Africa: Mande Music

# Mande Music

![BGSU](/assets/bgsu.png)

### Christopher Witulski, Ph.D.

### College of Musical Arts

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# West Africa

.image-float-right.image-60[![West Africa](/assets/west-africa.png)]

* Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal
* Shared musical history

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# Mande Social Structure

.image-float-right.image-40[![Griot](/assets/griot.png)]

* Quasi-Caste system
	* Yet, interactions between castes (marriage is the only prohibition)

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* Slave (jon)
* Freeborn (horo)
	* Sula: anyone (merchants, royalty, farmers, soldiers)
	* Nyamalo: craft specialists

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* Nyamalo include:
	* Numo (smiths)
	* Karanke (tanners)
	* Jeli (verbal and inst. artists)
	* Fina (Quranic verbal artists)
	* Gawulo (Fula verbal artists)

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# Mande Social Structure

.image-float-right.image-40[![Griot](/assets/griot.png)]

* The Jeliyya (Jeli)
	* Most Nyamalo (craftsmen) linked to a patron
	* Unique attributes separate jeliyya from the other castes
* Status
	* Low position, yet connections with upper classes
* Hereditary families
	* Diabaté, Cissokho, Kouyaté...

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# Mande Social Structure

.image-float-right.image-40[![Griot](/assets/griot.png)]

* Praise Singer
	* Public support of the patron
* Diplomat
	* Negotiated with dignitaries
* Historian
	* Memorized genealogies
	* Keeper of history, storyteller

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# Jeliyya Roles

.image-float-right.image-40[![Jeliyya](/assets/jeliyya-roles.png)]

* New contexts
	* Still hold close ties to leaders
	* Most now regard themselves as “singers” and “musicians”
* Patronage
	* Colonial salaries hurt patrons
	* Before, a jeli would hold a patron for life, now they hunt for wider audiences
	* New systems of patronage
	* Ex: sending cassettes...

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# Game Number One

### If you were a musician with a patron and your patron ran out of cash, what would you do?

How could you make money with your music?

Where would you look for audiences? What strategies could be useful?

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# Kora

.image-float-right.image-40[![Kora](/assets/kora.png)]

* Construction
	* 21- or 22-stringed harp
	* Leather straps to tune
	* Made from a blessed wood, calabash, leather, and fishing line
* Musical elements
	* Bass
	* Accompaniment/melody
	* Improvisation
* Artists
	* Toumani Diabaté
	* Mamadou Diabaté
	* Bubakar Cissokho

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### Ledye Diabate: “Kaira” demonstration -->

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### Toumani Diabate: “Cantelowes”

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# Balafon

.image-float-right.image-40[![Balafon](/assets/balafon.png)]

* Construction
	* Graduated wooden bars
	* Gourd resonators
	* Spider egg...
	* Rubber ended mallets
* Used to have equidistant notes

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### Adama Diabaté: Balafon demonstration

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# Ngoni (Koni)

.image-float-right.image-30[![Ngoni](/assets/ngoni.png)]

* Construction
	* Hollow, wooden body
	* Single long neck
	* Stretched hide for membrane
	* 4 to 7 strings (usually 4), some shorter than others
	* Various sizes, shapes across WA
* Artists
	* Bassekou Kouyaté
	* Used to be the central Mande instrument, now dominated by the kora and guitar

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### Bassekou Koyaté and Ngoni Ba: "Jama ko"

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# Guitar

.image-float-right.image-30[![Guitar](/assets/dakar-guitar.png)]

* Tradition?
	* Now dominates Malian pop
	* Adopted by groups, musicians across the country
	* Popular “bluesy” sound catches
	* Overtaking other traditions
* Artists
	* Ali Farka Touré
	* Vieux Farka Touré
	* Tinariwen
	* Djelimady Tounkara

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### Ali Farka Touré: “Diaraby”

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### Veiux Farka Toure: "Bamako Jam (Part One)"

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# Elements of Mande Music

.image-float-right.image-30[![Kora lesson](/assets/kora-lesson.png)]

* Kumbengo
	* Inst. ostinato, accompaniment
* Birimintingo
	* Inst. variations, ornaments
* Donkilo
	* Basic vocal melody, the “song”
* Sataro
	* Vocal improvisation, praise singing, recitative style, fast

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### Youssou N'Dour: “Birima”

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# Elements of Mande Music

### Which musical elements and instruments did you hear in the clip?

### What do you think was happening?

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Toumani Diabate and Taj Mahal: “Atlanta Kaira”

Toumani Diabate and Taj Mahal: “Catfish Blues”

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# As "World Music"

* Issues of representation
	* Creating “roots” sound for world music audiences

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	* World Circuit
* Power dynamics (again)
	* Neoliberal and capitalist logics
	* Yet... “[industry execs] feel they must respond to European/American expectations” to sell music (Whitmore)
	* Creating a “rootsy” music
* But artists listen widely, too…

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# Game Number Two

### Describe what is “traditional”...

Instruments, structures, imagery, etc.

Elements of Mande music

### ... And what is not

Anything musical? Non-musical stuff?

### Write down your thoughts

But do so very quietly so that we can hear

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### Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabaté: "Debe"

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### Amadou and Miriam: “Je Pense à Toi”

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### Amadou and Miriam ft. Manu Chao: “Sénégal Fast Food”

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### Oumou Sangare: “Seya”

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### AfroCubism: “Nima diyala”

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### Fatoumata Diawara: “Bissa”

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### Fatoumata Diawara: "Kassila"

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# Mande Music

![BGSU](/assets/bgsu.png)

### Christopher Witulski, Ph.D.

### College of Musical Arts