Music Of Sub-Saharan Africa

Front 1

The mbira, karimba, njari, and matepe are all examples of which of the following types of instruments?

Back 1

lamellaphone

Front 2

best describes a bira?

Back 2

ceremony, often lasting all night, at which mbira music and dance call an ancestor to possess his/her medium

Front 3

Call-and-response is one example of which of the following general principles of African music?

Back 3

interlocking

Front 4

Although historically musical practice has been explained more effectively by looking at variations among ethnolinguistic groups, today it makes more sense to consider music as it relates to the various nation-states. The political boundaries are more salient to explaining musical practice than the ethnolinguistic ones.

Back 4

False

Front 5

Yodeling and communally improvised singing are the markers of which ethnolinguistic community?

Back 5

the Pygmies

Front 6

The musical style jùjú, popular from the 1930s to the present, is from which region of Africa?

Back 6

West Africa

Front 7

Which of the following is one of the major stylistic influences on Congolese popular music in the twentieth century?

Back 7

Afro-Cuban musical styles

Front 8

Which of the following is a bridge harp with twenty-one strings and a range of three octaves that is unique to the Mande of West Africa?

Back 8

kora

Front 9

general characteristics of African music

Back 9

buzzy timbres

cyclical forms

interlocking

Front 10

While African societies as a whole make use of a wide variety of instruments, which of the following musical instruments is the most prominent among the majority of African societies?

Back 10

the human voice

Front 11

mbira

Back 11

thumb piano consisting of a wooden board with attached staggered metal tines

Front 12

Although it is known by different names in different places, what is the basic form of the instrument called kontingo among the Mande, tidinit in Mauritania, and halam among the Wolof?

Back 12

West African lute

Front 13

In a kora piece, there are two styles of accompaniment to the singing. Which is the improvised instrumental interludes that break up the repeated ostinato patterns?

Back 13

birimintingo

Front 14

Pygmy ceremony designed to wake the forest from its slumber in order to restore balance to the world?

Back 14

molimo

Front 15

popular musical style in Zimbabwe that is based on dance drumming and informal musical performances in Shona villages?

Back 15

jit

Front 16

describes the major influences on popular music and music-making in the middle of the twentieth century?

Back 16

The move toward independent African nations and the accompanying nationalist energy was the primary force for musical creativity. Popular musicians worked hard to incorporate traditional sounds that celebrated their local cultures.

Front 17

describes the roots of isicathamiya performance?

Back 17

Combining traditional Nguni vocal style with the harmonic structure taught by Christian missionaries, isicathamiya formalized its competition song-dance structure in migrant laborer compounds, where music was the only social outlet.

Front 18

In Mande society the nyamalo class contains people who work professionally with a particular material. This class includes metalsmiths, leather workers, and musicians. What "material" does the jali work with?

Back 18

words

Front 19

From Shona music we can generalize which of the following about the conception of a "piece" of music in African societies?

Back 19

A piece consists of a set of basic resources that may be combined in a variety of ways. These resources include the basic ostinato, the basic melodic motifs and variations, and perhaps a sung melodic line.

Front 20

This popular song (sounds like smooth rhythmic music) builds on which of the following traditional musical styles?

Back 20

Shona mbira music

Front 21

best characterizes the vocal parts in tribal music

Back 21

The leader and chorus engage in call-and-response interlocking parts that form an ostinato integrated into the texture provided by the drums.

Front 22

instrument is accompanying the vocal line

Back 22

kora

Front 23

Of what ethnolinguistic group is this music most likely to be representative from call and respond

Back 23

BaMbuti Pygmies

Front 24

Which of the following is the competition song-dance genre that blends the harmonies taught by missionaries with the slow Zulu choral style?

Back 24

isicathamiya

Front 25

Which of the following is one of the oldest stringed instruments in Africa, examples of which are found in almost every region of the continent?

Back 25

musical bow

Front 26

Which of the following is best described as the most important royal instrumental ensemble of the Buganda kingdom, consisting of twelve tuned drums that could play melodies?

Back 26

entenga

Front 27

Which instrument in an Ewe drum ensemble is responsible for the ostinato that serves as the organizational point of reference for the rest of the instrumental parts?

Back 27

the double-bell, gankogui

Front 28

Which of the following is a repeated melodic or rhythmic pattern that in much African music forms the basis for musical sections and pieces?

Back 28

ostinato

Front 29

What are vocables?

Back 29

rhythmic syllables that have no semantic meaning

Front 30

Which aspect of mbira music demonstrates most clearly the African preference for dense, buzzy textures?

Back 30

the bottle caps attached to the gourd resonator

Front 31

The preference for juxtaposing rhythmic units of two beats with units of three beats is seen most prominently in the relationship between which of the following?

Back 31

the hosho and the mbira

Front 32

Why was the entenga ensemble of the Buganda kingdom destroyed in the mid-1960s, a few years after Uganda gained independence?

Back 32

After Uganda gained independence, the drums were destroyed to signal the destruction of the Buganda kingdom, which was regarded as a threat to the integrity of the nation.

Front 33

In West Africa, what was the primary difference between brass-band highlife music and guitar-band highlife music?

Back 33

Brass-band highlife was played in higher-class establishments, often for foreigners, and guitar-band highlife grew up among the lower classes in the cities.

Front 34

Which of the following best exemplifies the relationship between Pygmy social structures and musical structures?

Back 34

The Pygmies have no hierarchical form of leadership in terms of social structures and musical performances.

Front 35

The predominant form of economic and social organization in precolonial societies in Africa was the hunting-and-gathering model: small, egalitarian, nomadic tribes.

Back 35

False

Front 36

how is Thomas Mapfumo echoing traditional Shona practice in this popular song? (latin/western musical sound)

Back 36

At the end of the repeated vocal line, he uses traditional vocables to echo the lower lines of the mbira part.

Front 37

from the B section of this piece, what is significant about the role of the chorus? (drumming with men chanting rhythmically)

Back 37

It provides the response of a call-and-response texture, but the call is given by the talking drum.

Front 38

talking drum

Back 38

player would squeeze the ropes that bind the heads to the frame to change the tension and thus the pitch. (sounds like two year old playing)

Front 39

musical bow

Back 39

(sounds like hollow drum, much like cheek)

Front 40

gangokui

Back 40

double bell or gong

Front 41

How is the pitch manipulated on the instrument played in this excerpt- Sounds like two year/old banging

Back 41

On this talking drum, the player would squeeze the ropes that bind the heads to the frame to change the tension and thus the pitch.

Front 42

In this excerpt what is the basic role of the bells and the shakers?

Back 42

to establish the basic time cycle and maintain that steady pattern

Front 43

In this excerpt, which style of singing is the jali performing in? (latin/western influence)

Back 43

sataro

Front 44

relationship between the chorus and the leaders/soloists in this excerpt? call and response song

Back 44

The chorus provides an eight-beat ostinato over which one lead singer, and later several, sings higher-pitched descending melodic variations.

Front 45

relationship in this excerpt between the kushaura and the kutsinhira mbira lines? (bells and shaker)

Back 45

The kutsinhira melody is almost identical to the kushaura's but is played approximately a beat behind, doubling the kushaura.

Front 46

Common characteristics of Africa music

Back 46

Interlocking melodies & rhythm

Dense, overlaping textures and buzzy timbreas

Cyclic form

Flexible approaces

Polyrhythm

core and embellished parts

Front 47

Shona culture

Back 47

interlocking and dense overlapping

dense, rich sounds- metrical ambiguity

bira ceremony

twin structure

gradual evolution of music during performance

Front 48

Twin structure of the Shona culture

Back 48

Kushaura and kutsinhira

Front 49

kushaura

Back 49

To lead the piece- first part or lead part

Front 50

kutsinhira

Back 50

To accompany- second part

Front 51

bira ceremony

Back 51

all-night ritual, celebrated by Shona people from Zimbabwe in which members of an extended family call on ancestral spirits for guidance and intercession.

Front 52

hosho

Back 52

Zimbabwean musical instruments consisting of a pair of maranka (mapudzi) gourds with seeds.

Front 53

Mande Society

Back 53

Mande people inhabit various environments, from coastal rainforests to the sparse Sahel and Sahara. They have a wide range of cultures and beliefs, and are organized by language groups.

Front 54

Jali

Back 54

professional musician in Mande society who serves as an oral historian

Front 55

Topics of jali songs

Back 55

history, praise, criticism

Front 56

donkilo tune

Back 56

basic sung melody of Mande jali songs

Front 57

sataro improvisation

Back 57

speech like vocal style performed by Mande jalolu

Front 58

In a kora piece, there are two styles of accompaniment to the singing. Which serves as the foundation?

Back 58

Kumbengo

Front 59

Yoruba culture

Back 59

Southwestern and North central Nigeria

drumming used to call the gods

drums tied to both political and spiritual sources of power

Front 60

Dundun

Back 60

hourglass tension drums

Front 61

Yoruba folk music became perhaps the most prominent kind of what?

Back 61

West African music in Afro-Latin and Caribbean musical styles

Front 62

Central African "Pygmy" people (BaMbuti)

Back 62

music making nonprofessional, largely non-specialized activity

singing involves little text

forest dwelling

Front 63

Pygmy society

Back 63

egalitarianism, consensus, and unity

Front 64

community singing

Back 64

pygmy society

Front 65

Hocket

Back 65

Interlocking pitches between two or more sound sources to create a single melody or part- used in pygmy society

Front 66

Ewe society

Back 66

social clubs: dance clubs - political hierarchy

Age sets important feature of social organization

semi professional musicians - obligations to club members for funerals or recreation- but pay for tourists

Front 67

axatse rattle

Back 67

Gourd shaker

Front 68

Atsimevu, gboba

Back 68

large drum

Front 69

sogo and kidi

Back 69

middle size drums

Front 70

kaganu

Back 70

smallest drum

Front 71

Dance steps of Ewe society

Back 71

polyrhythmic fabric

Front 72

Buganda Kingdom

Back 72

most powerful kingdom in east Africa

Kabaka court center for musical activity

5 side blown trumpets made of bottle shaped gourds

Front 73

Drums in buganda kingdom

Back 73

embody royal authority

Front 74

Akadinda

Back 74

multi player xylophone played by 6 different musicians

Front 75

entenga tuned drums

Back 75

most important royal ensemble-

12 drums graded in size and tuned to local five tone scale