MUS 250 WORLD MUSIC STUDY QUESTION SET #1 – AFRICA

 

Do musical practices correlate with social & economic structures and practices?  Describe the musical examples we listened to for each cultural group in musical terms (polyrhythm, texture, melodic contour, etc.) and relate them, if possible, to social structure.

1.  LARGE-SCALE HEIRARCHAL SOCIETY:
Mande, in Mali
à the praise-song singing solo musician (a griot or jali)

2.  SMALL-SCALE EGALITARIAN SOCIETY:
BaMbuti (Pygmy), in central Africa
à interlocking polyphony with equal importance among musical lines

3.  MEDIUM-SCALE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY:
Ewe, in Ghana
à specialized roles in co-operative musical collectives

 

If you need to listen to the BaMbuti and Mande examples again, they are on MUS250 CD 1 on reserve in the Library and in the Learning Center.

 

 

Describe your SUBJECTIVE reaction to the two Africa music examples on the Alves textbook CD

4.  the Atsia Suite (track 1).  I recommend listening to the entire track, and then listen to the component parts recorded in tracks 2, 3 & 4, and then listen again to the entire Atsia Suite (track 1); then write your response.  Listen to the music for the entire duration of the track; don’t let it be background music to your wandering thoughts.

5.  Nyamaropa (track 5). I recommend listening to the entire track, and then listen to the component parts recorded in track 6, and then listen again to the entire Nyamaropa (track 5); then write your response.

What is the most interesting/engaging/irritating/frustrating/wonderful etc. thing about these examples?  In other words, what is your primary emotional reaction to this music?  Can you explain it?  (Remembering that emotional hook will help you remember the music.)

 

 

6.  Compare contemporary African popular music with traditional African music.  How is it different?  What foreign elements are incorporated?  How is it similar?  Refer to examples (played in class, also on reserve, details on handout and on the Afropop page). 

 

 

7.  How does Thomas Turino define and use the term "cosmopolitan," and what is the significance of the term?  How does it relate to the music of Thomas Mapfumo?  See the article linked to on the Afropop page on the class website. 

 

 

8.   A concert series at a major university is presenting an artist that claims to be performing "authentic" traditional folk music from his culture as it was performed 100 years ago.  Meanwhile, back home in that culture, a band that freely mixes rock instrumentation and folk tunes performs for a crowd of 10,000 people.  What is "authentic" about each of these performances and what is something other than "authentic"?

 

 David Meckler

MUS 250 World Music Cañada College

29 Aug 2007