African Music Re-Examined in the Light of New Materials from the Belgian Congo and Ruanda Urundi Author(s):

Alan P. Merriam Source: The African Music Society Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 6 (Sep., 1953), pp. 57-64 Published by: International Library of African Music Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30250331 Accessed: 28/05/2010 14:59
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AfricanMusic Re-examinedin the light of New Materials Page 57

IN THE LIGHT OF AFRICANMUSIC RE-EXAMINED NEWMATERIALS FROMTHEBELGIAN CONGO AND RUANDAURUNDI*

In recentyears the studyof the music of nonliterate peoples has begun to be recognizedas of considerableimportanceboth in its own rightand in relationto broader problemsin music and anthropology.Such investigation, we realize, can lead in music to a cognizance of the enormouspossible range of the materialswith which the musician works,and in anthropology to an understanding of culture contact and culture dynamics as well as others. This renewedinteresthas led to an upsurge of activityin the field of comparativemusicology, or ethnowitha consequent musicology, emphasison the trainingof young scholars in the combinedfieldsof anthropology and music. It is this interest, which in the Belgian the research too, prompted and Ruanda Urundi which the Congo upon present study is based (1). Whilethe definitive resultsof this field workcannot,of course, as yet be anticipated,it does not seem too early to state that our ideas and impressions of Africanmusic seem due for a reor perhaps"rebalancing"is a betterterm.By this I examination, mean to indicate that those of us who are concernedwith the studyof Africanmusic have oftentendedto emphasize certain of its aspects to the virtualexclusionof other,equally important aspects,and that we have exploitedonlythose facetsof African music which complement research problemsin which we are
* This paper was presentedat the meetingsof the American Anthropological Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 29th, 1952. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Belgian American Educational Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation which provided financial support for the research program, and the Institut pour la Recherche Scientifiqueen Afrique Centrale which gave its close co-operationin the Congo. (1) The research period began with a briefinvestigationof the music of the Bashi on the westernshore of Lake Kivu, and continuedin Ruanda and Urundi over approximately five months. Time was then spent with the Bambuti in the Ituri Forest and the Bahema near Lake Albert. The final period, a month in duration, was devoted to a concentratedstudy of the music of the Ekonda near Lakes Tumba and Leopold II. Further travels brought contact with the Manglbetu,Lugware, Wagenia and [Bishongo; althoughrecordingwas not carried out with these people, numerousopportunities were found to hear and make note of their music. A considerable part of the huge Congo land mass was thus covered,and a notable variety of musical styles encountered. by ALAN P. MlERRIAM Reprinted by kintd 'permission..from ZAIRE, Vol. VII - 3

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true of the studyof interested.This is particularly specifically, the music of West Africa, and the resultshave had a striking on our conceptsof African music as a whole. influence It seemsproper, then,thatwe examinethisnew materialfrom the Belgian Congo, not as it applies to specificproblemsof research,but as to the overall patternswhich it (lemonstrates, beforewe becomelost in the finerpoints which will inevitably distortour perspective.To do this,however, we mustfirst make some briefinquiryintothe musicof Africa as a whole,for past studies have had a considerableinfluenceon the concepts of African music presently held by both scholars and laymen. Incredibleas it seems,it may almostbe flatlystated that we have no well-rounded information about the music of any African culturearea (2) save the Guinea Coast. As far as the Congo is concerned, whilea rathersurprising of articleson the number musicof its peopleshas appeared in diversesources,examination revealsthat mostof themdeal in vague generalitieswhichleave the ethnomusicologist withlittleif any directinformation about the musicand musical styles. Unfortunately, the majorityseem eitherto be romanticised accountswhichrhapsodizeon the beauties of themusic,or rathersolemndiscussionswhichdeclarethat "the music of Congo is functional"; the firstis fatuous, the second obvious. On the otherhand,thereare a veryfew works which deal directly with the musical instruments of Congo,and a small group whichgive some idea of the music itself. For otherparts of Africathe pictureis considerably brighter; we have, forexample.Tracey's excellent workwiththe music of the Chopiin southeastern Africa ('), Jones'in the Rhodesias (4), and thatof scatteredscholarson BritishEast Africa (5), as well as others (6). Nowhere,however,save for the Guinea Coast,
(2) M. J. Herskovits, "A Preliminary Consideration of the Culture Areas of Africa", American Anthropologist, XXVI, 50-63. (3) Hugh Tracey, Chopi Musicians; Their Music, Poetry and Instruments (London: Oxford University Press, 1948), 180 pp. (4) A. M. Jones, African Music in NorthernRhodesia and Some Othe, Places (Livingstone: Rhodes-ILivingstone Museum, 1949), 78 pp. (5) Marius Schneider, "Gestinge aus Uganda", Archiv firi M'usik185-242. II (1937), forschung, (6) See, for example, the work of Percival Kirby in South Africa, Herbert Pepper in French Equatorial Africa, K. P. Wachsman in Uganda. Bibliographies of African music may be found in: Douglas H. Varley, African Native Music; .4n Annotated Bibliography (London: The Royal Empire Society, 1936), 116 pp., and Alan P. Merriam, "An Annotated Bibliography of African and African-Derived Music since 1936", Africa, XXI (Oct., 1951), 319-29.

Music Re-examinedin the light of New Materials Page 59 African,

has a cohesivepatternbased on strictly musical characteristics been attemptedfor a culture area. This workhas been carried out by Dr. Richard A. Waterman of Northwestern in the United States; in it he has University characteristicsof the Guiinea listedl live otiitstanldiing nmusical area as follows: "the metronome sense, dominance of (Coast off-beat of percussion, polymeter, phrasing melodicaccents,and overlappingcall-and-response pattern" (7). We have, then,for this Africanculturearea a definite set of musicalcharacteristics whichsurvivesobservation and testing. It cannotbe emphasized too oftenthat this is the onlysuch set of criteriawe have. It is evidentalso that our best available recordedcollections covering the widest areas are of the music of the Guinea Coast; while othercollections, for example,that gatheredby Tracey and filed in SouthAfrica,are also extanttheyhave notyet becomewidely knownnor been the subject of exhaustiveanalysis. Thus most of the studyof Africanmusic must be projectedagainst these fromWest Africa. investigations Let us turn now to a survey of Congo music. Four major points seem outstandingin the music of Congo and Ruanda Urundiwhen viewed in broadestperspective.These are: a lack of specific emphasison percussion;an enormous varietyof musical instruments and musical styles; a heavy influence fromthe Arabic world; and a considerableamountof currentchange in process (8). Certainlythe firstof these - a lack of specificemphasis on - is mostsurprising in view of thefactthatour studpercussion ies of African music have consistently led us to discussion of and their rhythms.This emphasis, it percussioninstruments seemsclear,has developedfromthreesources.In the first place, the literature on the music of Africa,particularly West Africa, has almost always concerneditselfwith drums and drumming, beginningwith the early volumes of travellersand explorers. The reasons forthis are not obscure,for in its use of percussion instruments and complexrhythms as a basis fora musicalidiom,
,)n the Music of the AwI;.e(7) Richard A. Waterman,"African ricas", in Sol Tax, Acculturationin theInavYuence Americas (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1952; Vol. II, Proceedings of the 29th International Congress of Americanists), pp. 207-18. (8) It must be emphasizedthat these "characteristics"do not necessarily apply to every regional or tribal style. They are, rather, generalizations based on the author's experience and must be treated flexiblyrather than as immutablemusical laws.

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instead of harmonyas in the Western world, West African music differs mostmarkedly fromthe European musicalconcept is common to bothcultures the basic of idea although drumming and thus providessome familiargroundfor comparison. Again, the idea of the "talking drum" complex is a fascinatingone whichappeals deeplyto the imagination;and finally, the splendid drumming to be heard in parts of Africamusthave stoodout sharplyfor the early travelleras it does today. This emphasis in the literatureon drums and drumming has tended to perpetuateitselfonce begun.In the secondplace, Americananthropologistswhose interestlies in Africanstudiesand especiallyin the influence of Africa upon the Negro in the New World,have for the most part concentrated their studies upon the Guinea Coast of Africa,and this is certainly the mostoutstanding single area in termsof the use of percussionin complexform.The emphasis on West Africa in connection,especially, with AfroAmericanstudies,is quite understandable, but it seems clearly to have distortedour overall picture of the music of Africa. and ethnomusicologists Finally, the anthropologists, by extension, have tendedto emphasizereligiousbehaviourand the cultural focus (9) of West Africa,and it is in this culturalaspect that music,and thus percussioninstruments, plays its most important part; indeed, drums themselvesoften have great significance in the total religiouspattern. With this resumeof the emphasison percussionin the music of the Guinea Coast, it would be well to compare brieflythe music of Congo with the five points postulatedby Waterman, notingat the same time that of these fivepoints no fewerthan fourare directly concerned with percussioninstruments and the their use. rhythmic The call-andemphasis producedthrough response pattern,not a rhythmic pattern in the conventional sense of the term,is fullyas strongin the Congo as it is in West Africa. As to the dominanceof percussion, it is firstimportant to clarifywhat is to be included under the heading of "percussion". In speakingof the Guinea Coast, Watermanand most others have emphasized "drums, rattles, and gongs", as well as "the percussiveeffect of handclapping" (1o). In these terms,
(9) Melville J. Herskovits, Mant and His Works (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), pp. 542-60. (10) Richard A. Waterman, "Laboratory Notes oio Tribal, Folk and Cafe Music of West Africa", in Arthur S. Alberts, (Ed), Tribal, Folk and Cafi Music of West Africa (New York: Field Recordings, Cover Notes, 1950), p. 5.

African Music Re-examinedin the light of New Materials Page 61

the music of the groups studied in Congo cannot be said to be dominated but if on the otherhand we includein by percussion, the percussionany instruments whichare "struck,plucked,rubbed, shaken, beaten and stroked", Congo music comes much closerto the WestAfricannorm. However,it mustbe notedthat the emphasis placed on percussioninstruments of the Guinea Coast is made in termsof drums,rattles and gongs, while the various stringedinstruments, for example, which come under the rubricsof "plucked,rubbed,beaten and stroked",are generally left out of consideration. is presentin the musicof the Congogroupsstudied, 1'olymeter but its importance is mimimal in comparison withthe frequency of use of this device in West Africanmusic. Off-beat phrasing of melodicaccents and the use of the metronome sense are also presentalthoughagain in strength nowherenear comparableto that in the Guinea Coast. We see, then, that a comparisonbetweenthe music of the Guinea Coast and Congo yields fruitful, althoughnegative results. Only one characteristic, the call-and-response pattern,is of approximateequal intensityin both areas, while the use of off-beat and the presenceof the metronome polymeter, phrasing, sense are weakerin the Congoarea, and dominance of percussion in termsof its definition simplydoes not apply. The second "characteristic" of Congo music - the enormous of musical instruments and musical styles - becomes variety when especiallystriking projectedagainst the emphasis placed on drumsand drumming in the music of West Africa. While it is clear that a notablevarietyof musical instruments and styles is similarlyto be foundin West Africa,this has been to some degreesublimated by writersin favourof the percussion.From of all kinds may be noted,instruCongo, musical instruments mentsquite as important in theirplaces as are drums.The eightstringedharp, knownvariouslyas lulanga, lunanga and inanga, is foundin a considerable area of the Kivu, Ruanda and Urundi, not to mention its wide distribution in East Africa. The nzenze, instrument a two-stringed utilizingthree fingerfrets is used by the Bashi people of the Kivu as well as the Ekonda of Lake Tumba in the Equatorial Province; in the lattercase it is called is foundthroughout East Africa. njenjo. Again this instrument The musicalbow has a wide distribution in easternCongo as has thendingiti, or iningiri, a single-stringed instrument playedwith

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a bow. Flutes are foundextensively in Congo,rangingfromthe mulizi of the Bashi, in which extraordinary demandsare made the to of the performer, simplewhistleof uponthe musicianship the Bambuti. The likembe, knownas the sanza in West Africa, is presentalmosteverywhere, and further varietycould be cited at considerablelength. As to musicalstyles, the range is fullyas great. The Abatutsi, in Ruanda and Urundi,each Bahutu and Batwa, livingtogether have theirown distinctmusical style.The Bambuti of the Ituri of style which utilizes an involved Forest exhibita complexity or durchbrochene hocketing, Abbeit, as its basis and which is from the three groups mentionedabove. The quite different seldomduplicatedin Ekonda peopleshow a masteryof harmony Africa,as well as complexpart singing.And this is not to mention the wide varietyof stylesto be foundwithineach of these groups,singingas contrastedwith the various musical instruforexample.Surelyone of the mostimpressive characterments, as a whole is the imistics of the music of Congo when taken mense variety exhibited not only among the various ethnic groups,but withineach group as well. Again the contrastwith in the study of the emphasis placed on drums and drumming the music of the Guinea Coast is striking. The third "characteristic"of the music of Congo - the inas the of Arabic musical patterns-is fullyas impressive fluence two. Here again it shouldbe pointedout that the music of first the Guinea Coast is also heavily influenced fromthe north; in has receivedsome detailedattention this case, the influence from In in the as West both musical Congo, ethnomusicologists. Africa, and musical styles have been borrowedfrom the instruments the ndingitiis perhaps the outArabic world. Of the former, violin is clearlya modistandingexample; this single-stringed fiedversionof the Arabic rebec.In the questionof musical style, be drawnto the Abatutsiof Ruanda mustimmediately attention who, in their migrationprobablyfrom Ethiopia some four to five hundredyears ago, broughtwith them distinctly Arabicderivedformsin theirtraditionalmusic. These influences show in a numberof ways, including themselves the use of a hummed which sets the general modalityfor the music and introduction which text follow,clearlyakin to the Arabic maqam. The style ornamentation of melodicline,generalmeloof voice production, and the use of intervals smaller than half dic characteristics, It is interesting tonesall suggestArabic influence. to note,at the

African Music Re-examinedin the light of New Materials Page 63

same time,that although the Abatutsihave lived in close contact withboththe Bahutu and Batwa peoplesfora considerable time, the two latter groups have remained relativelyunaffected by Arabic styles, to sing and play musicmorecharactercontinuing istic of the Congo Negroid peoples. Arabic musical influences are by no means restrictedto the Abatutsi.The Bahema, for example,sing in a stylecloselyakin to the WesternArabic; musical instruments of Arabic provenance are widelydistributed the tribes of northern throughout Congo, and even into some of the more central and southern areas. It is clear that in studyingthe music of the northern portionsof the Belgian Congo and particularlyRuanda, the must have a well-defined backgroundin the cthnomusicologist the music of Arabic world. Of considerableinterestto the ethnomusicologist is the vast amount of change which has been taking place and which is at a rapid rate. Perhaps the foremost influence instrucontinuing mentalin making change in the past has been the missionary his efforts to destroy who,through indigenousreligiouspatterns has also invalidateda large bodyof music.More and more Congolese today are learningEuropean traditionsof hymnsinging, to the extentthat casual and informal singingin the homeor in the fieldsoftentends to be expressed in this form. While missionary influence continuesto be an important contributorto changingmusical forms,it is probablythe phonograph and radio which are at present most influential in the processesof change.It is through thesemedia of communication that the guitar has emergedwith ever-increasing popularityin recentyears and that the rumba and samba are fast becoming highlypopular musical forms.There have been at least three major commercialrecordingfirmsestablished in Leopoldville whose libraries are aimed directlytoward the modernpopular Africanmarket.At least one of these firms had a masterlist of over six thousanditems a year and a half ago, of which only a traditionalCongo music. A startlingnumminority represented ber of Congoleseown portablemechanicalphonographs, and reof thismodern"juke box" musicare available in almost cordings all Africanshops. The changingpatternsof music in the Congo reflect the rapid changes to be seen in almost all aspects of inand providethe ethnomusicologist digenousculture, witha wide new fieldfor acculturation studies.

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It must be emphasizedhere that we are speaking about the of the music of interiorCongo. We have generalcharacteristics reason to that the music of the coastal area, the believe good Mayombe,resemblesin much greater detail the music of the Guinea Coast. Further,it seems fairlyclear that fromthis coasin drums a beltof peopleswhose interest tal area therestretches and drumming is fairlyhigh but diminishesas one penetrates thereare fartherand fartherinto the interior(11). And finally, the Congo certainethnicgroups in whose scatteredthroughout seemto play an important musicdrumsand drumming part (12). At the same time,it must be pointedout that nowheredid the developedto anywherenear the presentauthor finddrumming foundalong the Guinea Coast. as it is commonly complexity The major points presentedhere must not, of course, he too To say that thereis no emphasison percusrigidlyinterpreted. sion, that the music of Congo presentsno unity,or that Arabic music is the single domination factor,would be not only gross foolish well. At the same time these but as misrepresentation with the rapid changesin musical broad characteristics, coupled formcurrently takingplace, presenta view of Congo music not with the generallyaccepted pictureof African direct accord in has as been pointedout,has been derivedin great music which, part fromthe study of the music of hte Guinea Coast. A reas well as the of ideas in whichthe Arabic influence examination and styles are more enormousvariety of musical instruments techniqueswhichhave been equated withthe rhythmic properly emphasizedin hte past will certainlyaid the ethnomusicologist of African in achieving a finerbalance in his understanding music as a whole.

(11) This contentionseems to have been borne out by the inclusion of examples of Bambala drummingin the record album, Folk Music of the Western Congo, P. 427, issued by Ethnic Folkways Library in New York. (12) For example, the Bushongo, Mangbetu and, in certain ways, the Wagenia.