Ethnomusicology of Africa - Resources

This is a selective listing; for a more comprehensive resource page see African News, Arts, and Culture

General works about Africa

• Kevin Shillington, History of Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) A general history of Africa, providing the big picture. Available on Rutherford Reserve.
• John Parker and Richard Rathbone - African History: A Very Short Introduction. From the well-known Oxford "very short introduction" series.

General works about Ghana

• Ghana overview. Ghana: An Oxfam Country Profile, by Julie Naylor. A free download from Oxfam.
• A general reference work on Ghana: Ghana: a country study (from the Library of Congress) in a single pdf file (minus one chapter) (also available in full, but piecemeal, on the Library of Congress site). I used this in the past, but it's increasingly dated (last revised 1994).

On African Music (with focus on Ghana)

Books

• J. H. Kwabena Nketia - The Music of Africa (Norton, 1974). Prof. Nketia is the foremost living ethnomusicologist of African music, as well as one of the most important ethnomusicologists in the history of the field, and one of Ghana's outstanding composers. Other materials are available online, but this is his primary general work on traditional African music. Available on Rutherford reserve.
• African Music: A People's Art, by Francis Bebey. Available online. Focus on traditional music.
• John Collins - West African Pop Roots (Temple University Press, 1992). Professor Collins is a wonderful resource and this is a wonderful book about popular music of West Africa. Many other works by Professor Collins are available online.
• David Locke - Drum Gahu: An Introduction to African Rhythm (White Cliffs Media, 1998). A terrific practical introduction--both hands-on and theoretical--to the structure of African music, by means of an Ewe music style called Gahu, which we'll also study through performance. I'm listing it as "optional" because you should be acquainted with musical notation in order to get the most out of it. However the book also comes with a valuable CD.
• Drum Damba (White Cliffs Media, 1990). Another wonderful book by Professor Locke, on the northern dance style of the Dagbamba (Dagomba) people.
• John Chernoff - African Music, African Sensibility (University Of Chicago Press, 1981) Focus on traditional music of Ghana. One of the best books ever written in ethnomusicology, period.
• Representing African Music : Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions, by Kofi Agawu. This is the key critical, reflective work on African music scholarship.

Websites

• Dagomba music and culture website at Tufts university
• A Drummer's Testament, on traditional music and culture of the Dagbamba people in northern Ghana.
• Awesome Tapes from Africa

Audio

Note: if you are a UofA student you have free online access to these tracks via two University of Alberta Library's databases. If you are a student elsewhere you should have access through the UofA's Open Studies program, and you may also have access to these databases; check with your library.

• Smithsonian Global Sound
• Contemporary World Music

Smithsonian Folkways albums can also be purchased online via http://www.folkways.si.edu/ or (for less $) on http://emusic.com. Other albums can be purchased on emusic.com or itunes.com. If you like it, buy it and put it on your ipod or other music device.

Please listen to these albums and read the liner notes! Ethnomusicology is all about music embedded in social context, and the sound itself rarely provides that context. Good liner notes do.

Required albums are in bold. These links are also embedded in the syllabi pages, in connection with the related activity (lecture, tour, etc.) I'm putting them here for your convenience since you should listen or at least download prior to your departure.

You don't have to listen to every track in full, but do listen enough to get a sense of the music. And please do read the liner notes for each album and track.

Smithsonian Folkways tracks (available online)

These tracks and albums are accompanied with liner notes:

Browse all African music tracks from Smithsonian Folkways

The following are from Ghana in particular:

• Ewe music of Ghana
• Music of the Ashanti of Ghana
• Music of the Dagomba from Ghana
• Music of the Ga people of Ghana
• Black music of two worlds (John Storm Roberts collection)

Recommended:

• Traditional Drumming and Dances of Ghana
• Folk music of Ghana (Ewe)
• Songs of War and Death from the Slave Coast: Songs of War
• Songs of War and Death from the Slave Coast: Songs of Death
• Traditional women's music from Ghana: Ewe, Fanti, Ashanti, and Dagomba
• Ghana: Children at Play: Children's Songs and Games
• Rhythms of Life, Songs of Wisdom: Akan Music from Ghana

Contemporary World Music and other tracks (mostly available online)

Note that some of the links below may only function for those with University of Alberta library access (these links access the University of Alberta library database, Contemporary World Music). But using the publication information provided, you can locate these recordings online and purchase them, via iTunes, emusic.com, and other music download sites. Note that both audio and liner notes are available.

Browse all Contemporary World Music tracks from Africa

The following are from Ghana in particular:

• Seprewa Kasa performed by Korankye, Osei; Kyerematen, Baffour & Banaman, Alfred Kari (Riverboat, 330051)
• Mustapha Tettey Addy: Master Drummer from Ghana performed by Addy, Mustapha Tettey (Lyrichord, LYRCD 7250)
• Kwabena Nyama: Ghana - Musique de Vin de Palme, Sunday Monday (Kwabena Nyama: Ghana: palm wine music, Sunday Monday) performed by Nyama, Samuel Kwabena; Poku, Kofi; Duah, Agyemang; Seni, Addas & Annor, Kofi (Buda Musique, 1979352, 2000)
• Immortal Franco (Congolese popular music, soukous)
• Giving Voice to Hope: Music of Liberian Refugees In the past we visited the Buduburam camp where this music was produced. Now the camp has been closed. Please order the album to learn about the project, and help support these refugee musicians. Minimally, listen to the exerpts online at the above link. See Giving Voice to Hope for the subsequent evolution of this project.
• ET Mensah and the Tempos (RetroAfric/IODA, 1986) Documents classic Ghanaian highlife from the 1950s and 60s by one of its leading exponent. I'm including an emusic.com link (because it's cheaper that way, and emusic.com is worthwhile for world music lovers - in fact most of the Smithsonian Folkways catalog is there), but if you don't want to subscribe you can find this album also on iTunes.
• Bewaare: They Are Coming - Degaare Songs and Dances from Nandom, Ghana (Pan (Netherlands), PAN 2052CD, 1995)

Recommended:

• Master Drummers of Dagbon, Volume 2: Drumming From Northern Ghana performed by Abdulai, Alhaji Ibrahim (Rounder Records, CD-5046)
• Asante Kete Drumming: Music of Ghana performed by Nketia, Isaac; Martey, Gabriel Ololai; Damso, Yaw & Dwoomoh, Richard (Lyrichord, LYRCD 7454, 2007)
• Ghana: Music of the Northern Tribes (Lyrichord, LYRCD 7321, 1976) (listen to the gyil)
• Muzina performed by Rochereau, Tabu Ley (Singer/Songwriter) (Rounder Records, 5059) (Congolese popular music, soukous)

Video

I've compiled a large number of recommendations on the large resources site, here.

African Literature

Like music, literature gives you the "flavor" of a culture. Here are a few suggestions for Ghana (our country focus):

• The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah (b. 1939), one of Ghana's most illustrious contemporary writers.
• Nigerian Chinua Achebe (1930-2013) sadly passed away this year. His brilliant novel Things Fall Apart (1958), dramatizing the clash of colonialism, Western culture, and tradition in an Igbo village, is the most widely-ready book in modern African literature.
• Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, by Manu Herbstein, is a sweeping historical epic that wonderfully links so many issues and themes in West African history and culture. It's on the long side (but very easy to read), so you might want to begin reading it before departing for Ghana. This book is perhaps outstanding less as literature than as historical fiction which links very nicely to our summer program.