British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Lara Allen
Reviewed work(s):
Cold Castle National Festival: Maroka-Jabavu Jazz 1962From Marabi to Disco: 42 Years of
Township MusicHamba Notsokolo and Other Original Hits from the 50'sJazz Epistle Verse
1Jazz FantasiaJazz in Africa, vol. 1Jazz in Africa, vol. 2Jazz: The African SoundKing
Kong: Original CastKing KwelaMiriam Makeba and the Skylarks, vol. 1Miriam Makeba and
the Skylarks, vol. 2Township Swing Jazz! vol. 1Township Swing Jazz! vol. 2
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 5 (1996), pp. 177-180
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060880
Accessed: 06/01/2009 20:12
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=bfe.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the
scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that
promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
British Forum for Ethnomusicology is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
British Journal of Ethnomusicology.
http://www.jstor.org
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
area of
study
was a
single
musical tradition
of a
single people,
and
yet
her fieldwork
account
spans
diverse
peoples,
cultures and
traditions. The narrative extends in
range
from the
deeply personal
to the historical
and international, the two often
being
intertwined. In her "Cubist"
style
of
writing,
themes are
presented simultaneously
from a
multidimensional
perspective
in time and
space:
the
present
or recent
past
are
embedded in their historical
setting
while the
past anticipates
scenarios to follow, the local
is located in its national and international
setting
while events on a national and
international scale are focussed in on local
and
personal impact.
area of
study
was a
single
musical tradition
of a
single people,
and
yet
her fieldwork
account
spans
diverse
peoples,
cultures and
traditions. The narrative extends in
range
from the
deeply personal
to the historical
and international, the two often
being
intertwined. In her "Cubist"
style
of
writing,
themes are
presented simultaneously
from a
multidimensional
perspective
in time and
space:
the
present
or recent
past
are
embedded in their historical
setting
while the
past anticipates
scenarios to follow, the local
is located in its national and international
setting
while events on a national and
international scale are focussed in on local
and
personal impact.
Academically
thought-out
works
may
be
expected
to cohere, and to
converge
onto a
central
point
of focus. Within the whole
spectrum
of human
experience, however,
events and
thoughts
do not
hang together
in
the same
way,
and this work of
Shelemay's
shows how the fieldwork situation relates to
this whole
spectrum-reaching
far
beyond
the boundaries of "the field". Her account
reflects the
hugeness
of her research
experience,
and the
deeply
human dimen-
sion of the researcher.
MARILYN HERMAN
Suite 33, 10
Barley Mow
Passage
London W4 4PH
100427.2730@compuserve.com
Academically
thought-out
works
may
be
expected
to cohere, and to
converge
onto a
central
point
of focus. Within the whole
spectrum
of human
experience, however,
events and
thoughts
do not
hang together
in
the same
way,
and this work of
Shelemay's
shows how the fieldwork situation relates to
this whole
spectrum-reaching
far
beyond
the boundaries of "the field". Her account
reflects the
hugeness
of her research
experience,
and the
deeply
human dimen-
sion of the researcher.
MARILYN HERMAN
Suite 33, 10
Barley Mow
Passage
London W4 4PH
100427.2730@compuserve.com
recordings recordings
An archive of black South African
popular
music:
recently
released reissues
Cold Castle National Festival: Maroka-
Jabavu Jazz 1962. Various artists, Teal
Records, TELCD 2302; 1991.
From marabi to disco: 42
years of township
music.
Compilation,
Gallo Music, CDZAC
61; 1994.
Hamba Notsokolo and other
original
hits
from the 50's. Dorothy Masuka, Gallo
Music, CDZAC 60, -.
Jazz
Epistle
Verse 1. Jazz
Epistles,
Gallo
Music, 66892-2, -.
Jazz
fantasia. Gideon Nxumalo, Teal
Records, TELCD 2301; 1991.
Jazz in
Africa, vol. 1. Various artists, Teal
Records, TELCD 2304; 1991.
Jazz in
Africa,
vol. 2. Various artists, Teal
Records, TELCD 2314; 1991.
Jazz: the
African sound. Chris
McGregor &
the Castle
Lager Big Band, Teal Records,
TELCD 2300; 1991.
King Kong: original
cast. Gallo Music,
66890-2, -.
King
Kwela.
Spokes Mashiyane,
Gallo
Music, CDZAC
50;,
1991.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks,
vol. 1.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks, Teal
Records, TELCD 2303; 1991.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks,
vol. 2.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks,
Teal
Records, TELCD 2315; 1991.
An archive of black South African
popular
music:
recently
released reissues
Cold Castle National Festival: Maroka-
Jabavu Jazz 1962. Various artists, Teal
Records, TELCD 2302; 1991.
From marabi to disco: 42
years of township
music.
Compilation,
Gallo Music, CDZAC
61; 1994.
Hamba Notsokolo and other
original
hits
from the 50's. Dorothy Masuka, Gallo
Music, CDZAC 60, -.
Jazz
Epistle
Verse 1. Jazz
Epistles,
Gallo
Music, 66892-2, -.
Jazz
fantasia. Gideon Nxumalo, Teal
Records, TELCD 2301; 1991.
Jazz in
Africa, vol. 1. Various artists, Teal
Records, TELCD 2304; 1991.
Jazz in
Africa,
vol. 2. Various artists, Teal
Records, TELCD 2314; 1991.
Jazz: the
African sound. Chris
McGregor &
the Castle
Lager Big Band, Teal Records,
TELCD 2300; 1991.
King Kong: original
cast. Gallo Music,
66890-2, -.
King
Kwela.
Spokes Mashiyane,
Gallo
Music, CDZAC
50;,
1991.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks,
vol. 1.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks, Teal
Records, TELCD 2303; 1991.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks,
vol. 2.
Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks,
Teal
Records, TELCD 2315; 1991.
Township swing jazz!
vol. 1.
Compilation,
Gallo Music, CDZAC 53; 1991.
Township swing jazz!
vol. 2.
Compilation,
Gallo Music, CDZAC 54; 1991.
Under
apartheid,
art and culture
produced
by
black South Africans was
generally
undervalued,
if not
ignored, by
the establish-
ment. As black South African
popular music
was no
exception,
it was, until
recently,
extraordinarily
difficult to obtain historical
recordings. Stimulated
by the
changing
political
climate of the
early 1990s, however,
Gallo, one of the
country's
major
record
companies, transformed its
policy
on black
cultural
heritage: Albert Ralulimi and Rob
Allingham
were
employed
with a mandate to
convert the
company's archives, which at
that
point
consisted of vaults full of
unlabeled
master-tapes,
into a useable asseLt.5
The reissues
produced by GaUo as a result of
this initiative now amount to a sizeable
resource, to which this review is intended as
an initial
guide.
What follows is a brief
overview of these archival
recordings
specifically
for music lecturers
desparately
seeking teaching
materials.
5 Albert Ralulimi was a musician and has been
involved in the South African music
industry since
the sixties. Rob
Allingham
is a music historian
and the
country's pre-eminent discographer.
Township swing jazz!
vol. 1.
Compilation,
Gallo Music, CDZAC 53; 1991.
Township swing jazz!
vol. 2.
Compilation,
Gallo Music, CDZAC 54; 1991.
Under
apartheid,
art and culture
produced
by
black South Africans was
generally
undervalued,
if not
ignored, by
the establish-
ment. As black South African
popular music
was no
exception,
it was, until
recently,
extraordinarily
difficult to obtain historical
recordings. Stimulated
by the
changing
political
climate of the
early 1990s, however,
Gallo, one of the
country's
major
record
companies, transformed its
policy
on black
cultural
heritage: Albert Ralulimi and Rob
Allingham
were
employed
with a mandate to
convert the
company's archives, which at
that
point
consisted of vaults full of
unlabeled
master-tapes,
into a useable asseLt.5
The reissues
produced by GaUo as a result of
this initiative now amount to a sizeable
resource, to which this review is intended as
an initial
guide.
What follows is a brief
overview of these archival
recordings
specifically
for music lecturers
desparately
seeking teaching
materials.
5 Albert Ralulimi was a musician and has been
involved in the South African music
industry since
the sixties. Rob
Allingham
is a music historian
and the
country's pre-eminent discographer.
177 177
178 British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5 (1996)
If
budget
restrictions limit
purchases
to a
single
South African CD, From marabi to
disco: 42
years of township
music would be
the most
rewarding
choice.
Containing
over
75 minutes of recorded music in 28 tracks,
this
compilation provides
an excellent
overview of
township
music
produced
between 1939 and 1981. (An even more
comprehensive
selection of marabi and
vaudeville is available on the cassette
accompanying
Ballantine 1993.) There is at
least one
example
each of all the
important
township styles
of this
period (marabi,
African Jazz, kwela, sax
jive, mbaqanga,
and
soul); and the
major
stars featured include
Dolly Rathebe, the Manhattan Brothers,
Miriam Makeba, Dorothy Masuka, Kippie
Moeketsi, the Mahotella Queens and the
Soul Brothers.
Allingham's exceptional
knowledge of, and love for, South African
music is
clearly
evident in nine
pages
of
highly
informative sleeve notes which are
illustrated
by
a
collage
of evocative historic
photographs.
His
commentary
contains
much invaluable information obtainable
only
with
great difficulty,
if at all, from other
sources
including
the
original recordings.
Historically, recordings
were issued accom-
panied by very
little information, and what
was
printed
on the records is of dubious
reliability.
Most artists and
groups,
for
instance, recorded under several different
names, and
moonlighting
under fabricated
names was the order of the
day. Backing
personnel
were
hardly
ever
acknowledged,
and
recording
dates were never
printed
on
the label. In all the reissues
produced by
Allingham,
full
discographical
information
(such
as names and
dates)
is
supplied,
as are
translations of
song lyrics
and titles.
The other reissues which form
particu-
larly
valuable
teaching resources, largely
because of their informed, comprehensive
sleeve notes, are
Dorothy
Masuka's Hamba
Notsokolo and other
original
hits from the
50's, and Miriam Makeba and the
Skylarks,
volumes 1 and 2. The sleeve notes
provide
tantalising glimpses
of the inner
workings
of
the
recording industry
and black showbiz in
the 1950s, and the
biographical
information
about Masuka and Makeba is the best
published
to date. (Makeba's autobiography
(1988) provides
a more
personal
and
subjective portrayal
of her
life.)
One of the
assets of
Allingham's writing style
is that he
manages
to
impart
a
great
deal of informa-
tion without
losing
his (or
the reader's)
enthusiasm. His sleeve notes therefore
provide
a
possible
antidote for less
experi-
enced students who are daunted
by
some of
the more esoteric
reading required
of them.
The
only
omission on these albums is the
lack of
song lyric
translations. This is
unfortunate both because
great importance
is attached to the
message
of a
song by
South African musicians, and because
songs
were often
composed
about
topical
events
and issues and therefore
potentially
offer
invaluable historical
insights.
Musically
these albums
represent
some of
the best vocal material from the fifties, the
heyday
of African Jazz. Miriam Makeba and
the
Skylarks
were the most successful of a
number of female close
harmony groups
inspired by
American
jazz/Tin
Pan
Alley
trios such as the Boswell Sisters, Andrews
Sisters and McGuire Sisters.
Although
it was
customary
to
perform
cover versions of
American
songs
translated into the
vernacular, the
Skylarks generally
recorded
numbers within the African Jazz vocal idiom
composed by
themselves or
by
other
musicians
specifically
for them.
Dorothy
Masuka recorded
only
her own
compo-
sitions, gradually developing
a
style
she has
dubbed "Masuka Music".
Although
also
strongly
influenced
by swing
and American
popular
music vocal
styles
of the
day,
Masuka Music, largely through
vocal timbre
and
peculiarly
South African harmoniza-
tions, remains
strongly grounded
in Africa.
A
good
selection of instrumental African
Jazz is available on
Township swing
jazz,
volumes I and 2. If it is
necessary
to choose
one CD of fifties African Jazz, then volume
1
provides
the widest vocal and instrumental
selection. Besides
including
several famous
bands (the Jazz Dazzlers, the Havana
Swingsters,
Ntemie's Alexandra All Star
Band, and the Father Huddleston Band),
this
album also includes vocal numbers
by
the
Skylarks
and some rare
recordings
of the
young Dolly
Rathebe. The
only
drawback of
these volumes is that the sleeve notes are
short and not
particularly
informative. The
selection of tracks is
interesting
and varied,
and
recording
dates and band
personnel
are
indicated, but further
background
informa-
tion must be
sought
from alternative sources.
(Although
not
concentrating specifically
on
vocal and instrumental African Jazz of the
fifties, the best sources to date are
Allingham
1994, Ballantine 1993 and
Coplan 1985.)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
Two reissues
lag
behind the others in
substance and interest. The worst is
King
Kwela, a
straightforward reissue of one the
least
interesting
kwela LPs of the fifties.
Spokes Mashiyane,
who was dubbed
King
of
Kwela, was a creative
pennywhistler
and
saxophonist, but this rather
uninspired
selec-
tion fails to do him
justice.
The sleeve
notes,
which contain several factual errors, are
lifted
straight
from the
original
LP and
reveal more about fifties attitudes than about
Spokes Mashiyane
and his music.
King
Kwela is, alas, the
only
kwela album on the
market. However, Gallo is
planning
to issue a
double-CD set entitled Best
of pennywhistle,
which
promises to be a better
representation
of the breadth and variation of South
African
pennywhistle music.
King Kong: original
cast is a reissue of a
1959
recording
of the
hugely successful
stage
show
King Kong. Unfortunately,
this is
a studio
recording
and lacks some of the
spontaneity
and verve which
contemporary
reports attribute to the
stage production. As
the first South African all-black musical,
King Kong
was a watershed event in the
country's popular
music
history. Still, since
the
importance
of
King Kong
has more to do
with its
place
in
history
than the musical
sounds themselves, this album's value as a
historical document would have been
vastly
improved by
some
in-depth contextualising
sleeve notes like those
accompanying
the
Skylarks and
Dorothy
Masuka
recordings.
South African modem
jazz
of the late
fifties and
early sixties, which was
inspired
by
American avant
garde figures
such as
Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, is
available on six reissues. The earliest of these
recordings-Jazz
in
Africa, volumes 1 and
2-were made in 1959 with
visiting
American
pianist
John
Mehegan. They
showcase the talents of South African
jazz
greats Jonas
Gwangwa, Kippie Moeketsi and
Hugh Masekela. A
year later, Capetonian
pianist
Dollar Brand
(now known as
Abdullah
Ibrahim) joined
these three
musicians to record Jazz
Epistle
Verse 1, now
considered a benchmark album in South
African
jazz history.
The Jazz in
Africa
albums include several American
jazz
standards, and the
original compositions are
almost
completely
American in
style.
Jazz
Epistle Verse 1, however, is the first
recording
within the modem
jazz
idiom
which is also
strongly
South African in
sound. It was the birth of a
genre which
became known in South Africa as
progressive jazz
and which
Hugh
Masekela
and
particularly
Dollar Brand would
develop
and
perfect
in
years
to come. The Jazz in
Africa albums contain brief sleeve notes
consisting
of short comments about each
composition,
but
unfortunately
there are no
notes
accompanying
Jazz
Epistle
Verse 1.
The
progressive jazz
tradition conceived
by
the Jazz
Epistles
was
developed
in the
1962 and 1963 Cold Castle National Jazz
Festivals, both of which
spawned recordings.
Cold Castle National Festival: Moroka-
Jabavu Jazz 1962 is a selection of numbers
recorded live at the 1962 festival, including
such bands as the Jazz Giants, the Jazz
Dazzlers, the Chris
McGregor Septet
and
Eric Nomvete's
Big
Five. Besides numbers
by participating bands, the album also
includes
performances by
Ben
Masinga
and
by
the
Woody Woodpeckers,
a male close-
harmony group,
who
sang whilst the bands
were
setting up.
These tracks are
historically
interesting
because
they provide
an idea of
how some numbers in the
large variety
shows of the fifties sounded. After the 1963
festival, the South African Breweries
sponsored
two weeks of rehearsal and the
recording
of Jazz: the
African sound
by
a
band assembled
by
Chris
McGregor
from
the festival's best musicians. The result is
probably the finest
surviving example
of
early
South African
progressive
jazz.
In
1962
jazz pianist
and
composer
Gideon
Nxumalo was commissioned to write music
for an Arts Festival. He
produced
Jazz
fantasia, a blend of
techniques
and elements
from
jazz, classical and "traditional"
Southern African music. The
evidently
less
than ideal live
recording
conditions do not
affect transmission of the
vitality, energy
and
excitement
experienced by
those
partici-
pating
in what was
arguably
the
country's
first
experiment
in "crossover" music. The
sleeve notes of all three reissues are those
which
accompanied
the
original recordings.
These
provide
an evocative sense of the time
and should not be omitted from a reissue,
but
(as with several of the above
recordings
reissued without additional sleeve
notes)
more
commentary
contextualising
each
recording would have
vastly
increased their
archival and educational value.
REFERENCES
Allingham, Rob
(1994) "Township
Jive:
from
pennywhistle to
bubblegum-the
179
180 British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
180 British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
music of South Africa." In S.
Broughton
et al. (ed.) World music: The
Rough
Guide, pp.
373-90. London: The
Rough
Guides.
Ballantine, Christopher (1993) Marabi
nights: early
South
African jazz
and
vaudeville.
Johannesburg:
Ravan Press.
Coplan,
David (1985)
In
township tonight!
South
Africa's
black
city
music and
theatre.
Johannesburg: Ravan Press.
Makeba, Miriam with James Hall
(1988)
Makeba:
my story. Johannesburg:
Skota-
ville.
LARA ALLEN
Queens' College, Cambridge
lva20@hermes.cam.ac.uk
music of South Africa." In S.
Broughton
et al. (ed.) World music: The
Rough
Guide, pp.
373-90. London: The
Rough
Guides.
Ballantine, Christopher (1993) Marabi
nights: early
South
African jazz
and
vaudeville.
Johannesburg:
Ravan Press.
Coplan,
David (1985)
In
township tonight!
South
Africa's
black
city
music and
theatre.
Johannesburg: Ravan Press.
Makeba, Miriam with James Hall
(1988)
Makeba:
my story. Johannesburg:
Skota-
ville.
LARA ALLEN
Queens' College, Cambridge
lva20@hermes.cam.ac.uk
Bewaare-They
are
coming: Dagaare
songs
and dances
from Nandom,
Ghana. CD, Pan Records PAN
2052CD;
1996.
16-page
booklet
by Trevor
Wiggins.
Ghanaian musical traditions have been
relatively
well documented and recorded in
comparison
to
many
other African musics.
This has been the case ever since the
anthropologist
R.S.
Rattray
first travelled to
the Ashante area of the Gold Coast (as
Ghana was called under British
rule)
in 1920
and recorded about 50 wax
cylinders
of
music and
language
which survive to this
day (see Clayton's
article in this
issue).
In
subsequent decades, the music of the
Ashanti, Fanti, Ewe and
Dagomba people
of
Ghana was further researched and recorded
by
ethnomusicologists
such as J.H. Kwabena
Nketia and Vema Gillis. Yet an
important
musical tradition-that of the
Dagaari
from
northwestern Ghana-has been almost com-
pletely
overlooked
by ethnomusicologists.
An
exception
is the research
by
Trevor
Wiggins,
Director of Music at
Dartington
College
of Arts in Totnes, England, whose
fieldwork has
recently culminated in this
compact
disc of his 1994-95
recordings.
The
Dagaare population mainly occupies
the
Upper
West
region
of Ghana
neigh-
bouring
Burkina Faso; the town of Nandom
where most of the
recordings
were made is
only
a few kilometres from the border. As
among
those Burkinabe
neighbours,
xylophone
music is central to
Dagaare
musical activities and as a result features
predominantly on this CD. It revolves
Bewaare-They
are
coming: Dagaare
songs
and dances
from Nandom,
Ghana. CD, Pan Records PAN
2052CD;
1996.
16-page
booklet
by Trevor
Wiggins.
Ghanaian musical traditions have been
relatively
well documented and recorded in
comparison
to
many
other African musics.
This has been the case ever since the
anthropologist
R.S.
Rattray
first travelled to
the Ashante area of the Gold Coast (as
Ghana was called under British
rule)
in 1920
and recorded about 50 wax
cylinders
of
music and
language
which survive to this
day (see Clayton's
article in this
issue).
In
subsequent decades, the music of the
Ashanti, Fanti, Ewe and
Dagomba people
of
Ghana was further researched and recorded
by
ethnomusicologists
such as J.H. Kwabena
Nketia and Vema Gillis. Yet an
important
musical tradition-that of the
Dagaari
from
northwestern Ghana-has been almost com-
pletely
overlooked
by ethnomusicologists.
An
exception
is the research
by
Trevor
Wiggins,
Director of Music at
Dartington
College
of Arts in Totnes, England, whose
fieldwork has
recently culminated in this
compact
disc of his 1994-95
recordings.
The
Dagaare population mainly occupies
the
Upper
West
region
of Ghana
neigh-
bouring
Burkina Faso; the town of Nandom
where most of the
recordings
were made is
only
a few kilometres from the border. As
among
those Burkinabe
neighbours,
xylophone
music is central to
Dagaare
musical activities and as a result features
predominantly on this CD. It revolves
around the
gyil,
which in its local version is
made of 18 wooden
keys
fixed over
individual
gourd
resonators which
produce
an
amplified
and
buzzy sound. The
gyil
is
used for a
variety
of occasions such as
funerals and fetish dances
(bagrbine)
but is
most
commonly played
for recreational
purposes,
in
particular
for bewaa, a
popular
form of music and dance which was
adapted
from earlier forms-some of them
imported
into
Dagaare
culture-in the 1950s. Three
generations
of bewaa musicians are
repre-
sented on this CD,
giving
the listener some
indication of the evolution of the
style
over
the decades. Aside from the
gyil,
which can
be
played
either solo, in a duet or in an
ensemble, other instruments are featured
separately;
these include the koriduo, a small,
six-string harp,
the dalaari, a set of drums
made from broken
pots,
and the
gombe,
a
frame drum which has travelled back to
Ghana from the Caribbean. While the
playing
of these instruments is confined to
men, women's musical realm is found in the
performance and
composition
of
songs.
Their talent for this
activity
is
clearly
credit-
ed in the sleeve notes and illustrated in the
recordings. Similarly,
the
importance
of
children and adolescents in
Dagaare
music-
making is
fully acknowledged,
and some
fine
examples
of their
early
abilities are
featured.
Listening
to this
recording
and
reading
the
accompanying 16-page booklet, it is
clear that a
great
deal of
thought
and effort
have been
put
into its
production.
At a
practical level, great
care has been
given
to
the
presentation
of the
recordings
and the
accuracy
of the written information. The
correct
way
of
writing
the
Dagaare language
with the relevant diacritics (which I cannot
reproduce here)
has been
respected.
At a
more
conceptual level, there has been a con-
scious decision to
give
the listener a
compre-
hensive view of
Dagaare
music from all
layers
of
society,
since all
Dagaare
are
involved in its
making.
There is also a
distinct
willingness
to "situate" the record-
ings
in a
physical, historical and human
context. For
example,
the first track is a
short extract of ambient animal sounds
which form a constant
background
to
everyday
life
activities, including
music.
More
interestingly,
the musicians'
personal
histories are recounted in detail, and
ample
information is
given
in the sleeve notes
about the evolution of the musical
styles
and
around the
gyil,
which in its local version is
made of 18 wooden
keys
fixed over
individual
gourd
resonators which
produce
an
amplified
and
buzzy sound. The
gyil
is
used for a
variety
of occasions such as
funerals and fetish dances
(bagrbine)
but is
most
commonly played
for recreational
purposes,
in
particular
for bewaa, a
popular
form of music and dance which was
adapted
from earlier forms-some of them
imported
into
Dagaare
culture-in the 1950s. Three
generations
of bewaa musicians are
repre-
sented on this CD,
giving
the listener some
indication of the evolution of the
style
over
the decades. Aside from the
gyil,
which can
be
played
either solo, in a duet or in an
ensemble, other instruments are featured
separately;
these include the koriduo, a small,
six-string harp,
the dalaari, a set of drums
made from broken
pots,
and the
gombe,
a
frame drum which has travelled back to
Ghana from the Caribbean. While the
playing
of these instruments is confined to
men, women's musical realm is found in the
performance and
composition
of
songs.
Their talent for this
activity
is
clearly
credit-
ed in the sleeve notes and illustrated in the
recordings. Similarly,
the
importance
of
children and adolescents in
Dagaare
music-
making is
fully acknowledged,
and some
fine
examples
of their
early
abilities are
featured.
Listening
to this
recording
and
reading
the
accompanying 16-page booklet, it is
clear that a
great
deal of
thought
and effort
have been
put
into its
production.
At a
practical level, great
care has been
given
to
the
presentation
of the
recordings
and the
accuracy
of the written information. The
correct
way
of
writing
the
Dagaare language
with the relevant diacritics (which I cannot
reproduce here)
has been
respected.
At a
more
conceptual level, there has been a con-
scious decision to
give
the listener a
compre-
hensive view of
Dagaare
music from all
layers
of
society,
since all
Dagaare
are
involved in its
making.
There is also a
distinct
willingness
to "situate" the record-
ings
in a
physical, historical and human
context. For
example,
the first track is a
short extract of ambient animal sounds
which form a constant
background
to
everyday
life
activities, including
music.
More
interestingly,
the musicians'
personal
histories are recounted in detail, and
ample
information is
given
in the sleeve notes
about the evolution of the musical
styles
and