1st Edition

Composing the Music of Africa Composition, Interpretation and Realisation

Edited By Malcolm Floyd Copyright 1999
    378 Pages
    by Routledge

    378 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1999, this volume explores the great diversity of music created by African communities is reflected in this book, which discusses the ways in which a wide range of musical forms are composed and performed from Egypt to South Africa and from Ghana to Kenya. As two composers explain here, this diversity provides much inspiration for western contemporary composition. Particular attention is paid to the contexts generate musical creativity. Ceremonies and festivals celebrating birth, death, marriage or rites of passage provide the impetus for much composition and performance, enabling young people to pick up, early on, some of the techniques and styles of which they then become the new exponents. The book also looks at the role played by formal music education programmes and bodies such as the South African Music Rights Organization and the South African Broadcasting Corporation in fostering musical activity, as well as the contribution of composers to the social and political changes that have dominated South African life in recent years.

    1. Introduction: Composing the Music of Africa. Malcolm Floyd. 2. Melodic and Rhythmic Aspects of African Music. Christopher James. Part 1: The Making of ‘Traditional Music’. 3. Egyptian Folk Music. Adel Kamel. 4. The Roots of Ghanaian Composers. James Flolu. 5. Drumming in Ghana. Trevor Wiggins. 6. The Xylophone Tradition of North-West Ghana. Trevor Wiggins. 7. The Making of Karimojong’ Cattle Songs. Kenneth Gourlay. 8. Embaire Xylophone Music of Samusiri Babalanda. Gerhard Kubik. 9. Warrior Composers: Maasai Boys and Men. Malcolm Floyd. 10. New Lyres in Northern Kenya: the Enchamunge of the Samburu and the Kilumba of the Turkana. Malcolm Floyd. Part 2: The Changing Faces of Music. 11. Consumer-led Creation: Taarab Music Composition in Zanzibar. Janet Topp Fargion. 12. Kwela: the Structure and Sound of Pennywhistle Music. Lara Allen. 13. Keeping our Ears to the Ground: Cross-Culturalism and the Composer in South Africa, ‘Old’ and ‘New’. Hans Roosenschoon. 14. Timbila. Hans Roosenschoon. 15. Black – White – Rainbow: a Personal View on what African Music means to the Contemporary Western Composer. Geoffrey Poole. 16. Egyptian Composition in the Twentieth Century. Adel Kamel.

    Biography

    Malcolm Floyd