African Music Reviews & Interviews: Black Music 1973 - 1977

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BLACK MUSIC DECEMBER 1973: - Vol. 1 / Issue 1

AFRICA: - THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
The First Of A Three-Part Series On The African Roots Of Black Music By The Highly-Respected New York Writer Robert Palmer . . .

The proposition that Africa is the original source of black music, as it is the ancestral homeland of black people the world over, is one with which few musicians, listeners, and critics would disagree. Nevertheless, attempts to deal with specifics--which African musical traditions relate to which Afro-American styles and how, for example--have been tentative, controversial, and remarkably sporadic.

The first rule of thumb, when dealing with "African music," is that the term itself is a broad and virtually useless generalization.

Many westerners assume that African music is essentially percussive, or drum-dominated. In fact, even the more moderate generalization that African music is characterized above all by rhythmic vitality and subtlety is applicable only within certain areas.

The pygmies of the Ituri forest, for example, lead a musical life which revolves around vocal polyphony; percussion instruments play a minor role and drums are practically unknown. In Niger and northern Nigeria, professional praise singers accompany themselves on one-string "fiddles" in a rhythmically free, or atempo, style.

It may be argued that the split-second timing and forceful attack evidenced by the pygmies and the Nigerian praise singers constitutes "rhythmic vitality and subtlety," but it cannot easily be denied that melody, timbre, and lyric content are dominant, and rhythmic considerations decidedly secondary.

The prevalence of call-and-response forms has also been greatly exaggerated. The alternation of soloist and chorus does occur in much African vocal music, but melodic and rhythmic counterpoint, harmonic sophistication, and virtuosic solo performancese are also abundant.

Attempts to isolate an "African scale" have proven fruitless; there are scales of four five notes, diatonic scales, and scales based on the harmonics, or partials, of a single fundamental tone.

And there is no such thing as a "typical" African instrument. Ethnomusicologists recognize four basic types of "primitive" instruments: chordophones, or stringed instruments; membranophones, or drums; idiophones, defined by Curt Sachs as "instruments made of naturally sonorous materials" and including clappers, bells, "hand pianos," and xylophones; and aerophones, or flutes and horns. All four types are common in Africa.
Robert Palmer:
Part 1 / Part One

BLACK MUSIC DECEMBER 1973: - VOL. 1 / ISSUE 1

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BLACK MUSIC DECEMBER 1973: VOL. 1 / ISSUE 1

AFRICA: - THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: PT. 2 / PART ONE
The First Of A Three-Part Series On The African Roots Of Black Music By The Highly-Respected New York Writer Robert Palmer . . .

Thus, the "sound world" of African music might better be described as a "sound universe." The listener who has decided to explore this universe--and any listener who is familiar with jazz, soul music, blues, or reggae will find such an exploration fascinating--may find the variety and profusion of available materials somewhat intimidating.

No single anthology is adequate, and no one series of recordings is representative of Africa as a whole. The existence of numerous poorly recorded, inaccurately notated, or deceptively packaged lp`s further complicates matters.

Many of the most reliable and rewarding African recordings are to be found in the Radiodiffusion Television Francais (RTF) collection, issued on the BAM and Ocora labels, and the International Library of African Music (ILAM) collection, issued by Kaleidophone publications. The UNESCO collection, on Baren Reiter/Musicaphon, is predominantly but not uniformly excellent, and the numerous African field recordings issued by American Ethnic Folkways vary in quality from the exceptional "Music of the Jos Plateau and other Regions of Nigeria" and "Music of the Ituri Forest" to the acoustically muddled "Music of Mali" and the misleading "Berber Music of Algeria," which consists of performances in Arab popular and classical styles.

The RTF collection concentrates on areas of western and central Africa which were formerly French colonies. Three recordings which will be of considerable interest to students of the blues and of early jazz are "Senegal: La Musique des Griots" (Ocora OCR 15), "Niger: La Musique des Griots" (OCR 20) and "Musique Maure" (OCR 28).

The griots are a caste of professional musicians; Oliver suggests that their music and its social milieu are comparable in many ways to the blues culture of the United States. The album "Savannah Syncopators," which Oliver assembled to support his thesis and which has been issued by CBS in the U.K., reproduces two tracks each from the griots discs.

These tracks are indeed reminiscent of some early blues recordings, especially those by Texas artists such as Blind Lemon Jefferson and Texas Henry Thomas. The vocal lines are sung in a high, slightly pinched range, and the stringed instruments which accompany them furnish both rhythmic punctuations and a kind of loping continuity.
Robert Palmer:
Part 2 / Part One

BLACK MUSIC DECEMBER 1973: - VOL. 1 / ISSUE 1

peace

[stepping razor]

BLACK MUSIC DECEMBER 1973: VOL. 1 / ISSUE 1

AFRICA: - THIS IS WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: PT. 3 / PART ONE
The First Of A Three-Part Series On The African Roots Of Black Music By The Highly-Respected New York Writer Robert Palmer . . .

The Ocora lp`s in their entirety suggest a more varied musical climate than Oliver`s selections would seem to indicate. The Niger lp features extensive samplings of the West African alghaita, a double-reed horn related to the oboe. Similar instruments are in use throughout the Muslim world, and several varieties have been unearthed in the tombs of Egyptian pharoahs.

Many of the West African `ghaita soloists modify their instruments by attaching a hollow gourd to the bell. This contributes added resonance and a buzzing, decidedly funky tonal quality. The alghaita players of Niger are also heirs to an important tradition of elaboration and improvisation. Parallels with the use of the saxophone in jazz are worth exploring, as a cursory comparison of alghaita music with the early recordings of Sidney Bechet, for example, will attest.

The Senegalese kora, on the other hand, is an instrument with no demonstrable parallel in the music of black Americans. The kora, a harp with twenty-one strings, is capable of rhythmic and harmonic colorings of great delicacy when played by a virtuoso.

A similar instrument, the ardin, is common in Mauritanian music. Examples of these instruments are to be found on Ocora 15 and 28. The singing of the female griot Mounnina on the latter disc is comparable to that of the "shouting" gospel singers in American "holiness" sects.

"Nigeria: Hausa Music" Volumes One and Two (Baren Reiter BM 30 L 2306 and 2307) offer further performances by West African griots. Again, stringed instrument, horn, and drum traditions exist side by side. On the second disc, a selection of music from a Bori (or spirit possession) ceremony is almost uncannily reminiscent of delta blues styles as exemplified by Charlie Patton and Tommy Johnson. The singer`s voice is deep, grainy, and unusually expressive and he stresses the first, fourth, and fifth degrees of the scale he is singing in, suggesting the roots of the three basic blues chords. The first lp features several vibrant performances by royal bands employing drums, alghaitas, and long metal "trumpets."

The music of the West African griots suggests both the "cry" of the blues and the polyphonic textures of early jazz. In addition, the music of the Senegambian kora reflects a tradition of considerable instrumental virtuosity. But these qualities are also to be found in the music of eastern, central, and southern Africa.
ROBERT PALMER:
Part 3 / Part One

BLACK MUSIC DECEMBER 1973: - VOL. 1 / ISSUE 1

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