The Sahelian Factor in the Music and Dance of Northern Ghana

Phyfferoen, D. (2022). The Sahelian Factor in the Music and Dance of Northern Ghana (D. Phyfferoen, Ed.) • • • • • • • 4 Audiovisual archiving project We argue for the disconnection of music with the factor language on the structural key components in music • • • • • • • • • Musical timbres and tone colors Melodic ostinato patterns Rhythmical components: Homeostasis and transitional states State transitions The movable one Tempo stability factor Modal rhythmical structures: timeline patterns The superposition of single rhythmic layers shifted in time Modal harmony: Texture of a tone complex Dynamics of music-making/ the intensity factor Improvisational character of the music-making within the traditional idioms Variations and transformations in music-making Danceability factor in music-making Ideological factors Local political factors Educational factors Factors of language (on the semantic level) Factors of globalization Local economical factors Factors of cultural transformational processes in music and dance • https://worldmap.harvard.edu/data/geonode:m urdock_ea_2010_3 Alan Lomax Cantometric culture sample of the world song map, which is based on the George Murdock world map of cultures regions and areas. Lomax divides the Sudan Savannah Belt in Africa into 4 zones. Western Sudan (501), Guinea coast (619), Moslim Sudan (617), Eastern Sudan 503) and (615) as a separated cluster. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • The Sahelian Factor in the music of Northern Ghana • • • Traditional idioms of music-making in Dagbon • Court dances • Festival dances • Ritual dances • Warriors' dances • Funeral dances • Ceremonial dances • Vocational dances • Ritual music and dance performances • Music making performed within local family clans • Festivals dances • Ceremonial dances • Ziem : multisectional mixed ritual dance • Tindana waa : Tolon Jaagbo • Music –making performed by the offspring of the Tindana ( the earth priest) • Highlife, Contemporary Highlife • Old school Hiplife • Dance Hall music • Jama music • Reggae revival • Reggae ton • Foreign music and dance • Local film music • Dances for entertainment • Festival dances • Cult dances • Court dances • Funeral dances • Ritual dances • Ceremonial dances TRADITIONAL IDIOMS OF MUSIC MAKING IN DAGBON Court music-dance Gingaani, gonje, zuu waa, takai, akarima bangumanga MALE MUSIC-DANCE Ritual music –dance Ritual music-dance associated with extended family clans Tindana music-dance Music-dance associated with extended family clans and professions Music-dance associated with annual festivals The Hiplife Zone Kambonsi, dimbu, jera, bla, Bamaaya, nyindogu, kate waa, nagboli, baga Tolon jaagbo, ziem, tindana waa Tohi waa, nakogi waa, macheli waa, wanzam waa Damba, ziem, Music-dance for entertainment: Hiplife, highlife, simpa yila reggae, contemporary highlife, gospel music FEMALE MUSIC-DANCE Court music-dance Ritual music-dance associated with extended family clans Tindana music-dance Jinwara paga, kate waa Tindana waa Music-dance associated with annual festivals Damba, damba yila Traditional music-dance for entertainment Tora, luwa, bihi waa, simpa, bihi yila Hiplife, highlife, simpa waa, contemporary highlife, gospel music etc. The Hiplife Zone Examples of musical instruments at the court in Yendi: The Lunsi: The tom-tom beaters Kikaa Side blown horn Gonje One string fiddle Signal mode/speech mode • • http://music.africamuseum.be.). The use of tone language • To sum up, influences of the old Twi language and the use of the Akan proverbs are still present in the different performances of the narrative of Na Gariba. • Elements such as the lyrical use of the proverbs (which are tied to rhythmical phraseology and expressive components such as timbre and melodic contour of the ambitus of the melodies) are transformed in a cultural idiom of music making in Dagbon. • The above examples illustrate clearly in which way the embodied interaction with music is based on concrete actions, narratives, and linguistic structures can influence the musical actions. • • • The Akarima with a pair of Timpani drums • • • • • • • • • • • • • 84 • • • • • • • Mokuru Gmandugu Chagla Tipara Darna Bouwa Kafani 85 Mokuru : Tipara: Kafani: Gmansulugu/ Chagla: Boduwa 1 4 2 5 6 7 3 8 • • • • • • • Is a segmentation from the audio signal of three homeostasis states showing the tempo stability factor as a structural key component in the drum rhythm of the Bamaaya nagboli ritual dance • “The tempo stability factor” is very good example of an expressive key component that contributes to the dynamics of music-making in Dagbon within the research paradigm of embodied music interaction and expressive timing. • It was detected during the audio analysis of the Bamaaya nagboli dance. Homeostasis state with an accurate tempo stability in combination with a hemiola style of drumming. • Tali 28.07.1999: MR. 100.4.7-6. http://music.africamuseum.be/english/index.html. • • • • Tindana waa: Dance of the earth priest. It is a fertility dance, performed for the local god “jaagbo” of Tolon → a Lion. The ritual: - short introduction. - long central part. - short decay. Instruments: - lunga: hourglass shaped drum. - Gungon: double - headed cylindrical drum with timbre. - handclaps and singing. 107 • “Ziem”, meaning blood, is the ceremonial ritual dance of the tindana. • Ziem can be performed during different occasion such as the installation ceremony of a new tindana, the fire festival, futility ceremonies. • Ziem is also beaten during combat at the battlefield. When a new tindana is to be installed the baga (traditional soothsayer) consults the local god’s through the medium of his bag. • The baga bag consist of different amulets and regalia to contact the spiritual world. Among these amulets are pebbles, horsetail, porcupine needles. Ziem Simultaneously double elementary pulse-lines Defining the Intensity Factor Double pulse-line homeostasis states and transitional states States Starting position Transition point Duration in ms S1 State 1 0 7.016 7.016 T1 Transitional zone 1 7.016 8.589 1.575 S2 State 2 8.598 11.964 3.366 T2 Transitional zone 2 11.964 13.701 1.737 S3 State 3 13.701 20.661 6.960 S4 State 4 20.661 26.406 5.754 S5 State 5 26.406 34.440 8.035 S6 State 6 34.440 39.035 4.595 T3 Transitional zone 3 39.035 40.175 1.141 S7 State 7 40.175 47.874 7.709 Different states 6 homeostasis states in the Tindana waa ritual State one Defining the Intensity Factor “one” State 1 “one” State 1 3 “one” State 2 1 4 “one” State 2 2 State 2 = U(State 1) Intra-musical structural components Bodily interaction patterns Bodily interaction patterns among musicians, dancers and audience can be understood as information exchange based on signs, gestures, corporeal movements. It is possible to measure them on the basis of video cameras and movement sensors. Time in African music emphasizes motion, is dynamical and contingent. Aferian hemiola The Aferian hemiola is a rhythmical structure that emerges from the combination (sequence, superposition) of duple and triple meter. Each section may have further subdivisions in units of 2 and 3. E.g., Jera waa. Rhythm layers A rhythm layer is a pattern played by one musician, or by a group of musicians. Several rhythm layers added together define cycles, states, timelines, elementary pulsation, simultaneous double elementary pulls lines, movable one, intensity factor. E.g. simultaneous multidimensionality in the kalamboo hocketus playing technique of the Bamaaya nagboli dance. Cycles and states A cycle is one round of a constantly repeating rhythmical structure. Rhythm patterns are cyclic when they are repeated. Given the fact that cycles define a stable temporal organization among musicians (and dancers) they define a stable interaction state. We distinguish compound cycles (strophic forms) and short cycles ( cycles of 12-16 pulses). Timeline A timeline emerges from the grouping of duple and triple elementary pulses. The timeline defines how time is structured in relation to movement, shown through handclapping or the beats of a simple idiophone. The guideline which is related to the time span in this manner is the timeline. Often, this structuring can be related to linguistic patterns as well. It is also called an archyrhythm and rhythmic gestalt. E.g., Zim, Bamaaya Naygboli Meter Meter is regarded as a matrix of beats of different duration and position within an isochronous time span that recycles repeatedly during performance. Common meters in music Dagbon are: 3/4, 6/8, 2/4,4/4 and 12/8. Spacing Rhythmic layers are organized that they interlock within the grid. In order to achieve this the parts which interlock are arranged that they start at different but specific point in time. The interlocking parts are payed differently in time thereby creating a greater density of sound that contributes to the intensity factor of the performance. Elementary pulsation Underling pulse, interlocking of rhythmical layers with an ‘elementary pulsation’ also called ‘the grid’, ‘the smallest units’, and ‘micro timing’. Simultaneously Double elementary pulls-lines Simultaneously double elementary pulls-lines, e.g. simultaneously running pulse-lines duple and triple meter in the architecture of the ritual music-dance. Reference beat gross-pulse The reference beat is a subjective timing. It usually combine 2, 3 or 4 units of the elementary pulsation to form larger units of reference that may server dancers to find their steps, or a gungon to mark the beat. Grading The organization of multipart multilinear rhythmical structures is called grading. It finds its highest expression in the music of percussion or the percussive section of aerophones and chordophone ensembles. The rhythms to be combined in this manner must be grades in density or complexity in relation to the role of each part as accompanying response or lead instrument. Movable one and state transitions The "one" is the moment within the elementary pulsation where rhythmical layer starts with cycle. When the "one“ is moved, for example, the gungon- player (bass-drummer) is shifting the entire cycle by one pulse, then a state transition occurs. The outcome of that state transition is a new state, with a new stable relative timing position among musicians. E.g. Bamaaya nagboli dance. State transitions are short in time forming a temporal transitional zone, a liminal zone, between the old state and the next state. e.g. Jera waa and Zim. The intensity factor is a structure unit that occurs as first strike ahead of a strong accent or beat. Its function is agogical in the sense that it drives the motor system to respond and ad energy to the music-dance Collapse is the reduction of the rhythmical complexity to one of the basic metrical forms, duple rhythms or triple rhythms. This is especially relevant to dance and bodily movement. e.g. tora waa and luwa. The lyrical use of proverbs and how the associated narrative is enacted through the structural aspects of music related to tone, timbre, syncopated rhythms, dances and body movements, phraseology and speech rhythms. The call and responds is a large-scale structure based on a succession of two distinct phrases, where the second phrase is a direct answer to the first. e.g. Call and responds singing style in Tolon Djakboo, tora yila, simpa yila, luwa yila. Improvisation can be understood as idiomatic structural units on top of, or in replacement of a structural layer. Combination of different rhythmical patterns. Moving from one pattern to another, moving from one rhythmical layer in the grid to another. In Dagbon drum rhythms are based upon language texts and proverbs. e.g nagboli, damdu, taka saanu, Tubaani puli etc. Free rhythm: e.g. Damba yila and gingaani. A homeostasis is an emergent effect of interaction. It occurs when the different parts nicely fit together in a fluent state of interaction Extra -MUSICAL ASPECTS OF THE INTENSITY FACTOR Intensity factor Collapse Linguistic patterns Call and response Improvisation Homeostasis 1. Distinctive costumes, make-up, and objects related to the occasion of the ritual performance e.g. amulets and regalia. 2. The animal sacrifice. 3. Giving of coins to the dancers and musicians. 4. Trance and narrowed consciousness due to intoxication of the dancers and musicians as a result of drinking e.g. guinea corn stalk beer. (Sorhum bicolar). 5. The breathing in of herbs and herbal extracts mixed with parts of roasted animal. 6. The expectations of the group, expectation pattern. Tora Tora Simpa ensemble • Simpa is an adopted dance from de Ga people of Southern Ghana. • In Dagbon Simpa dance is a youth recreation dance. • The name “Simpa” itself, is the local name for “Winneba”, one of the Fanti port towns in which “highlife” was born. • Simpa ensemble: - a lead singer - a choir - 4 young female dancers - percussion ensemble 127 Simpa group Tamale http://music.africamuseum.be/instru ments/english/ghana/frafra/kon.html http://music.africamuseum.be/instruments/english/ghana/frafra/frafra.html Northern Ghanaian Artist Northern Ghanaian Artist Northern Ghanaian Artist The Hiplife Zone • • • The Hiplife Zone • • The Hiplife Zone • • The Hiplife Zone • • • • Cultural transformation processes • A model of cultural transformation • • • Local transformation processes • • • • The Hiplife Zone • • • Azindo Azindo waveform + spectrogram from the first 8 bars Peaks of energy in the overtones between the frequencies 1700 and 5200Hz Peaks of 85dB around the frequency of 1174Hz Key components of the Sahelian Factor in the music of Northern Ghana Timbre and Roughness Intensity of energy in a Vibrato in the overtones Frequency modulation in the overtones D6: 1174 Hz segmentation of overtones with frequency modulation are key components that contributes to the Sahelian Factor in the music. 5200 Hz 1700 Hz Spectrogram showing a plot of the first 6 bars of the song Azindo. The plot shows a vertical superposition of energy levels in the harmonics, indicating a nasal timbre of the voice. The theory assumes that these peaks of energy in the fundamental and the harmonics are key components that contribute to the tone color to the Sahelian factor in Northern Ghana Peaks of energy up to 85 dB in the fundamental tone and in the overtones. Key components of the Sahelian Factor in the music of Northern Ghana are the nasal timbre of the voice and tone color, the roughness of the sound, 7 regions in the audio signal of the song Azindo 2 3 7 6 1 4 5 Region One: Spectral segmentation of fundamental and 6 overtones between 1000 Hz- 4600 Hz Spectral segmentation of the first region Indicators of the Sahelian factor Energy peaks in the second and fifth harmonics An intensity of 85 dB of the fundamental pitch The fundamental and the superposition of 6 peaks in the overtones: The formants 4131 Hz 3538 Hz 2963 Hz 2345 Hz 1764 Hz 1405 Hz 1173,8 Hz Jinjelin Local transformation processes Local transformation processes Kuraya Kuraya Kuraya Kuraya Kuraya Kuraya • • • • Kuraya Kuraya Local transformation processes Global cultural transformation processes • Global cultural transformation processes in the music of Dagbon are transformations based on elements from foreign musical cultures outside the African continent. • These elements are transformed, re–configured and rearranged with local cultural elements into a fusion of “Hiplife Zone”-music. • Among these are jazz, hip-hop, Jamaican reggae, and rap music influences, as well as Bollywoodish influences of film music, western inspired harmonization choral music , and Afro - American gospel music and a huge among of western musical genres. Global cultural transformation processes • • Kuraya Kuraya • Global transformation processes in music • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxK0igf WJhk • Ghetto Kumbé O Yi Yee The Hiplife Zone • • Regional cultural transformations • • . The Hiplife Zone • • • • • • • • • •