Academic literature on the topic 'Music Ibibio (African people)'

Abstract:Jane Guyer has clearly demonstrated in Marginal Gains (2004) that the ranking of people historically was linked to quantitative scales of money. Guyer's study focuses on the Igbo and Ibibio, two societies in which ranking was by achievement rather than ascription. How do ranking and money interface in other African societies with strong monarchical or centralized social systems? What impact does currency instability have on rank in such societies? This paper examines these questions. Focusing on the Yoruba of Nigeria and the Akan of Ghana, it evaluates the degree to which ranking has been affected by currency devaluation and economic instability since the mid-1980s.

This article aims to encourage the provision of the Zimbabwean mbira dzavadzimu in schools as a means of experiencing a novel musical system. It provides an outline of the mbira's cultural context within an oral tradition. The basic structure of the mbira pattern is abstracted and represented by four types of notation which makes the music accessible to a range of people. However, the characteristic ‘inherent rhythms’ that emerge kaleidoscopically from patterns and variations throughout performance give the music an elusive quality, the dimensions of which cannot be captured in staff notation. The simplicity of the separate components of a composition can be individually explored on a variety of instruments, while the resultant combination of its interlocking melodic lines is one of complexity and ever-shifting musical images. The mbira introduces a new aesthetic into the classroom and is ideal for both solo and ensemble playing.

Indigenous Bapedi music and oral tradition have been dismissed as myth, superstition and primitive stories. Such dismissal has been based on the misconception and assumption that indigenous Bapedi music and oral tradition are proletarian, steeped in evil religious experiences and unacceptable for worship. In Bapedi society, indigenous music and traditional oral stories are utilized to buttress and demonstrate the collective wisdom of Bapedi people, as well as to transmit Bapedi culture, values, beliefs and history from generation to generation. This article examines misconceptions about indigenous Bapedi music and traditional oral stories. It argues that indigenous Bapedi music and oral tradition should not be dismissed at face value as practices overtaken by circumstances and hence irrelevant to the present Bapedi community developmental needs. The findings of the present study faithfully reflect that indigenous Bapedi songs and traditional oral stories resonate in people’s personal lives, in religious rituals and in society at large. These findings suggest that Bapedi people should keep and perpetuate their valuable heritage, which is still needed for survival and for the welfare of our next generation. The main question the study addressed is: What role do indigenous Bapedi music and oral tradition play in Bapedi culture?

AbstractIn 1827, George Wilson Bridges, the outspoken proslavery rector of the parish of St. Ann, Jamaica, published a pamphlet of music that he had written to be used as the choral service at his church. The Bishop of Jamaica condemned Bridges's musical innovations on the grounds that they were not suitable to be heard by “a congregation chiefly composed by people of colour & negroes.” On the Bishop's orders, Bridges's music stopped, and by 1828 he reported that his pews were once more empty. The congregation of St. Ann parish church was almost entirely enslaved Africans and Afro-descendants who could choose their place of worship. However, in Bridges's own household, the people he claimed as property had little opportunity to escape his ministering. In 1829 Bridges came to the attention of British abolitionists for his brutal flogging of Kitty Hylton, a woman he claimed to own. This article uses Black feminist approaches to archival materials to explore the relationship between the music promoted by Bridges, conflicting views held by white religious leaders about what music was appropriate for African and African-descended people to listen to, and Bridges's violence towards enslaved people; in so doing exploring the inescapable entanglement of religious music, race, and violence in colonial Jamaica.

Australia is a culturally diverse nation. The Arts provide a pathway that contributes to the rich tapestry of its people. Tertiary music educators have the responsibility to provide opportunities to effectively prepare and engage pre-service teachers in becoming culturally responsive. The authors discuss the importance and need to include guest music educators as culture bearers when preparing pre-service teachers to teach multicultural music. Drawing on data from student questionnaires, author participant observation and reflective practice in 2014, the findings highlight the experiences and practical engagement of an African music workshop in teacher education courses. Generalisations cannot be made, however, the findings revealed the need, importance and benefits of incorporating guest music educators as culture bearers who have the knowledge, skills and understandings to contribute to multicultural music education. This experience may be similar to other educational settings and it is hoped that the findings may provide a platform for further dialogue in other teaching and learning areas.

Recent empirical evidence suggests that – like other synchronized, collective actions – making music together with others fosters affiliation and pro-social behaviour. However, it is not yet known whether these effects are limited to active, interpersonal musical participation, or whether solitary music listening can also produce similar effects. This study examines the hypothesis that listening to music from a specific culture can evoke implicit affiliation towards members of that culture more generally. Furthermore, we hypothesized that listeners with high trait empathy would be more susceptible to the effects. Sixty-one participants listened to a track of either Indian or West African popular music, and subsequently completed an Implicit Association Test measuring implicit preference for Indian versus West African people. A significant interaction effect revealed that listeners with high trait empathy were more likely to display an implicit preference for the ethnic group to whose music they were exposed. We argue that music has particular attributes that may foster affective and motor resonance in listeners.

Because of the early development of an African American community on Central Avenue, the city of Tampa, Florida provides an excellent environment to document Black music traditions in the southeastern region of the United States. By the late nineteenth century, an urban Black working class had formed on Central Avenue. Black musicians were part of a distinct cultural community, including divergent lifestyles, which were organically linked to the rural and urban life experiences of Black people in the United States and the Caribbean.

On 29 September 1994, Cheb Hasni, the most renowned Rai singer living in Algeria, was gunned down outside his family's house in Gambetta, a quarter of the city of Waharan (Oran). He was one of many public figures (and some 50,000 others) who have been killed since the main opposition political party, the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) was prevented from assuming power by the annulment of elections that they would have won in 1991. Like the most notable of Algeria's victims of violence, which include journalists, lawyers, doctors, television presenters and top policemen, Hasni represented a version of Algerian identity that some people clearly could not tolerate. Responsibility for his assassination has not been claimed, but the manner of his death was identical to others carried out by the armed faction of the fundamentalist Islamic movement, the GIA (Armed Islamic Group). His death has possibly marked the demise of a genre of North African popular music known as Rai as it was produced in Algeria. Rai has been a particularly problematic idiom for Islamists and secularists alike. Both groups nurture distinct views of the place of Algeria, and Algerians in the world, and the role of Islam and liberal secularism in Algeria. Rai music constructs its own distinct trajectories linking local and global, ‘East’ and ‘West’, and, in this way, constitutes a distinct problem for Algerians, and indeed other North Africans today.

In this paper I explicate polyrhythm in the context of traditional West African music, framing it within a more general theory of polyrhythm and polymeter, then compare three approaches for the visual representation of both. In contrast to their analytical separation in Western theory and practice, traditional West African music features integral connections among all the expressive arts (music, poetry, dance, and drama), and the unity of rhythm and melody (what Nzewi calls “melo-rhythm”). Focusing on the Ewe people of south-eastern Ghana, I introduce the multi-art performance type called Agbekor, highlighting its poly-melo-rhythms, and representing them in three notational systems: the well-known but culturally biased Western notation; a more neutral tabular notation, widely used in ethnomusicology but more limited in its representation of structure; and a context-free recursive grammar of my own devising, which concisely summarizes structure, at the possible cost of readability. Examples are presented, and the strengths and drawbacks of each system are assessed. While undoubtedly useful, visual representations cannot replace audio-visual recordings, much less the experience of participation in a live performance.

Jangwa music is traditional to the Manyika people of Zimbabwe. The Manyika are a sector of the Shona people, occupying a portion of Manicaland Province in the eastern part of Zimbabwe. African societies carefully craft songs for different contexts to serve a functional and educational purpose. The aim of the study was to explore the origin and the structure of jangwa music, the sociological and social psychological functions of the music and its performance, as well as its aesthetic values among the Manyika people. The study utilised focused ethnographical methods. A large group of elderly Manyika people with extensive knowledge and experience who were purposively selected acted as key informants. Data collection strategies included participant and non-participant observation during jangwa music performances, as well as in-depth individual and focus-group interviews. The study employed content analysis and selected songs were transcribed in staff notation using Crescendo Music Notation Software for analysis purposes. The outcomes of the study reveal some form of acculturation in the origin and structure of the music resulting in the music being a contemporary choral music. While some of the songs are for school sporting events, others are to demonstrate pride in teachers, community leaders and natural features within the Manyika region. However, the findings reveal that the majority of jangwa songs are for wedding and marriage ceremonies. Most of the wedding songs focus on the role of brides and married women as a whole, signifying the pivotal role they play within the Manyika society, yet a glimpse of the male roles are heard. In all the contexts, jangwa music contributes in uplifting the sociological and social psychological well-being of performers and audience members. For the Manyika people, the function of jangwa music takes precedence in its aesthetical values. Considering the diminishing of African musical arts, the study recommends the ethno-musicological use of jangwa music in informal and formal education in Zimbabwe for the promotion of indigenous knowledge systems. Jangwa song lyrics convey the distinctive values, virtues, and life skills of the Manyika people, and are therefore inextricably bound to the indigenous fabric and context-specific utilitarian purposes of the music.
Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Music
DMus
Unrestricted

This study examines the relationship between composed songs in isiXhosa and the field of oral literature. In traditional Xhosa cultural settings, poetry and music are forms of communal activity enjoyed by that society. Music and poetry perform a special social role in African society in general, providing a critique of socio-economic and political issues. The research analyses the relationship that exists between traditional poetry, izibongo, and composed songs. It demonstrates that in the same way that izibongo can be analysed in order to appreciate the aesthetic value of an oral literary form, the same can be said of composed isiXhosa music. The art of transmitting oral literature is performance. The traditional izibongo are recited before audiences in the same way. Songs (iingoma) stories (amabali) and traditional poetry (izibongo) all comprise oral literature that is transmitted by word of mouth. Opland (1992: 17) says about this type of literature: “Living as it does in the performance is usually appreciated by crowds of people as sounds uttered by the performer who is present before his/her audience.” Opland (ibid 125) again gives an account of who is both reciter of poems and singer of songs. He gives Mthamo’s testimony thus: “He is a singer… with a reputation of being a poet as well.” The musical texts that will be analysed in this thesis will range from those produced as early as 1917, when Benjamin Tyamzashe wrote his first song, Isithandwa sam (My beloved), up to those produced in 1990 when Makhaya Mjana was commissioned by Lovedale on its 150th anniversary to write Qingqa Lovedale (Stand up Lovedale). The song texts total fifty, by twenty-one composers. The texts will be analysed according to different themes, ranging from themes that are metaphoric, themes about events, themes that depict the culture of the amaXhosa, themes with a message of protest, themes demonstrating the relationship between religion and nature, themes that call for unity among the amaXhosa, and themes that depict the personal circumstances of composers and lullabies. The number of texts from each category will vary depending on the composers’ socio-cultural background when they composed the songs. Comparison will be made with some izibongo to show that composers and writers of izibongo are similar artists and, in the words of Mtuze in Izibongo Zomthonyama (1993) “bathwase ngethongo elinye” (They are spiritually gifted in the same way).

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Music at the University of Zululand, 2005.
This document on umaskandi is about a vocal musical style that was created and nurtured by the Zulu people. Externally and, at a distance, the style may not appear to be artistically captivating, praiseworthy, and linguistically significant. It is but only on closer scrutiny that the aesthetic worth of the music can be realized. Even then, without a considerable research into a sizeable amount of the people's arts in relation to their life activities, a casual listener may not identify any worthiness in the practice of umaskandi music. This is generally the case with all the music of Africa. The music is contained in the life activities of the people. Having discovered the entertaining element in the music, a serious listener will still be faced with the greater challenges of fathoming the organization of sound, the significance of the libretto and the physical execution, in relation to the lifestyles of the performers. The sound of the music, the observed rhythmic activity of the performers, and the language of the libretto and its elocution are only the surface of the activity. There is still, but, more signification in the unsaid source of the music. The reason for the neglect of this music style by Western cultures and by some modern local indigenous Africans, was not a mere oversight, but a result of stigmatization of all African arts by Europeans, whose intention was to dominate the whole of Africa. They would not succeed in managing the people dictatorially without destroying the latter's culture- For some time, therefore, because of such pressures and the demands of the culture of cities, and missionary education, the Westerners were able to 'convert' some Africans against their own (African) culture. Such attempts to 'Europeanize' Africans took place wherever there were European settlers on African soil. But, because of the breadth of the continent, they could not cover the whole surface of the country. Even amongst those that were reached, like the Zulus, there were always people who were not willing to abandon their indigenous heritage. Many were unbending and insisted on maintaining their traditional arts and cultures. It was from such a cultural attitude and disposition that umaskandi idiom was born. The coming in of democratic rule in South Africa has, however, restored the dignity of every human culture in the country. Therefore, all nationalities are free to practise their various cultures with firmness and self-assurance. This attitude lent more confidence to those that performed umaskandi music. It took some time before 'sophisticated' Africans could appreciate the sound and movement in performance of umaskandi performance style. The other nationalities took a little longer. Up to this day, those that have not been orientated in the language of the performers have not grasped the essence in umaskandi music, because of the social contextual nature of the music. Should a form of prejudice against indigenous African languages be sustained, ignorance about the life and thought patterns of Africans shall grow. This will be a drawback for the South African people as a whole. This phenomenon is worthy of mention because the propagation of isiZulu is getting threatened in many ways. First: There is a big population of Zulu and non-Zulu learners that do not receive tuition of their vernacular because some school managers are negative towards African languages. Secondly: Umaskandi musicians, who are the custodians of isiZulu language and culture, and other Zulu artistes, shall never be comprehended if the language is ignored. So, for those unfortunate learners who do not have isiZulu in their curriculum, the doors are closed on both sides. Since they are not given tuition in the classroom, they are most likely to develop a negative attitude towards the language, which would be a great disaster. In their schooling career, they will also miss the further * education through music' that is provided by Zulu music practitioners at large. Umaskandi musicians, who are speakers of isiZulu language, are in their own way, keepers and propagators of isiZulu culture. Their instruments are tuned in isiZulu style, which is their own instrumental creation bashed on their singing style. Their libretto is in isiZulu. They are historians of isiZulu life and its relevant culture of yesteryear. This will be missed. Umaskandi concept, which embraces the isiZulu instrumental tuning, isiZulu manner of dancing, isiZulu vocal harmony and isiZulu elocution of izibongo (praise poetry) , originated in the indigenous lives of the Zulu people. These people were so solid in their belief and practice that they clang tenaciously onto their culture even when they were exposed to a conglomeration of foreign cultures in the horrible mining environment. Umaskandi concept, therefore, had an effect on the people's behaviour. When the African indigenous people came across the new musical instrumentation at their disposal, they adapted the latter and used them to become an extension of their vocal styles. When conditions in the mines were depressing, degrading and debasing, they painfully sang of the good life that they had left behind in their indigenous homes. Through this umaskandi style, they have, therefore, been able to relate a people's history. The final question in the last chapter is whether umaskandi concept can be a method of education in the performance of instruments just as tonic solfa is a method of vocal music. The question can be extended further to inquire whether umaskandi concept can be a method of moral and cul tural determination and perseverance as it has been the case with Zulu musicians.

This thesis is an investigation of the significance of Mhande song-dance in two performance contexts: the Mutoro ritual of the Karanga and the Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Competition. In addition, I undertake comparative analysis of the structure of Mhande music in relation to the structure of selected genres of Shona indigenous music. The position of Mhande in the larger context of Shona music is determined through analysis of transcriptions of the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic elements of chizambi mouth bow, karimba mbira, ngororombe panpipes, ngano story songs, game, hunting, war, and love songs. Mhande is an indigenous song-dance performed for the mutoro ceremony, the annual rain ritual of the Karanga. The Mhande repertoire consists of distinctive songs and rhythms used for communicating with the majukwa rain spirits. The rain spirits in turn communicate with God (Mwari) the provider of rain, on behalf of the Karanga. Mhande song-dance is performed exactly the same way in the annual Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Competitions as in the ritual context of the mutoro ceremony. However, in the context of the Competition, it is used for the expression of joy and as a form of cultural identity. The Competition is a forum in which Karanga songdance traditions such as Mhande, compete with other Shona song-dance traditions such as mbakumba, shangara and chinyambera. I contextualize and analyse Mhande song-dance by using the ‘Matonjeni Model’, which in terms of Karanga epistemology, is culture specific. This Model is grounded in description, interpretation and analysis; the primary methods in my research process.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The topic of this research is the Ibibio concept of peace and its implications for preaching: A practical theological study within the Akwa Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria (PCN). Conflict and violence are phenomena that are common to every human society. It would not be an overstatement to say that conflicts, war and various forms of violence are clear indications of a lack of peace in any given society. Numerous studies have been done by scholars of peace and international relations as well as social anthropologists political scientists, etcetera on themes related to peace-making, peace negotiation, peace-building, conflict resolution, and conflict transformation, especially in terms of national and international peace. International organizations, various nations, non-governmental organizations, as well as faith-based organizations have invested so much in the way of resources and energy in the search for peace, yet, the attainment of peace in our human society remains a mirage. On a daily basis, media reports indicate that, all over the world, violence is on the increase, sending thousands of innocent people to early graves. In Africa, the story is even worse. Different approaches towards achieving peace have failed to yield the needed positive peace. Yet, little or nothing has been done in terms of searching for peace within the indigenous African context. In other words, indigenous initiatives, ideas and approaches towards peace and peace-building have been ignored in the field of scholarship. The question is: What could be the role of the Church, its theology as well as its preaching towards the development of peace initiatives that are both theological and indigenous to the Ibibio people of Nigeria, given the volume of different forms of violent conflict that the people experience daily. This study is based on the assumption that, if the Church critically examines indigenous Ibibio peace approaches, it may discover a missing link that could make this become effective in preaching peace among the Ibibio people who live in pain, hurts and poverty as a result of violence, thereby closing a gap in knowledge. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine critically whether the PCN’s Akwa Synod and its leaders do in fact understand the Ibibio concept of peace, or not, and what the Church could draw from indigenous peace initiatives in order to make its preaching, as well as its peace-building practice, effective and relevant within the Ibibio social context. Indigenous Ibibio people, both Church and community leaders and lay members of three congregations of the PCN’s Akwa Synod were included as respondents. Using a mixed method approach, through a questionnaire, focus groups and individual interview; data under review were obtained for the study. The interdisciplinary nature of this study informed the use of both theoretical and methodological triangulation. The empirical findings of this research reveal: Firstly, Ibibio people understand peace as the absence of violence. Secondly, the lack of peace has physical, psychological, economic, social, as well as political consequences in people’s lives which, basically, result in deaths, suffering, injustice, poverty and the human person’s loss of dignity. Thirdly, justice and peace are significant elements for the well-being of society. Fourth, religiosity could influence the way the Ibibio people act and do things. Fifth, the leaders of the PCN’s Akwa Synod do understand the Ibibio concept of peace, even though the Church is yet to articulate a standardized peace-building procedure and training in a detailed document. Yet members and leaders, being mostly Ibibio natives, know what the Ibibio peace is all about. This study has offered suggestions on how the PCN could integrate indigenous peace initiatives in order to become more effective in preaching peace within the Ibibio context.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie navorsing is om die Ibibio konsep van vrede en die implikasies daarvan vir die prediking te ondersoek, as ‘n prakties-teologiese studie binne die Akwa Sinode van die Presbiteriaanse Kerk van Nigerië (PCN). Konflik en geweld is verskynsels wat algemeen voorkom in alle menslike samelewings. Dit is nie oordrewe om te sê dat konflikte, oorlog en verskeie vorme van geweld duidelike tekens is van 'n gebrek aan vrede in enige gegewe samelewing nie. Kenners van internasionale betrekkinge, sowel as sosiale antropoloë en politieke wetenskaplikes, ensovoorts, het al veel oor temas verwant aan die kwessie van vrede geskryf (oor vrede-maak, vrede onderhandel, vrede-bou, konflik en konflik transformasie, ensovoorts), veral in terme van nasionale en internasionale vrede. Internasionale organisasies, nie- regeringsorganisasies, sowel as talle geloof-gebaseerde organisasies het al baie belê in terme van hulpbronne en energie in die soeke na vrede, maar tog bly die bereiking van vrede in ons menslike samelewing blykbaar 'n illusie. Op 'n daaglikse basis dui media-verslae daarop dat geweld aan die toeneem is oor die hele wêreld - geweld wat duisende, onskuldige mense te vroeg na hulle grafte stuur. In Afrika is die situasie nog erger. Verskillende benaderings tot die bereiking van vrede het misluk om die nodige positiewe vrede te lewer. In werklikheid is min, of niks, in terme van die soeke na vrede in sommige inheemse Afrika-kontekste gedoen. Met ander woorde, inheemse inisiatiewe, idees en benaderings tot vrede en vrede-bou is grootliks geïgnoreer, veral in wetenskaplike vakgebiede. Die vraag is: wat kan die rol van die kerk, die teologie, sowel as die prediking wees in die ontwikkeling van vrede-inisiatiewe wat beide teologies van aard en inheems aan die Ibibio mense van Nigerië is, gegewe die omvang van die verskillende vorme van gewelddadige konflik wat die mense daagliks ervaar. Hierdie studie is gebaseer op die aanname dat, indien die kerk kritiese ondersoek doen na die inheemse Ibibio vrede-benaderings, dit 'n vermiste skakel kan ontdek in die verkondiging van die evangelie van vrede onder die Ibibio mense, wat as gevolg van geweld in pyn, seer en armoede leef, en dat daardeur 'n gaping in kennis gevul kan word. Daarom is die doel van hierdie studie om krities te ondersoek of die PCN se Akwa Sinode en sy leiers die Ibibio konsep van vrede in werklikheid verstaan, of nie; en wat die kerk positief kan benut uit inheemse vrede-inisiatiewe om haar prosesse van preekmaak, sowel as haar vrede-bou praktyke, effektief en relevant binne die Ibibio sosiale konteks te maak. Inheemse Ibibio mense, wat kerk – en gemeenskap leiers en lidmate van drie gemeentes van die PCN se Akwa sinode ingesluit het, het gedien as respondente in die empiriese navorsing. Met behulp van 'n gemengde metode benadering, deur middel van 'n vraelys, fokus groepe en individuele onderhoude is data verkry vir die studie. Die interdissiplinêre aard van hierdie studie het die gebruik van beide teoretiese en metodologiese triangulasie genoodsaak. Die empiriese bevindinge van die navorsing het die volgende na vore laat kom: Eerstens, Ibibio mense verstaan vrede as die afwesigheid van geweld. Tweedens, die gebrek aan vrede het fisiese, psigologiese, ekonomiese, sosiale, sowel as politieke gevolge in mense se lewens, wat basies lei tot sterftes, lyding, onreg, armoede en verlies van menswaardigheid. Derdens, geregtigheid en vrede is belangrike elemente vir die welstand van die samelewing. Vierdens, godsdienstigheid kan die manier waarop die Ibibio mense optree beïnvloed. Vyfdens, die leiers van die PCN se Akwa Sinode verstaan wel die Ibibio konsep van vrede, selfs al het die Kerk nog nie hul gebrek aan 'n gestandaardiseerde vrede-bou prosedure en opleiding in 'n gedetailleerde dokument verwoord nie. Tog weet lede en leiers, wat meestal tot die Ibibio bevolking behoort, waaroor Ibibio vrede ten diepste handel. Hierdie studie bied voorstelle aan oor hoe om PCN inheemse vrede-inisiatiewe te integreer ten einde meer effektief te preek oor vrede binne die konteks van die Ibibio.

Thesis (MMus (Music))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
This study was undertaken to determine the present state of the musical practices of the youth of the !Xun and Khwe San. The study formed part of the NRF project, Mother’s Milk Mother’s Muse, of which the objective was to document and preserve the music of South Africa’s indigenous cultures. This was done by recording the music of children during a series of mini-festivals. A further aim was to develop a renewed interest in their own traditional musical culture. The writer was chosen in 2003 as the project coordinator of the San people of Platfontein in Kimberley. That project has thus formed the basis of the present study of the current musical practices of the youth of the !Xun and Khwe San. Research was done through literature study and participatory action research. General information on these research methodologies is given in the second and third chapters. The ways in which these methodologies were put into practice in the writer’s own study are discussed in the last chapter. Teachers of the !Xunkhwesa school on Platfontein were asked to give their help with the project. These teachers, who teach the Arts and Culture learning area to various grades at the school, were responsible for completing forms with information on musical items. The children were then asked to bring traditional songs to class in the period before the mini-festival. These items were recorded during the mini-festival in September 2005. Descriptions and analyses of the songs are given in chapter five. Similarities with the characteristics of traditional San music as well as general characteristics of African music are also discussed. The conclusions and proposals are discussed in the last chapter.

This chapter discusses the history of African American Music. Many of the roots of black American music lie in Africa more than four hundred years ago at the start of the slave trade. It is essential to realize that the importance given to music and dance in Africa was reflected among black people in America in the songs they sang, in their dancing, and at their folk gatherings. As such, every aspect of jazz, blues, and gospel music is African to some degree. Work songs and the related prison songs are precursors of the blues. One can assume that primitive forms of pre-blues appeared around 1885, mostly in the Deep South and predominantly in the state of Mississippi. However, it was several more years before the famous AAB twelve-bar structure appeared, and when it did, one of its leading practitioners was Charley Patton.

This work posits that in most cases conflicts help to build a stronger bond of unity because we agree to disagree. The chapter seeks to demonstrate that African peacebuilding poses great challenge to what looks like a complex, standardized, and globalized understanding of peacebuilding of the international community propelled mainly by achievement of justice. Using the Ibibio of South Nigeria as a case study, the researcher shows that religion, culture, and morality are inseparably bound together and pragmatic. The researcher here presents and discusses the socio-political system in Ibibio land in order to expose the structures therein that invariably ensures a return of peace after relationships have been disrupted by strife. From this investigation, one notices the expression of commitment to peacebuilding through forgiveness, reconciliation, sound teaching, dialogue, which go hand in hand with reconciliation sacrifice. This work recommends the development of a comprehensive healing programme for traumatized people towards sustainable peacebuilding.

African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Bishop Richard Allen’s hymnody, when coupled with his anti-racist activism and his encouragement of communal music-making in worship, evoked eschatological freedom from sin and called for socio-political freedom for people of African descent in the years following the founding of the United States of America. To fully comprehend Allen’s hymnody, one should consider the urgency he bore for freedom and justice for black people in America. Allen (1760–1831) first published a hymnal in 1801, followed by a revised edition in the same year; the included hymns articulate his belief that people could receive individual freedom from both sin and God’s wrath at the final judgement. Allen held to the evangelical hope of Christ’s return which would inaugurate the emancipation of all enslaved people; likewise, eschatological justice must include freedom from political bondage for people of African descent in America. While holding the expectation of eschatological freedom and justice, he adamantly pursued this political freedom during his lifetime, as evidenced in his theo-political writings against slavery and other forms of racial injustice. Consequently, While the lyrics in his 1801 hymnbooks do not explicitly speak against contemporaneous racial injustice, Allen’s life’s work and prose suggest that this is an integral part of the context for Allen’s compilation of eschatological hymnody.

The final chapter looks more closely at the islands’ people: their matrilineal kinship systems, age systems, associated rituals and powerful forces for social cohesion. It surveys their material culture, clothing, music and food, and explores the different types of social and ethnic identities that Comorians might invoke, particularly the hierarchies that continue to distinguish the noble born, those of Arab ancestry, and the descendants of slaves, the African, particularly on Ndzuani. On Mayotte, now firmly part of France, different identities are at play. The importance of the Comorian diaspora is explained, whether in Zanzibar, Madagascar or in France, and their contribution, particularly in terms of remittances, to local economic development. This chapter ends with some reflections on the future of the archipelago – both the independent state and French Mayotte.

Riis takes up the complicated conventions and troubled history of late-nineteenth-century blackface minstrelsy as it was blended and interwoven into the activities among a largely unknown contingent of thousands of African American (and mostly midwestern) musicians and entertainers. He explores how nineteenth-century entertainers understood their business, including the moniker “minstrel” itself, and what for them constituted original, creative work. In this essay, the questions of identity have less to do with personal stories than the importance of the group and how its activities have been lost to history. Knowledge of these forgotten show people, and the sources where more information about them might be found, can help us combat the persistence of degrading stereotypes used to provide oversimplified explanations of black musical and theatrical activity.

This chapter’s central claim is that the notion of freedom, in the context of theology, music, and modernity (1740–1850), is incomplete if it does not address the sacred music of the enslaved people of North America during this period—a population for whom theology, music, and freedom were of enormous personal and social consequence. The central figure in this regard is Richard Allen (1760–1831), who in 1816 founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the first independent black religious denomination in the United States. Allen was born enslaved, in Philadelphia or Delaware, but was able to purchase his freedom in 1783. He had already had a conversion experience in 1777, and once he gained his freedom, he became an itinerant preacher, ultimately settling in Philadelphia, where he preached at St George’s Methodist Church and a variety of venues in the city. In 1794 he led a walkout of black members at St George’s, in protest of racism; and over the course of a number of years he founded Mother Bethel, which would become the original church of the AME. This chapter situates Allen in the development of black sacred music in the US: first, as the publisher of hymnals for his church (two in 1801, and another in 1818); and second, as an important arbitrator between the traditions and performance styles of Protestant hymnody as inherited in the British colonies, and an evolving oral tradition and performance style of black sacred music.

The Brazilian police killed 16 people per day in 2017 and 3/4 of the victims were black people. Recently, a Brazilian called Evaldo Rosa dos Santos, father, worker, musician, and black, was killed in Rio de Janeiro with 80 rifle bullets shot by the police. Everyday, the statistics and the news show that the police uses more force when dealing with black people and it seems obvious that, in Brazil, the state bullet uses to find a black skin to rest. Unfortunately, the brutal force and violence by the state and the police to black people is not a problem only in this country. It is a global reality that led to the creation of an international movement called Black Lives Matter (BLM), a movement against all types of racism towards the black people specially by the police and the state. The BLM movement also aims to connect black people of the entire world against the violence and for justice. In our work, we try to establish a link between the reality of black people in Brazil with the culture of black people around the world, connecting people and artists to perform a tribute to the black lives harved by the state force. For this, the piece uses web content, news, pictures, YouTube’s videos, and more, to create a collage of visual and musical environment merged with expressive movements of a dance, combining technology and gestures. Black culture beyond violence because we believe that black lives matter. such as the Ku Klux Klan, which bring the black population of the world into concern for possible setbacks in their rights. In Brazil, it is not different. Brazil is the non African country with the biggest afro descendant population in the world and one of the last country in the world to abolish slavery. Nowadays, a black person is 3 times more propense to be killed and most part of the murders in the country happened to afro Brazilians. Marielle Franco, a black city councillor from Rio, the only black female representative and one of seven women on the 51-seat council was killed in 2018. The killers were two former policeman. According to Human Rights Watch, the police force in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killed more than 8,000 people between 2005 and 2015, 3/4 of them were black men. At the same time, the African culture strongly influenced the Brazilian culture and most part of the traditional Brazilian music and rhythms can be considered black music.