Malawian pango music from the viewpoint of information theory

Authors

  • Wim Van Zanten University of Leiden, Faculty of Social Sciences, Leiden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v6i3.1169

Abstract

Music played on a Malawian pango, a board zither, will be analysed by using concepts of probability theory and information theory. I have tried to make my analysis comprehensible to non-mathematicians. It is, however, impossible to translate all mathematical concepts into a few words which convey the same accuracy. So I had to compromise. The Conclusion of this article gives the main results of my analysis without using mathematical formulae. The music is played at a constant speed of about 6 pulses per second. The data for my analysis consists of the chords and sung melody notes which sound at each pulse.

References

Bergh, Paul van den Structuur en informatie, de Beatles als discrete informatiebron (Structure and information, the Beatles as a discrete source of information) Manuscript Institute for Cultural Anthropology and Non-Western Sociology, University of Leiden, 1976.
Cox, D.R. and Miller, H.D. The theory of stochastic processes, reprint 1972, London: Chapman and Hall, 1965.
Davidson, Marjory "Some music for the Lala Kankobele" African Music, 4, 4, 103-113, 1970.
Khinchin, A.I. Mathematical foundations of infornmation theory New York: Dover Publ., 1957.
Nurse, G.T. "Cewa concepts of musical instruments" African Music. 4, 4, 32-36, 1970.
Shannon, Claude E. and Weaver, Warren The mathematical theory of communication, paperback edition 1972, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949.
Tracey, Andrew "The matepe mbira music of Rhodesia" African Music, 4, 4, 37-61, 1970.
"The nyanga panpipe dance" African Music, 5, 1, 73-89, 1971.
Zanten, Wim van Markov ketens, enkele toepassingen in antropologie en sociologie (Markov chains, some applica- tions in anthropology and sociology). Publication no. 10, Institute for Cultural Anthropology and Non-Western Sociology, University of Leiden, 1975.

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Published

1983-07-12

How to Cite

Van Zanten, Wim. 1983. “Malawian Pango Music from the Viewpoint of Information Theory”. African Music : Journal of the International Library of African Music 6 (3):90-106. https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v6i3.1169.