Music Traditions, Change and Creativity in Africa

Music Traditions, Change and Creativity in Africa PDF

Author: Giorgio Adamo

Publisher: NeoClassica

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 8893740281

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In February 2014 an international seminar on musical dynamics and creativity in Africa was held at Tor Vergata University of Rome. The topic and the approach were strongly influenced by issues that Gerhard Kubik believed should have been addressed for a long time, such as the attention to cultural and social dynamics, with a specific emphasis on the creativity of individuals. Beside his keynote address, Music Traditions, Change and Creativity in Africa includes the contributions presented by scholars from different countries, particularly active in the East African area and in dialogue with Italian researchers who have field experience in the same region. Music Traditions, Change and Creativity in Africa is the first monograph of a series of volumes connected and inspired to the journal Etnografie Sonore / Sound Ethnographies (www.soundethnographies.it), which Giorgio Adamo and his colleagues recently founded. Along with the papers multimedia contents are also available online.

West African Drumming and Dance in North American Universities

West African Drumming and Dance in North American Universities PDF

Author: George Worlasi Kwasi Dor

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2014-02-20

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1496801970

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

More than twenty universities and twenty other colleges in North America (USA and Canada) offer performance courses on West African ethnic dance drumming. Since its inception in 1964 at both UCLA and Columbia, West African drumming and dance has gradually developed into a vibrant campus subculture in North America. The dances most practiced in the American academy come from the ethnic groups Ewe, Akan, Ga, Dagbamba, Mande, and Wolof, thereby privileging dances mostly from Ghana, Togo, Benin, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso. This strong presence and practice of a world music ensemble in the diaspora has captured and engaged the interest of scholars, musicians, dancers, and audiences. In the first-ever ethnographic study of West African drumming and dance in North American universities, the author documents and acknowledges ethnomusicologists, ensemble directors, students, administrators, and academic institutions for their key roles in the histories of their respective ensembles. Dor collates and shares perspectives including debates on pedagogical approaches that may be instructive as models for both current and future ensemble directors and reveals the multiple impacts that participation in an ensemble or class offers students. He also examines the interplay among historically situated structures and systems, discourse, and practice, and explores the multiple meanings that individuals and various groups of people construct from this campus activity. The study will be of value to students, directors, and scholars as an ethnographic study and as a text for teaching relevant courses in African music, African studies, ethnomusicology/world music, African diaspora studies, and other related disciplines.

Sing and Sing On

Sing and Sing On PDF

Author: Kay Kaufman Shelemay

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2022-01-11

Total Pages: 469

ISBN-13: 022681002X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"In Sentinel Musicians of the Ethiopian American Diaspora, Kay Kaufman Shelemay shares more than forty years of research among Ethiopian musicians in the midst of a widespread and evolving diaspora. Beginning on the eve of the Ethiopian revolution in 1974 all the way up to the present day, Shelemay follows musicians as some leave Ethiopia for the US, setting up essential networks of support in cities such as New York, Boston, and Washington, DC. Throughout this profound transition, Shelemay shows how Ethiopian musicians serve a critical function in social and political life by both safeguarding community identity and challenging authority within Ethiopian society. She coins the term "sentinel musicians" to express musicians' double capacity to guard culture and guide it through periods of change, transforming the world around them under political pressures and during times of extreme social stress. While musicians held this role in Ethiopian culture long before the revolution began, it has taken on new meanings and contours in the Ethiopian diaspora. Some sentinel musicians have quite literally led the way as they migrated to new locales, establishing transnational networks, founding new institutions, and undertaking numerous initiatives in community building. Ultimately, Shelemay shows that musicians are uniquely positioned to serve this sentinel role as guardians and challengers of cultural heritage"--

Global Africans

Global Africans PDF

Author: Toyin Falola

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-01-20

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1134849753

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Black," "African," "African descendant" and "of African heritage," are just some of the ways Africans and Africans in the diaspora (both old and new) describe themselves. This volume examines concepts of race, ethnicity, and identity as they are ascribed to people of colour around the world, examining different case studies of how the process of identity formation occurred and is changing. Contributors to this volume, selected from a wide range of academic and cultural backgrounds, explore issues that encourage a deeper understanding of race, ethnicity and identity. As our notions about what it means to be black or of African heritage change as a result of globalization, it is important to reassess how these issues are currently developing, and the origins from which these issues developed. Global Africans is an important and insightful book, useful to a wide range of students and scholars, particularly of African studies, sociology, diaspora studies, and race and ethnic studies.

Musical Creativities in Practice

Musical Creativities in Practice PDF

Author: Pamela Burnard

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2012-03-22

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0191628980

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Musical Creativities in Practice explores the social and the cultural contexts in which creativity in music occurs. It begins by considering what constitutes creativity - taking a cross cultural view of music, while investigating creative processes far beyond just the classical music genre - including electronic media, popular music, and improvised music. In addition it looks at creativity in both writing and performing. The field of musical education is a key focus - examining why creativity is important within the educational environment, and looking at how schools might sometimes stifle creativity in their music teaching, rather than encourage it. The book is packed with case studies and real-life examples taken from studies across the world, providing a powerful corrective to myths and outmoded conceptions which privilege the creative practice of individual artists. Musical Creativity in Practice argues the need for conceptual expansion of musical creativities in line with vital contemporary real world practices. It explores how different types of musical creativities are recognised and communicated in the real world practices of a diversity of professional musicians. The book covers creative practice issues underlying composing, improvising, singer songwriting, originals bands, DJ cultures, live coding and interactive sound designing and the implications of creativity research for music education and for the assessment of creativities in industry and education. Musical Creativities in Practice will be valuable for those in fields of music psychology and music education, from advanced undergraduate level upwards.

Education, Creativity, and Economic Empowerment in Africa

Education, Creativity, and Economic Empowerment in Africa PDF

Author: T. Falola

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-08-20

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1137438509

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Education and the arts offer multiple, mutually clarifying lenses through which to examine and understand issues of poverty and empowerment. Here, both are combined in a fascinating look at how these two often overlooked elements promote social equality and cultivate personal agency across Africa's diverse political-economic landscapes.