceremonial purposes, for entertainment, social songs, songs of political expression [royal drums, fanfares, criticism/praise of authority], to spread news and gossip, and work songs. These functions are all found in the folk music of 18th Century England and America.
There is also a large variety of instruments - flutes, tuned/untuned percussion, strings both plucked and bowed. The one unifying characteristic is the percussive ideal in instruments [not percussion!] - plucked strings outnumber bowed. Also, there are musical performance groups of varying sizes - up to small orchestras of 30 with a conductor. Again, much similarity with European music, but with one notable difference - a different sound ideal.
Performance practice is probably the one element most retained by African cultures displaced to the New World. Most often mentioned is call and response and improvisation - as a variation on the theme.
Call and response has a leader singing a musical phrase and a chorus responding with another.
Improvisation as variation works off of the original melody and adds variations to the melody each time it is repeated. The improvisational aspect of the performance also gave: “ rise to polyphonic forms which utilize melodic and rhythmic polyphony organized by short melodic units” - the performers developed more than one melody while singing together, a percussion section more than one rhythm superimposed. These African characteristics resulted in a: “sophistication of musical form rivaling those of European art music - based upon the basic musical principles of brevity, repetition and variation, binary structure, and improvisation” - any complex musical composition follows an organization in linear time that the listener can make sense of - provided they are familiar with the musical language being used.
In melody, African music sounds familiar. It does not have an exotic or unintelligible sound to it that some other cultural musics have. It seems to fit the “diatonic scheme that is the basis for Western Art Music” - there is not a strangeness to what we hear in African music. Here too, it parallels European Folk music - not exactly but close enough to sound familiar.
These similarities provide a bridge between the two cultures. For any kind of interaction, some common areas need to exist. The more common areas, the easier it is for two cultures to influence each other.
These influences are never one way - each culture’s music is affected by the other. The resultant musical mix is a true “Fusion” music. Some African elements and some European elements finding an common ground, interacting, and producing a new music based on elements of both cultures. Similarities are not enough however. In our day of electronics, recording, radio and TV it is easy to forget that without these communication tools some other means of cultural interaction is necessary - the two cultures must be geographically close to communicate and there must be a way for each to contact and experience the others’ music.
Before I sign off for this month, I want to emphasize two points. When comparing two cultures it is too easy to create a perspective where comparison is judged against a fixed standard and influence is only in one direction. There is no fixed standard of comparison - only a methodology for comparing two musical systems. Also, influences must be bi-directional to accommodate the new musical elements that musicians manipulate to create music - and these new aspects may require new skills, perspectives, and theory. I’ve already mentioned the Rhythmic polyphony of African music, but there is also another characteristic I find more interesting. A feature of West African music is the “ability of musicians to keep the same tempo for minutes and hours”. I spend a lot of time developing this ability as a Jazz player - it also is not a characteristic of European Art music. One speaks of the groove or time feel when dealing with Jazz. It is a elemental part of being able to improvise - you must be able to hear where you are going in a tune to successfully improvise and an expectation of what lies ahead is essential. The one thing that ties this together is a common time reference - and this is a purely African element.