Africa and African American Music

Spring Quarter 2008

Course Syllabus

Africa and Afro American Music

Africa is a vast continent that because of the unfortunate chapter of slavery practiced by the dominant European power has had a profound impact on the cultures of the New World. In this course we will begin with a general survey of the major musical languages and forms of sub-Saharan Africa, concentrating on the Western region from which the strongest influence on the New World came.

The second portion of the course deals with the numerous forms and cultures of the Americas that have felt the impact of African musical forms and idioms. In addition a review of Ragtime, Jazz, Rock, Blues and Black folk music in the United States, the African based forms of the music of Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela, Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas will be considered. More than a survey of musical forms, the goal of the course is to understand the social varying contexts in Africa and the New World and how these differences encouraged the transmission of certain African forms and not others. Some patterns of transmission may have been almost accidental, such as that of the marimba in the Americas, others such as the use of African drumming traditions in the New World are clear reflections of cultural policy.

Outline by Regions

I. Africa

A. Southern Africa

1. Madagascar
• 2. Hunters and Forest People
• 3. Khoisan groups
• 4. Shona/Tonga
• 5. Mozambique
• 6. Zambia

B. East Africa

C. Central Africa

• 1. Trade Routes
• 2. Congo/Zaire
• 3. Uganda
• 4. The Eastern Horn

D. West Africa

• 1. Cameroon
• 2. Dahomey
• 3. Nigeria
• 4. Ghana
• 5. Malinke/Wolof
II. The Americas

A. South America

• 1. Brazil
• 2. Venezuela-Columbia
• 3. Coastal Peru and Ecuador

B. The Caribbean

• 1. Cuba
• 2. Puerto Rico
• 3. Dominican Republic
• 4. Lesser Antilles
• 5. Jamaica
• 6. Trinidad
• 7. The Bahamas

C. The United States