Mande Music
Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa
9780226101620
9780226101613
Mande Music
Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa
With Mande Music, Eric Charry offers the most comprehensive source available on one of Africa’s richest and most sophisticated music cultures. Using resources as disparate as early Arabic travel accounts, oral histories, and archival research as well as his own extensive studies in Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and the Gambia, Charry traces this music culture from its origins in the thirteenth-century Mali empire to the recording studios of Paris and New York. He focuses on the four major spheres of Mande music—hunter’s music, music of the jelis or griots, jembe and other drumming, and guitar-based modern music—exploring how each evolved, the types of instruments used, the major artists, and how each sphere relates to the others. With its maps, illustrations, and musical transcriptions as well as an exhaustive bibliography, discography, and videography, this book is essential reading for those seeking an in-depth look at one of the most exciting, innovative, and deep-rooted phenomena on the world music scene. A compact disc is available separately.
531 pages | 78 halftones, 30 line drawings, 36 musical examples, 8 maps | 6 x 9 | © 2000
Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology
Anthropology: Cultural and Social Anthropology
Music: Ethnomusicology
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Technical Notes
Transcription Guide and Rhythm Concepts
Introduction
Performers
Performance
Instruments
Repertories
Tuning and Scales
Playing Techniques and Styles
Languages and Neighboring Peoples
Islam and Mande Music
Traditional and Modern
1. The Mande
West African Prehistory
Ancient Ghana (Wagadu)
Mali
Kabu
European Contact, the Colonial Encounter, and Independence
Nyamakala and Notions of a Mande Class System
Mande Aesthetics and the Creative Artist: The Ngara
Conclusion
2. Hunter’s Music
Performers and Performance
Hunter’s Harps
Simbi Repertory
Simbi and Donso Ngoni Tuning
Simbi Playing Technique and Style
Conclusion
3. Jeliya
Performers and Performance
Jeli Instruments
The Repertory of Jeliya
Jeli Tuning Systems
Playing Techniques and Styles
Conclusion
4. Drumming
Performers and Performance
Jembe
Dundun, Sangba, and Kenkeni
Tama
Mandinka Kutiro/Tangtango Ensemble
Conclusion
5. The Guitar and the Modern Era
Performers and Recordings
Repertories of Modern Music
Guitar Tuning
Guitar Playing Styles
Conclusion
6. Music Terminology
Julu, Dònkili, Fasa
The Many Uses of Ben (Agreement)
Terminology for Pitch Height
Rhythm
Conclusion
7. Perspectives
Identity
Methods
When a Context Modernizes
Mande Ways of Learning Music, Ways of Learning Mande Music
When Teaching Westernizes
Conclusion
Manden Te Banna
Appendix A: References Related to Mande Music in Historical Sources from the Eleventh to the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Appendix B: Keys to Vocalists, Musicians, and Their Instruments
Appendix C: Recordings of Traditional and Modern Pieces in Mande Repertories
Appendix D: Syliphone Recordings
Glossary of African Terms
Bibliography
Discography
Videography
Personal Interviews, Lessons, and Recordings
Subject Index
Personal Name Index
Title Index
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Technical Notes
Transcription Guide and Rhythm Concepts
Introduction
Performers
Performance
Instruments
Repertories
Tuning and Scales
Playing Techniques and Styles
Languages and Neighboring Peoples
Islam and Mande Music
Traditional and Modern
1. The Mande
West African Prehistory
Ancient Ghana (Wagadu)
Mali
Kabu
European Contact, the Colonial Encounter, and Independence
Nyamakala and Notions of a Mande Class System
Mande Aesthetics and the Creative Artist: The Ngara
Conclusion
2. Hunter’s Music
Performers and Performance
Hunter’s Harps
Simbi Repertory
Simbi and Donso Ngoni Tuning
Simbi Playing Technique and Style
Conclusion
3. Jeliya
Performers and Performance
Jeli Instruments
The Repertory of Jeliya
Jeli Tuning Systems
Playing Techniques and Styles
Conclusion
4. Drumming
Performers and Performance
Jembe
Dundun, Sangba, and Kenkeni
Tama
Mandinka Kutiro/Tangtango Ensemble
Conclusion
5. The Guitar and the Modern Era
Performers and Recordings
Repertories of Modern Music
Guitar Tuning
Guitar Playing Styles
Conclusion
6. Music Terminology
Julu, Dònkili, Fasa
The Many Uses of Ben (Agreement)
Terminology for Pitch Height
Rhythm
Conclusion
7. Perspectives
Identity
Methods
When a Context Modernizes
Mande Ways of Learning Music, Ways of Learning Mande Music
When Teaching Westernizes
Conclusion
Manden Te Banna
Appendix A: References Related to Mande Music in Historical Sources from the Eleventh to the Mid-Nineteenth Century
Appendix B: Keys to Vocalists, Musicians, and Their Instruments
Appendix C: Recordings of Traditional and Modern Pieces in Mande Repertories
Appendix D: Syliphone Recordings
Glossary of African Terms
Bibliography
Discography
Videography
Personal Interviews, Lessons, and Recordings
Subject Index
Personal Name Index
Title Index