EMS 200 McIntosh !

Brittany McIntosh

AFA/EMS 200 Final Research Paper

African Musics and the Culture Supporting this Diction

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From the point of farming in Zimbabwe all the way up until his death in 1977, Hugh

Tracey loved to spread knowledge and awareness about African musics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Born in the United Kingdom, Tracey moved to Zimbabwe and fell in love with the people and

the culture, as well as the diverse music he had the privilege of hearing. When he realized none

of the music had any way of being recorded or passed down except through the oral tradition, he

decided to transcribe everything he heard. Tracey traveled all over Africa recording the

traditional music he heard and in 1954 he founded the International Library of African Music

(ILAM) in Grahamstown, South Africa, which is the largest library of African music there is.

ILAM includes a large selection of African instruments, musical notation to follow the spoken

words, and over 35,000 recordings of traditional African musics (www.kalimbamagic.com) and

the most dated pieces of music that have been collected go back to 1929 (https://www.ru.ac.za/

ilam/about/). ILAM is accessible to anyone who wants to look it up, and is connected to

Rhodes University. Hugh Tracey described African music as “African musics” sharing a

common heritage, which can be true to some degree. The term African musics with an “s” is

appropriate because the diction used shows there is a diverse spread of music throughout Africa,

though it may share a few common characteristics which can be seen especially through the

language and musical components.

In Africa alone there are approximately 1,500 languages (www.nationsonline.org),

which gives the opportunity for a very diverse look at language and tradition in the many types

of cultures in Africa. For example, in West Africa the parents are responsible for teaching their

children to sing and dance, as well as send them to the Bush schools while in East Africa the

children play games and learn stories to learn about music as well as through play, experience,
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and language. In West Africa alone the Ewe tribe has many different characteristics depending on

where the location is. In the northern part of the Ewe tribe they incorporate music into the “life

cycle” events but the southern Ewe tribes do not. Even in one specific region of Africa there are

different traits prevalent throughout the different tribes and areas of the region. In southern

Africa there are over 11 official languages, including Xhosa which can be described as the Bantu

“clicking language” of Africa. This language is only prevalently spoken in this region of Africa

due to the group of people occupying it, also showing how there is a clear separation between the

cultures and people of Africa, thus referencing back to the use of “musics” instead of “music.”

By this being the case, there is a separation between the different geographical regions and

cultural regions in Africa due to the many languages and dialects used. This can also be seen in

how the west African and East African games work as well. The game Sansa Kroma, played in

west Africa, involves singing lyrics while passing an item (usually a rock or something of the

like) while in east Africa the game Haba has a more monotonous, dull sound to the tone and

pitch of the words spoken. It also translates from “haba na haba hujaza kibaba” in Swahili to

“little by little the bushel is filled” in English. This difference in language allows for the listeners

to hear the different regions within the music and “reading between the lines” can show which

region/ethnic group would be associated with which game. There are some similarities, such as

the stories behind the games being for lessons and proverbs, but the language itself and the way

the game are played are quite different from each other and could allow for discernment on

which group was performing it.

The musical components of the games can also be related to the learning styles of music,

as previously mentioned with the Bush schools. But, the different types of learning can all be
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related to one another in one specific way, causing the grey area among which diction to use

when referencing “African music/s.” All African music has been passed down through the oral

tradition for years, and continued to do so. Hugh Tracey’s recordings of the music he heard

allowed for the differences between the different regional musics to be amplified. Other

similarities may include the majority of music being polyphonic and the use of movement in

pieces, but this can be said for all music everywhere, not just in Africa. The use of music

throughout the entire world has been diversely used for different types of movement all the way

to different types of events and ceremonies. As a society we have placed different categories for

music genres such as hip hop, pop, country, folk, etc. but for African music we have grouped it

all together. Why? There is such a diverse spread of music and musical ceremonies and ways for

it to be produced in Africa yet it is all grouped together and labeled “African music” when really

it should be given the respect of allowing for the different regions and groups to be categorized

differently from one another.

As previously mentioned, even in the games there is a difference in the tone and pitch,

which can be said for most children’s games no matter where the origin is from. If we can

recognize there is British games and Native American sculptures and multiple Asian heritages

then there is a just argument for African musics to be the new coined term to describe the wide

range of diverse music offered internationally. The Western world has grouped African music

together because the people from that region do not have a refined listening for the different

types of rhythms and musical styles that the Western music has. If an adult from the Akan tribe

listened to music from another tribe, he/she would most likely be able to say “this music is not

from our tribe.” If those individuals can discern the difference from their own heritage’s music
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and Westerners can discern the difference from their own music as well, there is no reason to not

allow for “African musics” to be the term used to describe the music from Africa as a whole to

show that there is many subgroups of music within the term.

African music/s has many characteristics that could or could not be from specific groups,

allowing for the “musics” term to be appropriate in this sense. By bringing the term “music” to a

broader range by adding the “s” it is showing the culture and the people the respect they deserve

by not grouping everyone together in an inappropriate manner. We as a society try to not group

people together and label them as to not be offensive, yet the word choice used for music does

not support this shared idea. As Doug Floyd said, “You don’t get harmony when everyone sings

the same note,” which supports the concept of there being multiple types of musics and

subgroups for music. With different types of music being diverse, it is allowing it to live in

harmony. By trying to separate everyone into their specific groups and representing them

accurately, it allows for a better understanding of the different types of cultures within the many

regions of Africa, all of which have some shared and some diverse traits. By doing this it is

giving a more accurate portrayal of what life is like for the individuals in the different tribes and

regions and is less likely to cause confusion when teaching content related to tribes and sub

tribes in Africa.
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Bibliography

Kalimba Magic. https://www.kalimbamagic.com/info/history/22-hugh-tracey-founds-the-int-l-

library-of-african-music-ilam. Accessed Nov. 27, 2017.

Merriam A.P (1959). Characteristics of African Music. Journal of the International Folk Music
Council, 11. 13-19.

The International Library of African Music. https://www.ru.ac.za/ilam/. Accessed Nov. 27, 2017.

African languages. http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/african_languages.htm . Accessed

Nov. 27. 2017.