African American Jazz Artist Nat King Cole - Essay Example

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist. Nat King Cole Placing African music in an historical and social context, brings to the fore the compiling of notes on the social context of African music; on African history; on the popularization of African music and on the instruments and styles of African music. The following text has been put together and a bibliography and appropriate reference is supplied at the end of the article. Africa covers about 11,714,000 square miles (30,339,000 square kilometers), more than a fifth of the earth’s total land area. The continent is an enormous plateau, most of which is covered by deserts, forests and grasslands. It is this vast mass of land that held the immense treasure of Africa called music. Music has been culturally part of and developed in Africa for thousands of years. Its wide range of styles evidently showed much of the country’s landscape. In northern Africa, music follows Arab traditions that consist mainly of chants and the use of various northern instruments but as shown but African music has also spread southward and influenced the music of peoples in parts of Chad, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan. Having no common language except music to communicate among themselves, African ancestors came from different parts of Africa and Madagascar and had to express the feelings of their heart. Music was an important means of social and cultural interaction to them but also a source of relief in their wretched condition. Immense research and fieldwork undertaken for years confirm the existence not only of an important repertoire of traditional music, but also of traditional musical instruments some of which are original and unique inventions. Kudu shaker zulu drum Diversity and originality of musical instruments of African origin1 The Africans of earlier days preserved long afterwards the nostalgia of their motherland in spite of the harshness of their living conditions. The ancestral melodies in which their childhood and youth had been steeped could revive in them more poignantly the memories of the mother country. The improvisation of songs, dances and musical instruments in a different environment cut off from the living traditions of their ancient culture and isolated from the ‘dominant’ culture of the ‘colons’ and the magic of those lost days could be recaptured and remembered more importantly not by snatches of half-remembered songs but through the African music tradition that has evolved. In social context, African music – the authentic African music – is little known. The music is strange, difficult and unattractive to a non-African listener and usually given no second chance. Music is a human invention and both African and non-African music have and contain the elements such as tone color and intensity however, it must be acknowledged that music plays a significant role in African communities as work songs, lullabies, battle songs, religious music, and so on (Cartey and Kilson, 2002). Generally speaking though, the African concept of music is totally different to the Western one concept. The complicated rhythms, responsive choral singing, and flattened or blue, notes found in work songs and church music reflect much of the African traditions. Combining sounds in a manner pleasing to the ear is not the traditional African musicians seek to do but to express life in all of its aspects through the medium of sound is their aim. By incorporating spoken language into the music, the African musician does not merely attempt to imitate nature by music, but reverses the procedure by taking natural sounds. This may result in cacophony to the uninitiated, but in fact each sound has a particular meaning and must be studied within the context of African life in order to be meaningful. African society gives music an important role. Every African individual from birth has music is an integral part of their lives. The African child takes an active role in music at a very early stage in life, making musical instruments by the age of three or four with musical games preparing them to participate in all areas of adult activity farming, to attending weddings and funerals and dances. An intimate union formed between man and art in Africa is so inherent in man that black Africa has no precise noun to define music. It amounts to a total communion that is shared by the whole community. African music is nearly always coupled with some other art such as poetry or dance and is one of the most revealing forms of expression of the black soul. There is a great deal of homogeneity in the music of this vast continent but it is also clear that there are differences between regions and tribes. The Negro cultures south of the Sahara have evidently carried on a lively exchange of music with the inhabitants of the northern part of Africa. There is also a large area of borderline cultures that are related to both the Negro and the North African societies (Davidson, 2004). South Africa Boundaries North Africa Boundaries African Continent Boundaries2 Much music is based on speech and the bond between language and music is so intimate that it is actually possible to tune an instrument so that the music it produces is linguistically comprehensible. The nomadic gathering of food in the area of southern Africa by the Khoi-San has a simple culture and influenced by music as well. The cultures are complex and revolve around cattle in East Africa. Before the imposition of European rule, the north-western African coast is characterized by an elaborate political organization giving rise to powerful kingdoms. The west coast of Africa has a combination of the east African and north-west African traits between the Khoi-San area and the north-western part. The northern part has largely been influenced by the Islamite musical culture of the continent. Music within each of these areas is more or less homogeneous, differing from the neighboring area (Cartey and Kilson, 2002). Everyone in black Africa must be a musician by definition as it seems logical to conclude that. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to assume that all Africans are necessarily musicians in the full sense of the word. In some African societies music is a dynamic and driving force that animates the life of the entire community. This communal music may be quite elaborate in form. In other societies musicians form a semi-professional group. They earn their livelihood from their music for only part of the year and rely on some other activity for the remainder of the time. In numerous African societies, the right to play certain instruments or to participate in traditional ceremonies is not open to all, but is the privilege of the professional musician. Such musicians live solely by their art and belong to particular families or castes. The role extends far beyond the realm of music and magic. He or she is the relater of history, philosophy and mythology, the archive of the peoples traditions. He or she dispenses a healing therapy for the medicine man. He or she is a praise-singer, a troubadour - the counterpart of the medieval European minstrel. The fact that music is at the heart of all of the Africans’ activities is yet further proof of the vital part that it plays in African life (Davidson, 2004). It is hoped that the musical traditions of Africa will survive and grow and that the popularity of African music will spread even further around the globe. Hopefully that will foster a better understanding and appreciation of Africa and its cultures amongst the extra-African cultures of the world. References Cartey, W. G. and Kilson, M.L. eds., (2002). The Africa Reader. 2 vols. New York: Random House. Davidson, B. (2004). The African Genius: An Introduction to African Cultural and Social History. New York: Little Brown Secondary References 1 traditional African musical instruments used in making music are the Kudu,a wind instrument; a shaker, a percussion instrument and the zulu drum, a fixture in many African musical festivities taken from the Yahoo website images. 2 taken from the Yahoo Google maps are pictures of the African boundaries. Read More