Sound systems in sub-Saharan Africa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the sake of simplicity, the tonal systems in sub- Saharan Africa are only meant to be those of the traditional music of Sub-Saharan Africa that initially developed without the influence of the modal, Arabic music of North Africa and the music of southern Africa , which is partly influenced by Europe . They are very different according to the many cultures, languages, ways of life and occasions as well as the vocal and instrumental customs. Nevertheless, the previously known and examined sound systems can be roughly divided into three main categories:

Tone systems with five-tone scales ( pentatonic ), tone systems with seven-tone scales ( heptatonic ) and tone systems with other scales .

Most of these tone systems are of a completely different type than the occidental-western ones. Nevertheless it is possible and necessary to use terms from our interval theory to describe them; because there are no corresponding African terms and no African music theory comparable to Western and Islamic . With some sound systems one can even speak of tempering . The use of natural intervals also occurs. All in all, sub-Saharan music is therefore extremely multi-layered and, in various local forms, highly developed in terms of form and composition, often to the point of complex polyphony . Their tone systems have never been standardized in their long, essentially notation-free tradition - like the western ones in the equal temperament - in the sense of a general tempering. However, the European equal-stage mood has long since established itself in modern African dance and pop music, in African hits and in African jazz. Some typically sub-Saharan instruments are now being tuned accordingly.

Tone systems with five-note scales

Almost at the same level ("equidistant"), i.e. with almost equally large intervals: the fourths tend to be very close, the fifths are slightly larger than the pure intervals . Seen from C, this equal pentatonic corresponds roughly to the tones C, high D, low F, G, high A. The fourths differ somewhat from the equidistant fourth (480 cents ), the fifths from the equidistant fifth (720 cents). Thirds are missing in this pentatonic scale. These scales with the basic interval of about 240 cents are often used to perform simple indentations, e.g. B. in the East African "miko" transposition system of the Amadinda lamellophone in southern Uganda . The music from these scales is usually sung unanimously, but among the pygmies in the forest areas of the Congo it is also extremely polyphonic in the Hoquetus technique (the "equidistance" is only hypothetical, since the pitches are very freely chosen when singing).

Pentatonic without semitones ("anhemitonic"): This type corresponds to the pentatonic scale we are familiar with, for example in the scale C, D, E, G, A. This type is mostly used in two parts in the "skip procedure": If we use a pentatonic scale with C, D Assuming E, G, and A, C and E (D is skipped), D and G (E is skipped), and E and A (G is skipped) sound together (lower note noted first; all note names indicate relative pitches , not absolute). Fourths and fifths tend towards natural purity , as do the thirds. A rare exception to three-part chords can be found in the Wahenga in Malawi , with chord progressions such as GCE → ADG → CEA (last chord rare).

Asymmetrical: An example can be found in the way the Azande plays the Kundi harp . The pitches correspond roughly to the scale G, low A, C, D, low E, but the uppermost interval is almost a semitone . The steps are, cumulated from three measurements of different harps: 165–169 cents (very small “ whole tone ”), 282–335 cents (around a “minor third”), 221–227 cents (oversized second), 113–148 cents ( Second, close to a "semitone"!)

Overtone spectral: This scale corresponds to tones 4 to 9 of the natural tone series . Often, however, only four main tones are used, rarely the top tone 9 is added. Examples from East and Central Africa: the choir singing and the combination of singing voice and the fiddle zeze or the lamellophone ilimba among the Wagogo in central Tanzania . The two-part sentence type would be, again in the "skip procedure": CG → E-deep B → GC → deep BD (the last interval rarely), tuned according to the natural tone series with natural third E (tone 5 of the natural tone series) and natural seventh low B (tone 7) . The D (9th tone of the natural tone series) can also be placed in the middle of the scale to form an overall scale of low B, C, D, E, G, low B (example: trunk of Makua , Congo-Brazzaville, similar scales can be found in the Central African Republic).

The five-note tone systems are by no means used exclusively in some pieces of music. For example, heptatonic vocal melodies can be provided with pentatonic instrumental accompaniment (see the sound examples on the web links).

Tone systems with seven-note scales

Seven-note scales often have a very complex structure. The music belonging to them is sung in three voices in about half of the cases.

The three-part way of singing in the "double skipping procedure" results in a sequence of approximate major triads: CEG → D-F sharp-A → E-G sharp-H → FAC etc. The tonal “model” is always the “major triad”, but that in these scales cannot be used without compromise in succession. In the example above, the levels F / F sharp and G / G sharp should appear "split".
This results in two types:

"Chromatic" tendencies (partly in western Central Africa, for example among the Mpyèmo in the Central African Republic ).
“Tempering” : Typical for this are unstable thirds ( Angola and South Congo , for example with the Achokwe and Vambwella ).

Diatonic seven-tone scales , similar to European tunings, are often found as the basis of pure instrumental music, for example when playing on a lamellophone (see web links).

Equidistant (equidistant) seven-tone scales , which ideally contain a “neutral” third of 343 cents, occur mainly in instrumental music, hardly in vocal music, at least not in the three-part notes written above. The equidistance, where it is present, for example in the moods of the Mbira Dza Vadzimu in Zimbabwe, is always just one extreme pole in a wide range up to a pronounced seven-step diatonic.

Sound systems with other scales

Four-note scales: They go back to the technique of playing the mouth bow , for example , with the Kung in southern Africa. The vibrating string of the mouth bow creates natural tones in the player's mouth - similar to a jew's harp. If the string is tapped, there is an additional series of natural tones. The first four natural tones are used. In this way, the ǃKung generate the tones C and G as well as D and A. The interval between tapping is here a large second .

Six-note scales: They can also be created when playing the oral bow using the first six natural tones. It can, for. B. when tapping a small second to a set of notes C, E and G as well as Db, F and As come. Gerhard Kubik suspects that such techniques in western Central Africa led to tone systems that were also transferred to other instruments such as the cihumba ( pluriarc , an eight-string musical bow ). The Mpyèmo (Central African Republic) know in their Sya fairy tales a complex scale of small, large and "excessive" seconds (here between D flat and E). The beginning of a melody from this fairy tale is G, F, Db, E, E, C, Db, C. This results in the scale G, F, E, Db, C, which is perceived as descending. It corresponds to a reduced six-note scale with A-flat , G, F, E, Des, C.

The exploration of the sub-Saharan sound systems

The music of Africa south of the Sahara has many oral traditions, some of which differ considerably from one another. Except for insignificant attempts to capture music in tablature, she knows no notation. Since, in addition, a concept for the parameters of sound systems has not been developed in any African language, the investigation of the sound systems was initially entirely dependent on the music being played, its recording preservation and the attempt to transcribe it. At first, only western musicians, musicologists and ethnomusicologists were able to do this to some extent. It was not until around 1960 that Africans also began to deal with it, to a significant extent JH Kwabena Nketia . But even in his presentation of the music of Africa there is a lack of thorough analyzes of the tonal systems. However, he and other African scientists showed that the European terminology cannot cover all phenomena of the sub-Saharan sound systems.

Only with the attempt, in addition to the sounding music or recorded music, also film recordings, testimonies and knowledge of the musicians concerned from the oral tradition, results of instrument studies, the sub-Saharan music history, which is difficult to research, historical evidence from the colonial era and the findings of ethnology for the investigation Using the sound systems produced satisfactory results.

Two important names in this context are Arthur M. Jones (1889–1980) and Hugh Tracey (1903–1977). In German-speaking countries after 1945 it was mainly scientists from Vienna and Berlin, for example Gerhard Kubik (* 1934) and Artur Simon (* 1938), who carried out thorough field studies and investigations and created and continued a source-based music ethnology that dealt with the Can adequately deal with the music of sub-Saharan Africa. Nevertheless, it must be assumed that only a fraction of the sound systems existing in sub-Saharan Africa are known to date.

New problems are currently emerging for research, as the traditional music of sub-Saharan Africa and its characteristics are in the process of disappearing and are therefore being withdrawn from scientific investigation. Instead, beginning with Highlife and Kwela and made internationally known by musicians such as Mory Kanté and Youssou N'Dour , new, mostly urban Sub-Saharan music styles have established themselves, some of which use traditional African instruments and structures again, but with their western, electric ones and electronic instruments and their modern sampling and recording techniques are more committed to the equal, diatonic sound system of European characteristics.

See also

literature

  • Simha Arom : African Polyphony and Polyrhythm. Musical Structure and Methodology . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2004, ISBN 0521616018
  • Simha Arom: A Synthesizer in the Central African Bush. A Method of Interactive Exploration of Musical Scales. In: For György Ligeti . The presentations of the Ligeti Congress Hamburg 1988. Edited by Constantin Floros , Hans Joachim Marx and Peter Petersen with the participation of Manfred Stahnke. 363 pages with numerous illustrations and 32 music examples (= Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft; Volume 11 / Laaber Verlag 1991) pp. 163–178, ISBN 3-89007-220-8 .
  • Klaus-Peter Brenner: Chipendani and Mbira, musical instruments, non-conceptual mathematics and the evolution of harmonic progressions in the music of the Shona in Zimbabwe . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1997, with 2 CDs, ISBN 3-525-82372-X
  • Arthur M. Jones: Studies in African Music . London, Oxford University Press, 1959
  • Gerhard Kubik: Polyphony and tone systems in Central and East Africa. Comments on the own expedition recordings archived in the phonogram archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. With 2 panels, 2 maps, 13 illus. I. Text. Vienna, Böhlau, 1968. 65 p., (= Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class, Meeting Reports, Volume 254, 4th Paper).
  • Gerhard Kubik: To understand African music. Selected essays. Reclam's Universal Library, Vol. 1251, Leipzig 1988, ISBN 3-379-00356-5
  • Gerhard Kubik: Theory, performance practice and composition techniques of Buganda's court music. A guide to composition in an East African musical culture . In: For György Ligeti. The presentations of the Ligeti Congress Hamburg 1988. Edited by Constantin Floros, Hans Joachim Marx and Peter Petersen with the participation of Manfred Stahnke. 363 pages with numerous illustrations and 32 music examples (= Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft; Volume 11 / Laaber Verlag 1991) pp. 23–162, ISBN 3-89007-220-8
  • Joseph H. Kwabena Nketia: The Music of Africa . Wilhelmshaven et altera 1979, ISBN 3-7959-0255-X
  • Artur Simon (Ed.): Music in Africa . Museum für Völkerkunde, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin 1983, ISBN 3-88609-121-X
    • in particular Gerhard Kubik: Music design in Africa . Pp. 27–40, Understanding in African Music Cultures, pp. 313–326 and Cognitive Basics of African Music , pp. 327–400
  • Erich Stockmann : Music cultures in Africa . New Music Publishing House, Berlin 1987
  • Hugh Tracey: Towards an assessment of African Scales . In: African Music, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1958
  • Ulrich Wegner (Ed.): African string instruments . Reimer, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3886091171

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Theory, performance practice and composition techniques of Buganda's court music. A guide to composition in an East African musical culture . In: For György Ligeti. The presentations of the Ligeti Congress Hamburg 1988. Edited by Constantin Floros, Hans Joachim Marx and Peter Petersen with the participation of Manfred Stahnke. 363 pages with numerous illustrations and 32 music examples (= Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft; Volume 11 / Laaber Verlag 1991) p. 60ff
  2. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Polyphony and tone systems in Central and East Africa. Comments on the own expedition recordings archived in the phonogram archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Vienna, Böhlau, 1968, p. 42
  3. ↑ Gerhard Kubik: To understand African music . Selected essays. Leipzig 1988, p. 200
  4. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Polyphony and tone systems in Central and East Africa. Comments on the own expedition recordings archived in the phonogram archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Vienna, Böhlau, 1968, p. 32ff
  5. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Polyphony and tone systems in Central and East Africa. Comments on the own expedition recordings archived in the phonogram archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Vienna, Böhlau, 1968, p. 38
  6. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Polyphony and tone systems in Central and East Africa. Comments on the own expedition recordings archived in the phonogram archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Vienna, Böhlau, 1968, p. 41ff
  7. ↑ Klaus-Peter Brenner: Chipendani and Mbira, musical instruments, non-conceptual mathematics and the evolution of harmonic progressions in the music of the Shona in Zimbabwe , Göttingen 1997, p. 139
  8. ^ Gerhard Kubik: Polyphony and tone systems in Central and East Africa. Comments on the own expedition recordings archived in the phonogram archive of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Vienna, Böhlau, 1968, p. 51
  9. ↑ Joseph H. Kwabena Nketia: The music of Africa . Wilhelmshaven et altera 1979