|
|
 |
Sounds of Africa
|
| Click Here to go back. |
United Press Telegram, Sounds of Africa >>
Sounds of Africa
Treasure trove of exotic music from remote areas captured on recordings
By Phillip Zonkel
Staff writer
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - NONESUCH RECORDS' "Explorer Series AFRICA" takes listeners into remote parts of the continent for a rare glimpse at exotic, tribal and ceremonial music.
Zimbabwe performers strike 22-key thumb pianos in a fevered religious ceremony to contact ancestral spirits. Nomadic Fulani musicians sing the praises of their host with calabash gourd drums that double as cooking utensils. Six gulu drummers pound out powerful rhythms that incite Ghana villagers to dramatic, near-hysterical solo dancing.
The recordings originally were released from 1969 to 1983 on vinyl but have been remastered on CD and now are available in stores.
The African collection is part of a sonic treasure trove. From 1967 to 1984, Nonesuch Records released 92 albums that were recorded in several regions around the world by a team of field producers and ethnomusicologists. The label has compiled them into an eight-part musical feast being reissued over the next two years: the 13-disc African set in stores now; 10 discs spotlighting Indonesia/South Pacific by the end of March; nine discs focusing on Tibet/Kashmir in June; 11 discs exploring Latin America/Caribbean in October; 13 discs highlighting East Asia in February 2004; seven discs celebrating Central Asia in June 2004; 14 discs examining Europe for October 2004; and 15 discs illuminating India by February 2005.
In Africa, music is considered a life form, and rhythm is its lifeblood. The CD set showcases 11 countries and the musical practices associated with various cultural customs, ranging from wedding gatherings and healing rituals to tribal initiations and agricultural celebrations.
The stylings also introduce audiences to a series of instruments: Tanzania's marimba; Burundi's sanza; the talking drums of Niger and Burkina Faso, whose pitch is shifted by changing the tension of the drums' membranes and dozens of flutes, fiddles, horns and zithers.
"One of the most brilliant exports of Africa is its music," says Sean Barlow, producer of the national radio program "Afropop Worldwide" and www.afropop.org "The African 'Explorer Series" is an excellent collection of field recordings that convey the richness of traditional African music. It really shows the collective genius of traditional African music.''
These musicians "are not stars fronting bands," Barlow says, "but there's an amazing heritage of polyphony, of polyrhythms, or of making instruments from available materials, such as wood, bows, sticks.''
Their talents also are reflected by the fact that all of the sounds are unplugged, stripped down and unadorned.
"It wasn't like each instrument was microphoned separately and mixed in proportion,'' says Peter K. Siegel, the first director of the "Explorer Series."
"These people had a very masterful control over the dynamics of their instruments. The interplay between the musicians was not only incredible for its musicianship and the notes that they played, but the way they balanced the tones and sounds of the instruments. The real job of recording it was to capture what was already there, not create some fantastic mix."
For example, Paul Berliner recorded and produced two CDs in the series that venture into Zimbabwe, "The Soul of Mbira: Traditions of the Shona People" and "Shona Mbira Music."
In 1971, Berliner traveled to the southeast-African country to pursue the sounds of the mbira, the primary instrument of the Shona people that has been played for more than 1,000 years.
It's a small thumb piano, consisting of 22 to 28 metal keys mounted on a hardwood soundboard and is usually placed inside a large gourd resonator. The keys are played with the two thumbs plucking down and the right forefinger plucking up.
"The mbira is one of Africa's unique contributions to the world of music,'' says Berliner, a professor of ethnomusicology at Northwestern University and author of "The Soul of Mbira: Music and Traditions of the Shona People of Zimbabwe." "It was their invention."
Yet many white citizens of Zimbabwe denied that importance. At the time, the country was an apartheid system under colonial rule by the British and called Rhodesia.
"Part of the racist mythology that justified the colonial project was that notion that Africans had no civilization of their own or any culture worthy of respect," Berliner says. "It was very important to oppose that colonial view and rhetoric."
Berliner used the recordings of the Shona people's cultural achievements and contributions as a way of chipping away at the racist point of view.
"The Soul of Mbira: Traditions of the Shona People" showed how the Zimbabwean artists used many types of one instrument, the mbira, for a variety of religious rituals, coronations and social occasions. "Shona Mbira Music" focused on one of the most famous mbira ensembles, Mhuri yekwaRwizi and its distinguished singer, Hakurotwi Mude.
African sounds also lured Stephen Jay to the continent. In 1973, he visited Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso and recorded "West Africa: Drum, Chant & Instrumental Music" and then to Ghana where he taped "Ghana: Ancient Ceremonies: Dance Music & Songs."
"I wasn't at all interested in anything that was hybridized,'' Jay says. "The motivation in the cities, where there's all this hybridized stuff, is the social advantage you get for being a successful musician.
"All that I went for was the pure, ancient, ethnic stuff."
The "Bounkam Solo" on the "West Africa: Drum, Chant & Instrumental Music" CD illustrates his point. Jay encountered a man sitting under a tree and joyfully playing a bounkam, a transverse, single-reed instrument made from a section of a millet stalk and two small gourds.
"I've worked with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and I'm aware of what's possible with instruments, but this bounkam player is like that guy on steroids,'' Jay laughs. "The kicker is when he gets done playing it, he throws it on the ground and goes home and makes a new one the next day."
Jay says that minimalist approach will catch listeners' ears.
"If you like modern, rhythmic music, most of it has some origins in African music," he says. "When you listen to this pure stuff, you can hear the essential soul of the music without the decoration that's been added over the years through orchestrating and popularizing,'' he says.
"You don't have to try to like it,'' Jay says. "It jumps out and grabs you. It's incredibly enticing.''
Phillip Zonkel can be reached at (562) 499-1258 or by e-mail at phillip.zonkel@presstelegram.com 03/13/03
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
