World Music
Question One
Shahriari extensively discusses genres such as -isicathamiya, marabi and kwela, mbaqanga, and kwaito. During apartheid, the cultural isolation forced people in South Africa to create local adaptations such as various genres. These genres reflect the political and social conditions that prevailed during the apartheid period. Particularly, the genres allowed the people who negatively affected by the Apartheid to gain access to their music while connecting. These genres were like the Harlem Renaissance, blues, and jazz music. Through music, black people were able to present their music and talents.
Question Two
The highlife music genre can be traced back to the twentieth century during the colonization of the British Empire. The genre uses the rhythmic and melodic structures of traditional Akan music but played using western instruments. The music is characterized by multiple guitars and jazz horns that lead the band. In Ghana, different colonial structures allowed African characterized development of highlife. These colonial structures were instruments being used as well as timbre. By listening to Hiplife, I have heard a repeated mixing of music and rhythm of the music that is used in contemporary music such as playing the instrument. Essentially, the highlife of Mensah is just folk music and it is not open to particular instruments.
Question Three
Spraying is a type of dance whereby a satisfied singer dances up to the praise singer or the bandleader while pasting money on his or her forehead. This is an act that provided bulks of profits of the musicians. Fundamentally, guaranteed minimum, cash advances, and record royalties, except in the situation of a handful of superstars and minors sources of cash –performers of fuji and juju uses numerous expressive strategies. These strategies include praise names, proverbs, melodic quotations, slag, and satisfying dance grooves. Therefore, Garland Encyclopedia defines spraying as The practice of ‘spraying’- in which a satisfied praisee dances up to the bandleader or praise singer and pastes money to his forehead- provides the bulk of musicians’ profits. Cash advances, guaranteed minimums, and record royalties, except in the case of a handful of superstars, or minor sources of income… performances of jùjú and fújì typically consist of a series of expressive strategies- proverbs and praise names, slang, melodic quotations, and satisfying dance grooves- unreeled to pull in the maximum amount of cash from patrons.” (Page 24). Spraying was important for King Sunny Ade due to his status and lifestyle as a king. The kings tend to use people to praise and worship them and this could be the reason why sparing was important to King Sunny Ade.
Question Four
Fela Kuti is a Nigerian instrumentalist, composer, and musician, and the pioneer of afrobeat music. He was also considered as a staunch human rights activist. Kuti was considered as the most charismatic and challenging music performers. Fela Kuti used his genre and political position to bring awareness to what he termed as rampant corruption in Nigeria. Specifically, he developed afrobeat and utilized it to unite everyone in the country. He also became an activist during his time as a musician. Through the afrobeat genre, he brought political awareness and stopped corruption in Nigeria. He used his musical platform and fame to expose government officials and their bad deeds while warning those who tried to perpetrate evil in the country.
Question Five
Praise singing was a common type of genre that was used to praise men, gods, animals, towns, and plants. Therefore, praise singers were a group of musicians from West African who earned a living from singing praises to the members of the community. Shahriari has highlighted some of the popular musicians and genres in his book. Examples of the music genres include isicathamiya, marabi and kwela, mbaqanga, and kwaito. Some of the musicians cited by Shahriari included Youssou N’Dour and Umm Kulthum. In the Mande/ Mandinka society, lineage played a major role in the development of genres. The origin of kora is enclosed in the folklore and legend. Kora is one of the major instruments that were used in the Jali families of the Mande society. Jali was also known as the griots which were a French phrased. Additionally, kora was a significant part of oral tradition passed down from one generation to another. Children in jali lineage grew up with history and music. Children could learn music at a very young age. The Jali families are a hereditary class of musicians from the Mande community. They represent genealogists, praise-singers, and historians.
Question Six
In many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, music is not limited to entertainment as it also serves as a purpose for the local community. It also helps the members of the community to perform their daily routines. The source of the popular world-music in Sub-Sahara is the custom of its cyclical and open-ended mechanism that involved numerous repeated rhythm or melody as the basic foundation of the performance. The music obtains its inspiration from the ancient practices that they follow.