British Forum for Ethnomusicology

African Rhythm: A Northern Ewe Perspective

Author(s): Kofi Agawu
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 5 (1996), p. 187
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060887
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British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
British Journal
of Ethnomusicology,
vol. 5
(1996)
"Gurung
cultural models in the Ghatu music
and
dance"; M.
Helffer, "The drums of
Nepalese mediums"; P.
Bouchery,
"A sketch of
the musical
heritage
of the Hani
(Yunnan/
China);
C. Jest, "Charako boli: a brief note on
the
language
of the birds in
Nepal". Additional
items include: M. Helffer, "Bibliography
of
Himalayan
music"
(items
in
European
languages, plus
a
discography
and film-
ography);
Ram Sharan Darnal, "Bibliography
of
Nepali
music"
(items
in
Nepali);
M. Trewin,
"The Bhutanese materials of the John
Levy
Collection in the School of Scottish Studies
Sound Archive, University
of
Edinburgh",
with
"Gurung
cultural models in the Ghatu music
and
dance"; M.
Helffer, "The drums of
Nepalese mediums"; P.
Bouchery,
"A sketch of
the musical
heritage
of the Hani
(Yunnan/
China);
C. Jest, "Charako boli: a brief note on
the
language
of the birds in
Nepal". Additional
items include: M. Helffer, "Bibliography
of
Himalayan
music"
(items
in
European
languages, plus
a
discography
and film-
ography);
Ram Sharan Darnal, "Bibliography
of
Nepali
music"
(items
in
Nepali);
M. Trewin,
"The Bhutanese materials of the John
Levy
Collection in the School of Scottish Studies
Sound Archive, University
of
Edinburgh",
with
"Gurung
cultural models in the Ghatu music
and
dance"; M.
Helffer, "The drums of
Nepalese mediums"; P.
Bouchery,
"A sketch of
the musical
heritage
of the Hani
(Yunnan/
China);
C. Jest, "Charako boli: a brief note on
the
language
of the birds in
Nepal". Additional
items include: M. Helffer, "Bibliography
of
Himalayan
music"
(items
in
European
languages, plus
a
discography
and film-
ography);
Ram Sharan Darnal, "Bibliography
of
Nepali
music"
(items
in
Nepali);
M. Trewin,
"The Bhutanese materials of the John
Levy
Collection in the School of Scottish Studies
Sound Archive, University
of
Edinburgh",
with
a note on Bhutanese music from the
editors;
reviews of M.
Helffer, Mchod-rol
(P.
Kvaeme),
L
Grandin, Music and media in local
life
(M. Helffer),
P. Moisala, Cultural
cognition
in music
(M. Helffer),
C.
Tingey, Auspicious
music in a
changing society (M. Helffer);
Conference
report,
"The shamanic cosmos"
(Venice,
October
1996);
dissertation abstract
(M. Trewin). The volume contains an audio CD
with 27 items
illustrating
the articles.
Enquiries
to: Etudes
Himalayennes,
UPR
299, CNRS, 1,
place
A.
Brian, 92195 Meudon, France.
<himal.res@cnrs-bellevue.fr>.
a note on Bhutanese music from the
editors;
reviews of M.
Helffer, Mchod-rol
(P.
Kvaeme),
L
Grandin, Music and media in local
life
(M. Helffer),
P. Moisala, Cultural
cognition
in music
(M. Helffer),
C.
Tingey, Auspicious
music in a
changing society (M. Helffer);
Conference
report,
"The shamanic cosmos"
(Venice,
October
1996);
dissertation abstract
(M. Trewin). The volume contains an audio CD
with 27 items
illustrating
the articles.
Enquiries
to: Etudes
Himalayennes,
UPR
299, CNRS, 1,
place
A.
Brian, 92195 Meudon, France.
<himal.res@cnrs-bellevue.fr>.
a note on Bhutanese music from the
editors;
reviews of M.
Helffer, Mchod-rol
(P.
Kvaeme),
L
Grandin, Music and media in local
life
(M. Helffer),
P. Moisala, Cultural
cognition
in music
(M. Helffer),
C.
Tingey, Auspicious
music in a
changing society (M. Helffer);
Conference
report,
"The shamanic cosmos"
(Venice,
October
1996);
dissertation abstract
(M. Trewin). The volume contains an audio CD
with 27 items
illustrating
the articles.
Enquiries
to: Etudes
Himalayennes,
UPR
299, CNRS, 1,
place
A.
Brian, 92195 Meudon, France.
<himal.res@cnrs-bellevue.fr>.
correspondence correspondence correspondence
Reply
to review: The
following
is
excerpted
from a letter
by
Prof. Kofi
Agawu
(Department
of Music, Yale
University)
in
reply
to the review
by
Dr
Roger Blench of
his book
African rhythm:
a northern Ewe
perspective (BJE
4:
158-60). As a matter of
policy,
we include
primarily
his comments
on
points
of fact; reviews
by
their nature are
full of
opinion. Prof.
Agawu can be
contacted at
<kofi.agawu@yale.edu> and/or
<kagawu @pantheon.yale.edu>.
"... Blench
might have checked the latest
research
by linguists
on Ghanaian
languages
before
telling your readers that I 'incorrect-
ly'
call Siwu a
'Central-Togo'
rather than a
'Togo
Remnant'
language.
In The lan-
guages of Ghana
published
in 1988, M. E.
Kropp
Dabuku and K.C. Ford use the term
'Central-Togo'.
Russell G. Schuh, writing
on 'Avatime noun classes and concord' in
Reply
to review: The
following
is
excerpted
from a letter
by
Prof. Kofi
Agawu
(Department
of Music, Yale
University)
in
reply
to the review
by
Dr
Roger Blench of
his book
African rhythm:
a northern Ewe
perspective (BJE
4:
158-60). As a matter of
policy,
we include
primarily
his comments
on
points
of fact; reviews
by
their nature are
full of
opinion. Prof.
Agawu can be
contacted at
<kofi.agawu@yale.edu> and/or
<kagawu @pantheon.yale.edu>.
"... Blench
might have checked the latest
research
by linguists
on Ghanaian
languages
before
telling your readers that I 'incorrect-
ly'
call Siwu a
'Central-Togo'
rather than a
'Togo
Remnant'
language.
In The lan-
guages of Ghana
published
in 1988, M. E.
Kropp
Dabuku and K.C. Ford use the term
'Central-Togo'.
Russell G. Schuh, writing
on 'Avatime noun classes and concord' in
Reply
to review: The
following
is
excerpted
from a letter
by
Prof. Kofi
Agawu
(Department
of Music, Yale
University)
in
reply
to the review
by
Dr
Roger Blench of
his book
African rhythm:
a northern Ewe
perspective (BJE
4:
158-60). As a matter of
policy,
we include
primarily
his comments
on
points
of fact; reviews
by
their nature are
full of
opinion. Prof.
Agawu can be
contacted at
<kofi.agawu@yale.edu> and/or
<kagawu @pantheon.yale.edu>.
"... Blench
might have checked the latest
research
by linguists
on Ghanaian
languages
before
telling your readers that I 'incorrect-
ly'
call Siwu a
'Central-Togo'
rather than a
'Togo
Remnant'
language.
In The lan-
guages of Ghana
published
in 1988, M. E.
Kropp
Dabuku and K.C. Ford use the term
'Central-Togo'.
Russell G. Schuh, writing
on 'Avatime noun classes and concord' in
Studies in
African linguistics,
vol.
24,
1995
follows Dabuku and Ford and
explains
that
'most earlier literature on these
languages
uses the term
"Togo
Remnant
Languages"
in
English
...'
(my emphasis).
"... Mr. Blench finds it 'somewhat
puzzling'
that I include a number of
transcriptions
made
'by
other hands' in the
fourth
chapter.
He thinks that this 'qualifies
somewhat
[my] analytic
stance.' I had
hoped
in a small
way
to
acknowledge
unpublished research done in
Africa by
indigenous
scholars
('other hands') instead
of
reinforcing
the common view that as late
as 1995 Africans remain informants, not
theorists.
Perhaps
I should have made the
point
more
explicitly
.... I was
puzzled by
Mr. Blench's remark that 'the
transcriptions
are
clearly by
a "Western"
musicologist.'
What, I wonder, would an 'African'
musicologist's transcriptions
look like?"
Studies in
African linguistics,
vol.
24,
1995
follows Dabuku and Ford and
explains
that
'most earlier literature on these
languages
uses the term
"Togo
Remnant
Languages"
in
English
...'
(my emphasis).
"... Mr. Blench finds it 'somewhat
puzzling'
that I include a number of
transcriptions
made
'by
other hands' in the
fourth
chapter.
He thinks that this 'qualifies
somewhat
[my] analytic
stance.' I had
hoped
in a small
way
to
acknowledge
unpublished research done in
Africa by
indigenous
scholars
('other hands') instead
of
reinforcing
the common view that as late
as 1995 Africans remain informants, not
theorists.
Perhaps
I should have made the
point
more
explicitly
.... I was
puzzled by
Mr. Blench's remark that 'the
transcriptions
are
clearly by
a "Western"
musicologist.'
What, I wonder, would an 'African'
musicologist's transcriptions
look like?"
Studies in
African linguistics,
vol.
24,
1995
follows Dabuku and Ford and
explains
that
'most earlier literature on these
languages
uses the term
"Togo
Remnant
Languages"
in
English
...'
(my emphasis).
"... Mr. Blench finds it 'somewhat
puzzling'
that I include a number of
transcriptions
made
'by
other hands' in the
fourth
chapter.
He thinks that this 'qualifies
somewhat
[my] analytic
stance.' I had
hoped
in a small
way
to
acknowledge
unpublished research done in
Africa by
indigenous
scholars
('other hands') instead
of
reinforcing
the common view that as late
as 1995 Africans remain informants, not
theorists.
Perhaps
I should have made the
point
more
explicitly
.... I was
puzzled by
Mr. Blench's remark that 'the
transcriptions
are
clearly by
a "Western"
musicologist.'
What, I wonder, would an 'African'
musicologist's transcriptions
look like?"
Erratum Erratum Erratum
Frans
Buisman, "Melodic
relationships
in
pibroch", BJE
4: 17-39
The Editors extend their
apologies
to Frans Buisman for
omitting part
of the final sentence
of
paragraph
3 on
p.
26 of his article. The sentence as a whole should read as follows
(readers might photocopy this
passage
and affix it to
p. 26):
Conversely: melodic correlation is the
exploitation
of the fact that two notes two
steps
away
from each other in a
particular scale can both be contrasted with the note that lies in
between them in the scale of the mode that is established or that is
being
established.
Frans
Buisman, "Melodic
relationships
in
pibroch", BJE
4: 17-39
The Editors extend their
apologies
to Frans Buisman for
omitting part
of the final sentence
of
paragraph
3 on
p.
26 of his article. The sentence as a whole should read as follows
(readers might photocopy this
passage
and affix it to
p. 26):
Conversely: melodic correlation is the
exploitation
of the fact that two notes two
steps
away
from each other in a
particular scale can both be contrasted with the note that lies in
between them in the scale of the mode that is established or that is
being
established.
Frans
Buisman, "Melodic
relationships
in
pibroch", BJE
4: 17-39
The Editors extend their
apologies
to Frans Buisman for
omitting part
of the final sentence
of
paragraph
3 on
p.
26 of his article. The sentence as a whole should read as follows
(readers might photocopy this
passage
and affix it to
p. 26):
Conversely: melodic correlation is the
exploitation
of the fact that two notes two
steps
away
from each other in a
particular scale can both be contrasted with the note that lies in
between them in the scale of the mode that is established or that is
being
established.
187 187 187