The Legacy of Europe On African Traditional Musical Heritage
No less far-reaching was the contact with the Europe established through trade, Christianity, and colonial trade, for this set in motion new forces in acculturation that have helped to reshape Africa. The grouping of indigenous African societies and states within new territorial framework which began in this era continues to be the basis of modern African states. Thus Nigeria, the largest country, with a population over over one hundred and ninety-one million fifty-three thousand and twenty-two people, is inhabited by the Yoruba, the Hausa, the Tiv, the Efik, the Ibo, the Ijaw, and several other African societies, each of them in a different region of the country. Likewise, Ghana, a small country of over eight million people, is made up of several ethnic groups who formerly lived as an independent entities. All of them have continued to maintain their cultural identity within the framework of the state. A similar picture exist in east Africa: Uganda has twenty-five ethnic divisions made up of Bantus, Nilotes, and Nilo-Haminic people, while Tanzania has over one hundred and thirteen distinct groups.
One of the problems facing modern Africa states, therefore, is how to integrate the societies politically and culturally within their state framework. The question of African unity has also loomed large in the politics of modern Africa. Efforts have been made by the organisation of African unity to set up machinery for the promotion of inter-territorial cooperation in the arts and for the organisation of pan-African festivals through which greater cultural integration can be fostered on a continent-wide basis.
It was not only political change that contact with Europe generated, but economic change as well. Indigenous trade was promoted by the new demands of foreign traders. The slave trade, for example, flourished and paved the for the transplantation and growth of African and African derived -music in the New World. The traditional emphasis in agriculture was transformed from mere subsistence to the cultivation of cash crops, while markets were created for the sale of European goods. As the economy grew, western instruments originally introduced through the church and the military became available in shops for the few adventurous musicians who were willing to play them. The adoption of the western guitar by traditional musicians in some parts of Africa followed this general trend.
All these developments were encouraged and strengthen by the activities of the church, which preached against African cultural practices while promoting Western cultural values and usages. It adopted a hostile attitude to African music, especially to drumming, because this was associated with what seemed to Christian evangelists "pagan" practices. Moreover, this music did not appear to be suitable for the form of Christian worship that Westerners were accustomed to. The fact that drums and other percussion instruments were used in the Ethiopian church, which had been established in the fourth century A.D-much earlier than any other church in Africa-did not affect the evangelistic prejudices. In some areas the converts were not only prohibited from performing traditional African music, but even from watching it. Hence, active participation in community events-in festivals and ceremonies-was discouraged.
The effect of transplanting Western music in the aforesaid manner was threefold: First, the continuity of traditional music in it's unadulterated form outside the adopted Western institutions was unintentionally assured by the exclusion of traditional musicians and their music from the church and educational institutions, the most direct sources of Western musical influence. Most of the traditional,political,social, and cultural institutions that supported traditional music flourished in spite of the presence of Christianity, Western cultural institutions, and colonialism.
Second, the exclusion of those who were systematically exposed to Western culture from participation in traditional music led to the emergence of new "communities of taste," identified with varieties of Western music. These communities still exist in independent Africa, for the legacy of Europe is inextricably bound in with the cultures of contemporary Africa.
Third, the creative urge of members of these new musical communities found outlet in new compositions. One is that of modern popular music, which appears in different forms on the African continents and takes it's place alongside Western popular music in the cafe, the night club, the ballroom, and other places of entertainment. Well known forms of this music are the highlife of western Africa, the kwella of South Africa, and the popular music of the Congo. Each of these functions as a musical type consisting of percussion, set rhythmic and melodic characteristics shared by individual items in it's repertoire, and of course, Western-derived harmonies. The other stream includes new forms of art music designed for the church, educational institutions, and the concert hall. It includes music for Western-typed choirs(which often sing in four-part harmony), as well as instrumental music. However, choral music seems to have received much more emphasis, owing to it's early development in the Christian Church.
These new forms of composition were originally based entirely on Western models with which composer were familiar-hymns, anthems, marching songs, and so forth, set to local languages, and as instrumental pieces. However, with gradual growth among the literate community of nationalism, which served to stimulate a new awareness of the African heritage of music, a few composer began to turn their attention to traditional African materials. Nevertheless, what emerged was not a complete break from Western tradition as they knew it, but exploiting Western harmony and developmental techniques as well as employing both African and Western musical instruments.
This approach seemed welcome to some critics of the colonial period who saw the future of African music in terms of synthesis of the resources of African and Europe. These observers merely took notice of what Africa itself was doing within the context of acculturation. Present-day commentators, however, are ambivalent. Some recognize and encourage those new forms,which have become identified with non-traditional subcultures and urban social life. But purists decry them as hybrids and vestiges of colonial past that must be discouraged; for whatever their merit in terms of satisfying a social need of the moment, they lack stylistic diversity and vigor of traditional music. It seems, however, that nothing short of a cultural revolution can set the clock back, for this problem is not peculiar to the recent history of music in Africa. It is characteristics of the entire way of life of modern Africa, it's institutions, and it's creative arts-it's literature in English, French, and African languages, it's modern paintings, sculpture, and drama-all of which reflect the African heritage as well as various aspects of the legacy of Europe. That is why decolonization is regarded by those concerned with the African image as an important task facing independent Africa.
It is no wonder, therefore, that the search for African identity and the growing awareness of the cultural achievements of the past have awakened in independent Africa a new interest in traditional music. The Christian churches have begun to explore the resources of this music and to consider how christian worship can be Africanized.
One of the problems facing modern Africa states, therefore, is how to integrate the societies politically and culturally within their state framework. The question of African unity has also loomed large in the politics of modern Africa. Efforts have been made by the organisation of African unity to set up machinery for the promotion of inter-territorial cooperation in the arts and for the organisation of pan-African festivals through which greater cultural integration can be fostered on a continent-wide basis.
It was not only political change that contact with Europe generated, but economic change as well. Indigenous trade was promoted by the new demands of foreign traders. The slave trade, for example, flourished and paved the for the transplantation and growth of African and African derived -music in the New World. The traditional emphasis in agriculture was transformed from mere subsistence to the cultivation of cash crops, while markets were created for the sale of European goods. As the economy grew, western instruments originally introduced through the church and the military became available in shops for the few adventurous musicians who were willing to play them. The adoption of the western guitar by traditional musicians in some parts of Africa followed this general trend.
All these developments were encouraged and strengthen by the activities of the church, which preached against African cultural practices while promoting Western cultural values and usages. It adopted a hostile attitude to African music, especially to drumming, because this was associated with what seemed to Christian evangelists "pagan" practices. Moreover, this music did not appear to be suitable for the form of Christian worship that Westerners were accustomed to. The fact that drums and other percussion instruments were used in the Ethiopian church, which had been established in the fourth century A.D-much earlier than any other church in Africa-did not affect the evangelistic prejudices. In some areas the converts were not only prohibited from performing traditional African music, but even from watching it. Hence, active participation in community events-in festivals and ceremonies-was discouraged.
The effect of transplanting Western music in the aforesaid manner was threefold: First, the continuity of traditional music in it's unadulterated form outside the adopted Western institutions was unintentionally assured by the exclusion of traditional musicians and their music from the church and educational institutions, the most direct sources of Western musical influence. Most of the traditional,political,social, and cultural institutions that supported traditional music flourished in spite of the presence of Christianity, Western cultural institutions, and colonialism.
Second, the exclusion of those who were systematically exposed to Western culture from participation in traditional music led to the emergence of new "communities of taste," identified with varieties of Western music. These communities still exist in independent Africa, for the legacy of Europe is inextricably bound in with the cultures of contemporary Africa.
Third, the creative urge of members of these new musical communities found outlet in new compositions. One is that of modern popular music, which appears in different forms on the African continents and takes it's place alongside Western popular music in the cafe, the night club, the ballroom, and other places of entertainment. Well known forms of this music are the highlife of western Africa, the kwella of South Africa, and the popular music of the Congo. Each of these functions as a musical type consisting of percussion, set rhythmic and melodic characteristics shared by individual items in it's repertoire, and of course, Western-derived harmonies. The other stream includes new forms of art music designed for the church, educational institutions, and the concert hall. It includes music for Western-typed choirs(which often sing in four-part harmony), as well as instrumental music. However, choral music seems to have received much more emphasis, owing to it's early development in the Christian Church.
These new forms of composition were originally based entirely on Western models with which composer were familiar-hymns, anthems, marching songs, and so forth, set to local languages, and as instrumental pieces. However, with gradual growth among the literate community of nationalism, which served to stimulate a new awareness of the African heritage of music, a few composer began to turn their attention to traditional African materials. Nevertheless, what emerged was not a complete break from Western tradition as they knew it, but exploiting Western harmony and developmental techniques as well as employing both African and Western musical instruments.
This approach seemed welcome to some critics of the colonial period who saw the future of African music in terms of synthesis of the resources of African and Europe. These observers merely took notice of what Africa itself was doing within the context of acculturation. Present-day commentators, however, are ambivalent. Some recognize and encourage those new forms,which have become identified with non-traditional subcultures and urban social life. But purists decry them as hybrids and vestiges of colonial past that must be discouraged; for whatever their merit in terms of satisfying a social need of the moment, they lack stylistic diversity and vigor of traditional music. It seems, however, that nothing short of a cultural revolution can set the clock back, for this problem is not peculiar to the recent history of music in Africa. It is characteristics of the entire way of life of modern Africa, it's institutions, and it's creative arts-it's literature in English, French, and African languages, it's modern paintings, sculpture, and drama-all of which reflect the African heritage as well as various aspects of the legacy of Europe. That is why decolonization is regarded by those concerned with the African image as an important task facing independent Africa.
It is no wonder, therefore, that the search for African identity and the growing awareness of the cultural achievements of the past have awakened in independent Africa a new interest in traditional music. The Christian churches have begun to explore the resources of this music and to consider how christian worship can be Africanized.
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