The Legacy of Islam to African Music
The political and cultural evolution of interaction indigenous states did not follow an even course. In addition to internal factors that affected their progress, there were also external factors that influenced the direction of their development. Africa had trade connections with countries of the Mediterranean and the Near East, as well as with South Asia. References to Africa in Indian and Chinese manuscripts shows that in the precolonial era there were trade connections with these countries as well.
The societies of Africa that interacted with people of other lands including those of:
a. The East Horn (Somalia and Ethiopia), whose proximity to the civilizations of Egypt and the Mediterranean as well as Arabia is reflected in it's cultures and ethnic composition.
b. Eastern Africa, where Arabs traders were active and penetrated the interior as far as the Congo, and where Afro-Arabic interaction was so strong that it stimulated the growth and spread of Swahili as a lingual franca.
c. The island of Malagassy, the scene of Malayan,Indonesian, and Africa interaction; and
d. The Sudanic belt of west Africa, which interacted with Islamic north Africa.
The impact of Islamic and Arabic cultures had a far-reaching influence on many of the cultures of all these areas, and particularly on those of the Savannah belt of west Africa, the coastal belt of eastern Africa, and Sudan. Pockets of non-Islamic groups remained within these areas, while those that embraced Islam varied in the extent to which their cultures were transformed.
The rise of an Islamic ruling caste and the formation of Islamic states were features of this period of African history. Such states were formed in some cases (such as the East Horn) by Arabs settlers, and in other cases (such as northern Nigeria) by leaders of African societies who had embraced Islam and who felt committed to wage holy wars in order to subjugate the indigenous populations under the political rule of Islam. The potentates of such states adopted the regalia of sultans, and some Arabic musical instruments, particularly aerophones and drums, became a regular feature of their court music.
The effect of the transplantation of Islamic and Arabic cultures on the musical traditions of African societies was, however, uneven. While some regions (such as northern Sudan and the Mediterranean littoral, occupied by bedouin Arabs who interacted with Berbers) adopted Arabic musical traits, other areas underwent varying degrees of adjustment to the impact of Arabic music. The adjustments, however, were not as radical in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa as it is generally supposed. In some parts of west Africa for example, it appears that African converts to Islam did not have to abandon their traditional music completely, even were they became familiar with Arabic music. On the contrary, they continued to practice it, making such modifications in resources or refinements in style as contact with the musical culture suggested.
The resources drawn upon by societies in contact with Islamic and Arabic cultures lay primarily in the field of musical instruments. A few varieties of closed and open drums were borrowed as additions to local forms, or for use in special contexts. Some lutes, reed pipes, and long trumpets were similarly adopted and integrated into local musical cultures.
Generally, the Arabic types simply provided the models for the manufacture of local equivalents. Hence some instruments, like the one-string fiddle, show variations in size and shapes, as well as timbre. Similarly adopted plucked lutes come in different sizes and have different kinds of resonators: some have round resonators, while others have rectangular forms. Only because such instruments could be made with local materials, unlike Western instruments, could they be adopted for local use.
Sometimes not only the instruments were adopted, but also the terms for instruments (e.g tabale, bendair, ghaita) and customs associated with particular musical instruments. The diffusion of these elements did not always take place through the adoption of Islam. The normal process of cultural interaction permitted those not in direct contact agents (those who carry cultural elements from one group to another) such as Mande and Hausa Muslims, who habitually traded in their areas.
It must be emphasized that the interchange between African and Arabic cultures did not benefit only Africa. As Henry G. Farmer points out, there is "some evidence of Moorish indebtedness to the western Sudan". In the field of music, the adoption of reciprocal borrowing. Secondly, it was not only Africa that benefited musically from Islamic civilization. Curt Sachs tell us that:
Nearly all the musical instruments of medieval Europe came from Asia, either from the southeast through Byzantium, or from the Islamic empire through North Africa, or from the northeast long the Baltic Coast. The direct heritage from Greece and Rome seems to have been rather insignificant, and the lyres is the only instruments that might possibly be considered European in origin.
Making a similar comments on the musical instruments of the Orients, Sachs writes "Islamic instruments have been absorbed by primitive tribes and have no place in art music, with the exception of the Persian spike fiddle.
Apart from instrumental resources, it was generally only the more superficial aspect of Arabic musical style that seemed to have attracted those societies in contact with Islam who did not give up their traditional music. These traits include features of vocal techniques identified with Islamic cantillation-such as voice projection and it's accompanying mannerism of cupping the ear with the palm of the hand, or a slight degree of ornamentation-and facilitated by the traditional emphasis in Islamic areas of Africa on Monodic singing. The more important aspect of Arabic style, the system of melodic and rhythmic modes, does not seem to have been generally adopted, for this would have entirely changed the character of the music of those societies.
It must be noted also that some of the basic elements of African cultures survived the Islamic impact and thus reinforced the practice of music associated with social customs. As J.S.Trimingham points out:
When Islam is adopted the community does not suddenly change it's social pattern but remains a unity distinguished by it's own pattern of custom. In time Islam becomes disintegrating it's basic intertwine with communal life, yet without disintegrating it's pagan family belongings to the same social group can effect of Islam be seen. New features are superimposed, but basic customs, the rules of succession are little affected.
It is not not surprising to find the extensions of traditional customs or the use of indigenous resources in the musical practice of Islamic-Africa communities. As Triminghan further observes, "the musical aptitude of the African, characterized by the chant, highly developed rhythm and antiphony, has found expression in the recitals of religious poems in Arabic and vernaculars at dhikr gatherings".
Some Islamic communities set the context of Islamic worship and other religious and social occasions apart musically. According to Akin Euba, the Yoruba Islamic communities uses"Orthodox Arabic Music" during worship, but performs traditional Yoruba music for social activities as well as Muslims festivals. It is noteworthy that in some societies, Muslim musicians and perform not only their own religious communities, but also for other social groups non-Muslim festivals and ceremonies as well. It is no doubt this practice of integrating Muslim and non-Muslim activities within a single community has facilitated the integration of Arabic and indigenous musical resources in the traditional music of Islamic African communities.
The societies of Africa that interacted with people of other lands including those of:
a. The East Horn (Somalia and Ethiopia), whose proximity to the civilizations of Egypt and the Mediterranean as well as Arabia is reflected in it's cultures and ethnic composition.
b. Eastern Africa, where Arabs traders were active and penetrated the interior as far as the Congo, and where Afro-Arabic interaction was so strong that it stimulated the growth and spread of Swahili as a lingual franca.
c. The island of Malagassy, the scene of Malayan,Indonesian, and Africa interaction; and
d. The Sudanic belt of west Africa, which interacted with Islamic north Africa.
The impact of Islamic and Arabic cultures had a far-reaching influence on many of the cultures of all these areas, and particularly on those of the Savannah belt of west Africa, the coastal belt of eastern Africa, and Sudan. Pockets of non-Islamic groups remained within these areas, while those that embraced Islam varied in the extent to which their cultures were transformed.
The rise of an Islamic ruling caste and the formation of Islamic states were features of this period of African history. Such states were formed in some cases (such as the East Horn) by Arabs settlers, and in other cases (such as northern Nigeria) by leaders of African societies who had embraced Islam and who felt committed to wage holy wars in order to subjugate the indigenous populations under the political rule of Islam. The potentates of such states adopted the regalia of sultans, and some Arabic musical instruments, particularly aerophones and drums, became a regular feature of their court music.
The effect of the transplantation of Islamic and Arabic cultures on the musical traditions of African societies was, however, uneven. While some regions (such as northern Sudan and the Mediterranean littoral, occupied by bedouin Arabs who interacted with Berbers) adopted Arabic musical traits, other areas underwent varying degrees of adjustment to the impact of Arabic music. The adjustments, however, were not as radical in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa as it is generally supposed. In some parts of west Africa for example, it appears that African converts to Islam did not have to abandon their traditional music completely, even were they became familiar with Arabic music. On the contrary, they continued to practice it, making such modifications in resources or refinements in style as contact with the musical culture suggested.
The resources drawn upon by societies in contact with Islamic and Arabic cultures lay primarily in the field of musical instruments. A few varieties of closed and open drums were borrowed as additions to local forms, or for use in special contexts. Some lutes, reed pipes, and long trumpets were similarly adopted and integrated into local musical cultures.
Generally, the Arabic types simply provided the models for the manufacture of local equivalents. Hence some instruments, like the one-string fiddle, show variations in size and shapes, as well as timbre. Similarly adopted plucked lutes come in different sizes and have different kinds of resonators: some have round resonators, while others have rectangular forms. Only because such instruments could be made with local materials, unlike Western instruments, could they be adopted for local use.
Sometimes not only the instruments were adopted, but also the terms for instruments (e.g tabale, bendair, ghaita) and customs associated with particular musical instruments. The diffusion of these elements did not always take place through the adoption of Islam. The normal process of cultural interaction permitted those not in direct contact agents (those who carry cultural elements from one group to another) such as Mande and Hausa Muslims, who habitually traded in their areas.
It must be emphasized that the interchange between African and Arabic cultures did not benefit only Africa. As Henry G. Farmer points out, there is "some evidence of Moorish indebtedness to the western Sudan". In the field of music, the adoption of reciprocal borrowing. Secondly, it was not only Africa that benefited musically from Islamic civilization. Curt Sachs tell us that:
Nearly all the musical instruments of medieval Europe came from Asia, either from the southeast through Byzantium, or from the Islamic empire through North Africa, or from the northeast long the Baltic Coast. The direct heritage from Greece and Rome seems to have been rather insignificant, and the lyres is the only instruments that might possibly be considered European in origin.
Making a similar comments on the musical instruments of the Orients, Sachs writes "Islamic instruments have been absorbed by primitive tribes and have no place in art music, with the exception of the Persian spike fiddle.
Apart from instrumental resources, it was generally only the more superficial aspect of Arabic musical style that seemed to have attracted those societies in contact with Islam who did not give up their traditional music. These traits include features of vocal techniques identified with Islamic cantillation-such as voice projection and it's accompanying mannerism of cupping the ear with the palm of the hand, or a slight degree of ornamentation-and facilitated by the traditional emphasis in Islamic areas of Africa on Monodic singing. The more important aspect of Arabic style, the system of melodic and rhythmic modes, does not seem to have been generally adopted, for this would have entirely changed the character of the music of those societies.
It must be noted also that some of the basic elements of African cultures survived the Islamic impact and thus reinforced the practice of music associated with social customs. As J.S.Trimingham points out:
When Islam is adopted the community does not suddenly change it's social pattern but remains a unity distinguished by it's own pattern of custom. In time Islam becomes disintegrating it's basic intertwine with communal life, yet without disintegrating it's pagan family belongings to the same social group can effect of Islam be seen. New features are superimposed, but basic customs, the rules of succession are little affected.
It is not not surprising to find the extensions of traditional customs or the use of indigenous resources in the musical practice of Islamic-Africa communities. As Triminghan further observes, "the musical aptitude of the African, characterized by the chant, highly developed rhythm and antiphony, has found expression in the recitals of religious poems in Arabic and vernaculars at dhikr gatherings".
Some Islamic communities set the context of Islamic worship and other religious and social occasions apart musically. According to Akin Euba, the Yoruba Islamic communities uses"Orthodox Arabic Music" during worship, but performs traditional Yoruba music for social activities as well as Muslims festivals. It is noteworthy that in some societies, Muslim musicians and perform not only their own religious communities, but also for other social groups non-Muslim festivals and ceremonies as well. It is no doubt this practice of integrating Muslim and non-Muslim activities within a single community has facilitated the integration of Arabic and indigenous musical resources in the traditional music of Islamic African communities.
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