I posted earlier about African popular music and popular music influenced by African Muscians. This past Saturday night at Miller Theater I went to the “focus on Africa African Exchanges” concert. The program performed by William Chapman Nyaho on piano and So Percussion on various percussion instruments was phenomenal. The program focused on music written by African and African-American composers as well as composers influenced by traditional African Music. I wish there were more concerts that had programs like this! It would be interesting to see how this could be replicated in a feasible way in school music programs. It is important for our students to know that art music is still being composed and is not only composed by European composers!
I found it interesting that before performing the first piece, Mr. Nyaho spoke to the audience about the third movement and how it was based on African storytelling. He explained how traditionally in African storytelling the audience takes an active part. He pointed out the refrain in the music and how that was the part where the audience should participate by clapping the following pattern 2+2+2+3+2+3+2+3. It was refreshing to have audience participation involved in a concert but unfortunately the audience didn’t clap until the piece was finished. It might be interesting to explore this situation with students, discussing the role of the “audience” in various settings.
Another possible prompt for a discussion with students is the following performance note written by Kevin Volans for his piece “She Who Sleeps with a Small Blanket” :
“In concerts of music involving “talking drums” we are often told that the drums are used to relay messages. Why, I wonder, are we told this? Should we listen to the music differently, hoping to understand some message? Or are we to try to appreciate the sounds as absolute music, overlooking any important news they may be conveying? And what of the performer energetically sending out the messages which he knows are not being understood? This disconcerting image gave the initial impetus for She Who Sleeps With a Small Blanket, although the piece itself has nothing to do with African drumming. This piece is dedicated to Robyn Schulkowsky.”
The questions Mr. Volans poses can lead to some in depth discussions that could apply to many different types of music.
Why not give your students a treat by having them listen to some of the pieces on the program or other pieces by these composers?
Talking Drums (1991) by Joshua Uzoigwe (1946-2005) (Nigeria)
Ukom – llulu – Egwu Amala
Okho (1989) by Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) (Greece/France)
Coma Dance (1950) by Halim El-Dabh (b.1921) (Egypt)
Pattern Transformation (1988) by Lukas Ligeti (b. 1965) (Austria/USA)
Scherzo (1973) by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) (USA)
She Who Sleeps With a Small Blanket (1985) by Kevin Volans (b.1949) (South Africa)
Flowers in Sand (2000) by Bongani Ndodana (b.1975) (South Africa)
Earthbeats Op. 22 From Six Dialects in African Pianism (1986-1994) by Gyimah Labi (b.1950) (Ghana)
Six Marimbas (1986) by Steve Reich (b.1936) (USA)
I enjoyed this concert, and your comments. I’m worried by my impression of the music, though. I distinctly remember enjoying the music composed by Xenakis, Ligeti, Volans, and Reich more than the pieces by Uzoigwe, Amala, El-Dabh, Perkinson, Ndodana, and Labi. The former, white & mostly European; the latter, African, African-American, and Egyptian. What does this say about my musical “tastes”? About my training? It’s not clear where the line is to be drawn between colonization and borrowing for the sake of exposure, social upliftment.