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Musical Voyage Into Africa

staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
edited February 2015 in Strut Central
If you had the chance to go to Africa on a musical research trip to explore African music and the roots of modern western music, where would you go first?

Is there a specific region with an especially vibrant musical scene, both traditional and modern which is a good place to start, and if so, why?

Im beginning to research a possible documentary series, not very knowledgable on the subject, and thought Id begin here as there seem to be a lot of fans of African music on the strut. Thanks in advance!

  Comments

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    Africa is a big place.
    If the premise is slaves brought their music to the new world then you would start at the epicenter of the slave trade.
    But Africa's impact on Western music goes back centuries earlier, so you might want to start in North Africa.

    Personally I would start in Mali and Senegal, because of the concentration of musicians who so easily move between traditional and contemporary styles.
    But the same could be said of many other places.
    So maybe start in Paris where there is a large pan-African community of working musicians. (At least there was in the 90s.)
  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    Hey Laserwolf - thanks for the info. Im looking into Mali and Senegal - as far as the slave trade angle - could you say west africa, high life and Ghana and Nigeria would be good starting points from that perspective?

    Thanks again for taking time to answer - i need to get stuck in and was hoping for someone on here to school me on the basics.

    This i also found intriguing, Africa divided up into 8 ethno-musical regions - seems mad really, imagine making a similar map of Europe:



    Geo-political map of Africa divided for ethnomusicological purposes, after Alan P. Merriam, 1959.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    It's not a one way street.
    African music influenced Western music and Western music influenced African music. Over and over and over again going back to the dawn of civilization.

    Your show needs a narrative.
    You should find a cool mix of traditional and contemporary musicians working today in West Africa to film. Let them tell their stories, then build a narrative around what you find.
  • ppadilhappadilha 2,244 Posts
    there's an episode in the PBS series The Blues (the one produced by Scorsese) where they send a young blues musician to trace the history of the blues. He ends up hanging out in Mali most of the time, chilling with dudes like Salif Keita and Ali Farka Toure. That seems to be where most scholars say the musical form came from, and if you're looking at where the slaves came from it's all around West Africa and the Niger River.

    The problem with looking at something like highlife is that it's relatively recent and was certainly influenced by western music, if nothing else than the instruments used and many of the musicians coming out of military bands. There's a lot of back and forth, like how Fela was initially influenced by James Brown and people claim Brown was later inspired by Fela.
  • staxwaxstaxwax 1,474 Posts
    Great info guys thanks. I own a few fela records, some dollar brand records and I dig afrorock etc but i wont front like i actually really have in depth knowledge on traditional african sounds, their impact on western music and vice versa or knowing where the links between roots and modernity, african and western musical interplay are most palpable now, so this is great.

    I will definitely check out the pbs blues episode too. Mali seems like a good starting point so far. Thanks again - not trying to be lazy just hoping to get some info from people who are actually personally into the subject so i knew i had to take this to the strut.

    Liner notes from comps blogs and websites specialized in african music are next on my list. If anyone else is willing to school me and or further point me in any direction ill be much obliged. Thanks again!
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