West African Music – Chapter 10 Sample Questions and Topics General Short Answer and Multiple Choice 1. Be familiar with the major artists highlighted in this chapter 2. What are some of the major international popular music styles that have their roots in African musical traditions? 3. Identify some of the musical forms and genres in the Americas that developed from a blend of African, European, and Native American musics? 4. Detail the role of music in communal rituals and ceremonies. 5. List examples of the types of public occasions at which a village chief may make an official appearance. Musical Africanisms Complex polyphonic textures, Layered ostinatos with varied repetition, Conversational element, Improvisation, Timbral variety, Distinctive pitch systems and scales Akan Fontomfrom music: 1. In what way may the drums of this ensemble be used to make specific utterances? 2. What type of “conversations” may occur between different drums in the ensemble? 3. On which type of drum(s) does the group’s leader perform? The jeli and the art of jeliya 1. What roles are played by the griot in West African culture? 2. What is the term for a female jeli? What differentiates the performance roles of male and female jeli? Identify the most revered and famous female jeli. 3. What is the major component of the jeliya’s classic repertoire? 4. Identify other roles in which jelilu have served. World Music Interactions 1. What musical genres and traditions are present (and are syncretized) in the selections on the alum Kulunjan (on which we find “Atlanta Kaire”)? 2. How may Atlanta Kaira be described as representative of West African music traditions? Refer to specific musical Africanisms and how they become manifest in this particular recording. 3. Which characteristics identify Okan Bale as pan-African? 4. Which features of this selection link it to the core values of jeliya? Songs from the World Music CDs CD Track Title Page # CD 1 Track 37 Nyamaropa 196 CD 1 Track 40 Elephant Hunting Song 196 CD 1 Track 44 Xai (Elephants) 197 CD 1 Track 47 Ingculaza (AIDS) 190 CD 2 Track 21 Talking drum 187 CD 2 Track 22 Fontomfrom 190, 195-196 CD 2 Track 23 Njagala Nkwagale 197 CD 2 Track 24 Dounuya 202-204 CD 2 Track 25 Atlanta Kaira 204-209 CD 2 Track 26 Okan Bale 209-213 Songs from the packet are available on Mr. Snelling’s teacher page