THE BUZZ AESTHETIC AND MANDE MUSIC: ACOUSTIC MASKS AND THE TECHNOLOGY OF ENCHANTMENT
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v10i3.2198Keywords:
West Africa, buzz, timbre, Mande, griots, mirlitons, masks, blacksmithsAbstract
This article concerns the widespread preference for 'buzzy' timbres in African traditional musics; and, in particular, the ways in which this preference has been borne out in the Mande region of west Africa. The two main types of buzzing mechanisms in Mande music are metal buzzing rattles, which are attached to the neck or bridge of various string instruments, and mirlitons (vibrating membranes), which are placed over small holes on the resonating gourds of wooden xylophones. Over the last seventy to eighty years, an older and rougher 'buzz aesthetic' within Mande music has become increasingly endangered, with buzzing largely disappearing from instruments such as the kora and the ngoni in favour of a 'cleaner', more 'Western' aesthetic. Considered in a wider cultural context, I discuss the possible origins of the Mande buzz aesthetic and attempt to explore how the incorporation of buzzing sounds within Mande music might be connected to forms of 'esoteric', 'supernatural' and spiritual power.
References
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Charry, Eric. 2000. Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of West Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Childs, Terry S. 1993 "Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture.” Annual Review of Anthropology 22: 317—337.
Cissé, Youssouf Tata. 1964 "Notes sur les Sociétés de Chasseurs Malinké.” Journal de la Société des Africanistes 34(2): 175—226.
Cissé, Youssouf Tata. 1994. La Confrérie des Chasseurs Malinké et Bambara: Mythes, Rites et Récits lnitiatiques. Paris: Nouvelles du Sud/Arsan.
Conrad, David. 2005. Empires of Medieval West Africa. New York: Facts On File.
Dargie, David. 2005. "Xhosa Overtone Singing.” in The World of South African Music, Christine Lucia, ed. 152—155. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Pub.
Diamitani, Boureima T. 2008 "Observing Komo among Tagwa People in Burkina Faso: A Burkinabe Art Historian's Views.” African Arts 41(3): 14—25.
Durán, Lucy. 1995 "Birds of Wasulu: Freedom of expression and expressions of freedom in the popular music of Southern Mali.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 4(1): 101—134.
Durán, Lucy. 2000 "Women, music and the ''mystique'' of hunters in Mali” in The African Diaspora: A musical perspective, Ingrid Monson, ed. 13—86. New York: Garland Publishing.
Durán, Lucy. 2005 "Nahawa Doumbia — no ordinary woman.” fRoots Magazine, 261: 23—29.
Durán, Lucy. 2007 "Ngaraya: Women and musical mastery in Mali.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 70(3): 569—602.
Fales, Cornelia. 2002 "The Paradox of Timbre.” Ethnomusicology 46(1): 56—95.
Fales, Cornelia and McAdams, Stephen. 1994 "The Fusion and Layering of Noise and Tone: Implications for Timbre in African Instruments.” Leonardo Music Journal 4: 69.
Gell, Alfred. 1998. Art and Agency. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Gell, Alfred and Hirsch, Eric. 1999. The Art of Anthropology. London: Athlone Press.
Greated, Clive. 1994. The Musician's Guide to Acoustics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Helmholtz, Hermann von. 1885 [1954]. On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music. 2nd English edition. New York: Dover Publications.
Herbert, Eugenia, W. 1993. Iron, Gender, and Power: Rituals of Transformation in African societies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Holl, Augustin, F.C. 2009 "Early West African Metallurgies: New Data and Old Orthodoxy.” Journal of World Prehistory 22: 415—438.
Jackson, Anthony. 1968 "Sound and Ritual.” Man 3(2): 293—299.
Jessup, Lynne. 1983. The Mandinka balafon. La Mesa, CA.: Xylo Publications.
Jespers, Philippe. 1995 "Mask and Utterance: The Analysis of an 'Auditory' Mask in the Initiatory Society of the Kòmò. Minyanka, Mali.” in Objects: Signs of Africa, L de Heusch, ed. 37—56. Gent: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon.
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LaGamma, Alisa and John Pemberton. 2000. Art and Oracle. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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Matuire, Perminus. 2009. The Relationship between Mbira Dzavadzimu Modes and Zezuru Ancestral Spirit Possession. MA Thesis: University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1979. Secret Sculptures of Komo. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1982 "The Shirts That Mande Hunters Wear.” African Arts 15(3): 54—91.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1988. The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power, and Art in West Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1991 "Is There History in Horizontal Masks? A Preliminary Response to the Dilemma of Form.” African Arts 24(2): 40—90.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1992 "From Mande Komo to Jukun Akuma: Approaching the Difficult Question of History.” African Arts 25(2): 76—85, 99—100.
McNaughton, Patrick. 2001. "The Power Associations.” in Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, J Colleyn, and M Arnoldi, eds. 167—74. New York: Museum for African Art.
O'Brien, Dara. 2014 "The Endless Search for SA: Spiritual Ideology in HindustÄni music”. PhD Dissertation. Cork: University College Cork.
Peek, Philip. 1994 "The Sounds of Silence: Cross-world Communication and the Auditory Arts in African societies.” American Ethnologist 21(3): 474—494.
Praetorius, Michael. 1985 "Syntagma musicum, parts I and II”. De organographia, Volume 2. D Crookes, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Richards, Dona. 1981 "The Nyama of the Blacksmith: The Metaphysical Significance of Metallurgy in Africa.” Journal of Black Studies 12(2): 218—238.
Rothenberg, David. 2013. Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Scholtz, Clarke H. and Mansell, Mervyn W. 2009 "Insect Biodiversity in the Afrotropical Region.” in Insect biodiversity. R Foottit and P Adler, eds. 69—82. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Turino, Thomas. 2015 "The mbira and some general principles of African music.” in Excursions in World Music, Sixth Edition, T Rommen, B Nettl, C Capwell, I Wong, T Turino, P Bohlman, and B Dueck, eds. 201—206. New York: Routledge.
Tyler, James. 2007 "Mixed Ensembles.” in A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music. J Kite-Powell, ed. 238—249. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Vassilakis, Pantelis N. 2005 "Auditory Roughness as a Means of Musical Expression.” Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology 12: 119—144.
Weisser, Stephanie and Quanten, Maarten. 2011 "Rethinking musical instrument classification: Towards a modular approach to the Hornbostel-Sachs system.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 43: 122—146.
Barrat, Emma and Davis, Nick. 2015 "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): A flow-like mental state.” PeerJ 3: e851 [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.7717/ peerj.851 [Accessed 2 August 2016].
Dargie, David. 2008 "Some recent developments in Xhosa music: Activities of the Ngqoko Traditional Xhosa Music Ensemble, and at the University of Fort Hare.” [online] Available at: http://tranquanghaisworld.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/davedargie-some-recent-developments-in.html [Accessed 7 August 2016].
Durán, Lucy. 2008 "The kora: Tales of a frontier instrument.” World Circuit Records. [online] Available at: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/15829/1/Toumani_Diabate_The_ Kora_Tales_of_a_Frontier_Instrument.pdf [Accessed 13 August 2017].
Fonte-Navarrete, David. 2011 "File Under "Import”: Musical Distortion, Exoticism, and Authenticité in Congotronics.” [online] Ethnomusicology Review Available at: http://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/journal/volume/16/piece/460 [Accessed 6 August 2016].
Terhardt, Ernst. 2000 "Auditory roughness”. [online] Available at: http://www.mmk.ei.tum.de/fileadmin/w00bqn/www/Personen/Terhardt/ter/top/roughness.html [Accessed 13 August 2017].
Weisser, Stephanie. 2014. Kenya: L'obokano, lyre des Gusii (Kenya: The Obokano, Lyre of the Gusii). [CD] VDE-GALLO. [Liner notes] 29.
Brett-Smith, Sarah. 1994. The Making of Banana Sculpture: Creativity and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Camara, Laye. 1959. The African Child. London: Collins.
Cashion, Gerald A. 1984. Hunters of the Mande: A Behavioral Code and World View Derived from the Study of Their Folklore. PhD Dissertation: Indiana University, Bloomington.
Charry, Eric. 1996 "A Guide to the Jembe.” Percussive Notes 34(2): 66—72.
Charry, Eric. 1996 "Plucked Lutes in West Africa: An Historical Overview.” The Galpin Society Journal 49: 3—37.
Charry, Eric. 2000. Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of West Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Childs, Terry S. 1993 "Indigenous African Metallurgy: Nature and Culture.” Annual Review of Anthropology 22: 317—337.
Cissé, Youssouf Tata. 1964 "Notes sur les Sociétés de Chasseurs Malinké.” Journal de la Société des Africanistes 34(2): 175—226.
Cissé, Youssouf Tata. 1994. La Confrérie des Chasseurs Malinké et Bambara: Mythes, Rites et Récits lnitiatiques. Paris: Nouvelles du Sud/Arsan.
Conrad, David. 2005. Empires of Medieval West Africa. New York: Facts On File.
Dargie, David. 2005. "Xhosa Overtone Singing.” in The World of South African Music, Christine Lucia, ed. 152—155. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Pub.
Diamitani, Boureima T. 2008 "Observing Komo among Tagwa People in Burkina Faso: A Burkinabe Art Historian's Views.” African Arts 41(3): 14—25.
Durán, Lucy. 1995 "Birds of Wasulu: Freedom of expression and expressions of freedom in the popular music of Southern Mali.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 4(1): 101—134.
Durán, Lucy. 2000 "Women, music and the ''mystique'' of hunters in Mali” in The African Diaspora: A musical perspective, Ingrid Monson, ed. 13—86. New York: Garland Publishing.
Durán, Lucy. 2005 "Nahawa Doumbia — no ordinary woman.” fRoots Magazine, 261: 23—29.
Durán, Lucy. 2007 "Ngaraya: Women and musical mastery in Mali.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 70(3): 569—602.
Fales, Cornelia. 2002 "The Paradox of Timbre.” Ethnomusicology 46(1): 56—95.
Fales, Cornelia and McAdams, Stephen. 1994 "The Fusion and Layering of Noise and Tone: Implications for Timbre in African Instruments.” Leonardo Music Journal 4: 69.
Gell, Alfred. 1998. Art and Agency. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Gell, Alfred and Hirsch, Eric. 1999. The Art of Anthropology. London: Athlone Press.
Greated, Clive. 1994. The Musician's Guide to Acoustics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Helmholtz, Hermann von. 1885 [1954]. On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music. 2nd English edition. New York: Dover Publications.
Herbert, Eugenia, W. 1993. Iron, Gender, and Power: Rituals of Transformation in African societies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Holl, Augustin, F.C. 2009 "Early West African Metallurgies: New Data and Old Orthodoxy.” Journal of World Prehistory 22: 415—438.
Jackson, Anthony. 1968 "Sound and Ritual.” Man 3(2): 293—299.
Jessup, Lynne. 1983. The Mandinka balafon. La Mesa, CA.: Xylo Publications.
Jespers, Philippe. 1995 "Mask and Utterance: The Analysis of an 'Auditory' Mask in the Initiatory Society of the Kòmò. Minyanka, Mali.” in Objects: Signs of Africa, L de Heusch, ed. 37—56. Gent: Snoeck-Ducaju & Zoon.
Junius, Manfred, M. 1974. The Sitar. Wilhelmshaven: Heinrichshofen.
Kubik, Gerhard. 1966 "Ennanga music.” African Music: Journal of the African Music Society 4(1): 21—24. Available: https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v4i1.754.
Kubik, Gerhard. 1985 "African Tone-Systems: A Reassessment.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 17: 31—63.
Kubik, Gerhard. 2000 "Central Africa: An Introduction.” in The Garland handbook of African music, Ruth Stone, ed. 260 — 290. New York: Garland Publishing.
LaGamma, Alisa and John Pemberton. 2000. Art and Oracle. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lamp, Frederick, J. 2004. See the Music, Hear the Dance. Munich: Prestel.
Leach, Andrew. 2006 "Kazoo.” in Encyclopedia of the Blues, E Komara, ed. 560—561. New York: Routledge.
Lifschitz, Edward. 1988 "Hearing is Believing: Acoustic Aspects of Masking in Africa.” in West African Masks and Cultural Systems, SL Kasfir, ed. 221—229. Tervuren, Belgium: Musee Royal de L'Afrique Centrale.
Mack, John. 1994. Masks and the Art of Expression. New York: H.N. Abrams.
Matuire, Perminus. 2009. The Relationship between Mbira Dzavadzimu Modes and Zezuru Ancestral Spirit Possession. MA Thesis: University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1979. Secret Sculptures of Komo. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1982 "The Shirts That Mande Hunters Wear.” African Arts 15(3): 54—91.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1988. The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power, and Art in West Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1991 "Is There History in Horizontal Masks? A Preliminary Response to the Dilemma of Form.” African Arts 24(2): 40—90.
McNaughton, Patrick. 1992 "From Mande Komo to Jukun Akuma: Approaching the Difficult Question of History.” African Arts 25(2): 76—85, 99—100.
McNaughton, Patrick. 2001. "The Power Associations.” in Bamana: The Art of Existence in Mali, J Colleyn, and M Arnoldi, eds. 167—74. New York: Museum for African Art.
O'Brien, Dara. 2014 "The Endless Search for SA: Spiritual Ideology in HindustÄni music”. PhD Dissertation. Cork: University College Cork.
Peek, Philip. 1994 "The Sounds of Silence: Cross-world Communication and the Auditory Arts in African societies.” American Ethnologist 21(3): 474—494.
Praetorius, Michael. 1985 "Syntagma musicum, parts I and II”. De organographia, Volume 2. D Crookes, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Richards, Dona. 1981 "The Nyama of the Blacksmith: The Metaphysical Significance of Metallurgy in Africa.” Journal of Black Studies 12(2): 218—238.
Rothenberg, David. 2013. Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Scholtz, Clarke H. and Mansell, Mervyn W. 2009 "Insect Biodiversity in the Afrotropical Region.” in Insect biodiversity. R Foottit and P Adler, eds. 69—82. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Turino, Thomas. 2015 "The mbira and some general principles of African music.” in Excursions in World Music, Sixth Edition, T Rommen, B Nettl, C Capwell, I Wong, T Turino, P Bohlman, and B Dueck, eds. 201—206. New York: Routledge.
Tyler, James. 2007 "Mixed Ensembles.” in A Performer's Guide to Renaissance Music. J Kite-Powell, ed. 238—249. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Vassilakis, Pantelis N. 2005 "Auditory Roughness as a Means of Musical Expression.” Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology 12: 119—144.
Weisser, Stephanie and Quanten, Maarten. 2011 "Rethinking musical instrument classification: Towards a modular approach to the Hornbostel-Sachs system.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 43: 122—146.
Barrat, Emma and Davis, Nick. 2015 "Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR): A flow-like mental state.” PeerJ 3: e851 [online] Available at: https://doi.org/10.7717/ peerj.851 [Accessed 2 August 2016].
Dargie, David. 2008 "Some recent developments in Xhosa music: Activities of the Ngqoko Traditional Xhosa Music Ensemble, and at the University of Fort Hare.” [online] Available at: http://tranquanghaisworld.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/davedargie-some-recent-developments-in.html [Accessed 7 August 2016].
Durán, Lucy. 2008 "The kora: Tales of a frontier instrument.” World Circuit Records. [online] Available at: http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/15829/1/Toumani_Diabate_The_ Kora_Tales_of_a_Frontier_Instrument.pdf [Accessed 13 August 2017].
Fonte-Navarrete, David. 2011 "File Under "Import”: Musical Distortion, Exoticism, and Authenticité in Congotronics.” [online] Ethnomusicology Review Available at: http://ethnomusicologyreview.ucla.edu/journal/volume/16/piece/460 [Accessed 6 August 2016].
Terhardt, Ernst. 2000 "Auditory roughness”. [online] Available at: http://www.mmk.ei.tum.de/fileadmin/w00bqn/www/Personen/Terhardt/ter/top/roughness.html [Accessed 13 August 2017].
Weisser, Stephanie. 2014. Kenya: L'obokano, lyre des Gusii (Kenya: The Obokano, Lyre of the Gusii). [CD] VDE-GALLO. [Liner notes] 29.
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2017-11-01
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“THE BUZZ AESTHETIC AND MANDE MUSIC: ACOUSTIC MASKS AND THE TECHNOLOGY OF ENCHANTMENT”. 2017. African Music : Journal of the International Library of African Music 10 (3): 95-117. https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v10i3.2198.
