Transcript Koko: `Yiri` - St Peters Music Department

African music in society
 Rich, colourful and diverse
 Covers 50 different nations, each with their own
musical traditions and language
 Plays an important role, used to express emotions
and feelings
 Part of every social gathering i.e. celebrating the
harvest, birthdays, weddings, funerals, imprtant
meetings.
 Often combined with speech, dance and vibrant
costumes
 Falls into 3 strands - Drumming, Choral music,
instrumental music.
Common features of African music
 Repetition:
 Improvisation:
 Polyphony:
 Call and response:
African Drumming
 Considered the most important instrument
 A means of communication, with certain rhythmic patterns
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meaning different things .e. slow beat could signify a sad
occasion such as a funeral.
Hundreds of drums and names vary between each region.
Most common is the Djembe – a single-headed drum,
made in a range of sizes to produce different pitches
Frequently heard on their own but also in ensembles
Ensemble is made up of a master drummer playing a solo
drum and a set of accompanying drums
Famous group = The Royal Burundi Drummers
Playing techniques
 Hands on the skin – different sounds are made by
opening/closing fingers, using different parts of the
hand etc
 Hands on the wooden edge of the drum
 Using sticks to make short, staccato sounds
 Stretching the drum membrane to produce a range of
pitches
A typical performance
 Master drummer in the centre of the ensemble,
responsible for directing the performance and will
be surrounded by other drummers and
percussionists
 The master drummer will signal to the performers
when he is ready to start, often with a vocal cry
followed by a rhythmic solo to set mood/tempo
 Response is an exact copy or a different rhythm
entirely by the other performers
 Call and response = main feature of tribal music
A typical performance
 Master drummer will signal to the other players
to perform a solo.
 This will be a variation or development of the
original pattern
 A steady, continuous beat is played by the master
drummer, called the timeline. There may be
percussion instruments playing as well.
 The complex rhythms create polyrhythms, often
with stresses that conflict with eachother,
resulting in polyrhythmic texture.
A typical performance
 Piece increases in tension as the piece progresses
 Tempo and dynamics will vary from section to
section to provide interest and variet.
 Master drummer is responsible for controlling the
changes and making sure that the music does not
become too monotonous.
 Some performances can take up to 5 hours or even
longer!
 As well as solo drumming to show off the soloists
skills of improvisation, there is often movement
and dance
African choral singing
 Sub-saharan musical traditions are often centred
around singing
 Believed that it serves as a link to the spiritual world
 Vital part of everyday life, like drumming
 Unites communities, everyone is involved in singing
regardless of ability
 Means of communication - Use of tone like in
language. Melodies and rhythms fit the pitch and
rhythm of the speech to convey correct meaning.
Common Features
 Call and response
 Short, simple, repeated melodies using scales of only 4-7
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notes
Melodies are changed by different singers giving a theme
and variations effect
Performers improvise melodies over the main melody
resulting in polyphonic textures
Music often sung in rounds (i.e. Zulu choral music,
overlapping ever-changing textures).
Harmony varies from tribe to tribe, some only using
octaves and unison, with occasional 5ths, other using lots
of harmony i.e. 3rds and 6ths.
African instrumental music
 Many instruments which vary between regions.
 Instruments are selected according to nature/mood of the music.
 Instrumental music has more complex tuning and is capable of playing
more demanding rhythms and melodies.
 Lots of overlapping of melodies to create polyphonic textures.
 Families of instruments
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Membranophones - With a skin or membrane, like a drum
Aerophone – Using air, a woodwind instrument
Chordophones – String instruments
Idiophones – resonant/solid instruments, this includes the
Balaphone or Xylophone, the most common African instrument.
African instrumental music
Idiophone
Aerophone
Chordophone
Rattle/Shaker
Flutes (Bamboo/Horn)
Zithers
Bells
Ocarinas
Lutes (Kora)
Mbira
Panpipes
Lyres
Xylophone
Horn (From animal
tusks)
Musical Bows
Clap sticks
Trumpet (Wood and
metal)
Slit Gongs
Pipes (Single and double
reed)
Stamping Tubes
Whistle
Body percussion is also used i.e hand clapping and foot stomping, also vocal effects such
as shouting and vocables (eh, ah, oh)
Xylophones (Balaphones)
 Most common african instrument
 Many sizes with a variety of pitches
 Wooden bars on a frame, allowing them to resonate,
using a piece of rubber or dried fruit as a membrane to
help this.
Common features of African
instrumental music
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Repetition (including ostinato)
Improvisation
Cyclic structures
Polyphonic structures
Intertwining melodies
Background to Yiri - Musicians
 Madou Kone – Vocals, Balaphone, Flute
 Sydou Traore – Vocals, Balaphone
 Jacouba Kone – Djembe
 Francois Naba – Vocals, Tam-Tam, dundun, maracas
 Keresse Sanou – Talking Drum
 Tidiane Hema – Vocals, Maracas
Background to Yiri
 From Burkina Faso
 Landlocked nation in West
Africa.
 Surrounded by Mali, Niger,
Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Cote
D’Ivoire
 Renamed by president Thomas
Sankara in 1984
 Burkina = Men of Integrity, Faso
= Father’s House
 Inhabitants are called Burkinabe
Background to Yiri
 Main themes for music from Burkina Faso bring
images of mankind’s greatest battles
 Fight for survival
 Need to look after the environment
 Creation
 Also community celebrations and friendships
Background to Yiri
 There are 3 clear strands in this set work
 The Balaphone ostinati – Combinations produce
complex polyphony
 The Drum ostinati – They play a relentless one-bar
pattern (with only a tiny variation)
 The vocal line – this is a simple pentatonic, call-andresponse structure.
0’00-0’18
 Begins with free tempo
 High balaphone playing an improvised solo at a soft
dynamic
 Sets the scene with a monophonic texture
 Solo is a melody in Gb Major with fast high and low
rolls on every note.
 A simple, repetitive idea.
0’18-0’34
 Moderato established by the first balaphone.
 Second balaphone enters at Bar 9, playing mostly and
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octave below.
Strong sense of Gb Major as the opening notes are Db and
Gb (V-I).
Strong rhythmic basis to the melody, built on 2-bar
phrases.
Second balaphone plays the same melody but with a few
different pitches (see bars 11-12). Makes a heterophonic
texture
Rhythm is mainly semiquavers and quavers with some tied
notes
0’34-1’09
 Large and small talking drum and djembe enter
playing an incessant half=bar ostinati
 Balaphones continue melody
 Lower balaphone plays an ostinato figure in bars 17-20
 Occasional djembe fills in this melody
 Melody has lots of syncopation and octave repetitions
on Gb and Db (I-V)
 From bar 21, melodic phrases are repeated with slight
variation in 2 bar phrases
1’09-2’01
 Chorus A1 = Voices
in unison, short,
simple, repetitive
melody. No
Harmony.
 Followed by a
balaphone break
(solo) with drum
ostinati as before
 Chorus A2 = same
as before mostly
2’01-2’45
 Voices out, lower balaphone break . Some variation on the
melody this time (continuous semiquaver Gb)
 Solo with choral responses. Long held or short punctuated
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notes on ‘Yiri’
Drum ostinati continues
Vocal melody incorporates triplet now (adding variation to
original melody
Lower balaphone plays same ostinati from bar17-20
Voices in unison to call at bar 63.
New melodic riff on balaphone, based on the original.
2’45-3’14
 Solo voice call again, featuring long notes
 Drums continue as before
 Balaphone plays rhythmic 3-note semiquaver melodic
figure, creating cross-rhythms
 Bar 71- another variant of the melody in the vocals
 Triplet figure, syncopation and semiquaver-quaver
rhythms have all been heard already in the piece
3’15-4’31
 Vocal responses from the choir in unison
 Solo voice with varied balaphone rhythms in break
 Instrumental solos continue.New melodies on the
balaphone. Short 3-beat (one bar) rest before next
chorus.
 Chorus B1 = Full choir in unison, singing ‘Yiri’ with
short instrumental interjections to break up the vocal
lines.
4’31- 5’20
 Dialogue effects between voices and instruments
 Instrumental as a balaphone break. Riff with
variations
 This is extended and based on the original melody
with variations
 More virtuosic, rapid figures with octave leaps and
demisemiquaver and semiquaver patterns
5’20-6’24
 Chorus A3 = Full, unison choir with instrumental
interjections
 Instrumental ending played as a balaphone break
 Very syncopated. Drums re-enter at bar 153, one bar
before the coda
6’24-End = Coda
 5, 2-bar phrases
 Mostly in octaves, with dramatic rests by all
instruments
 Strong sense of riff
 Some differences in notes occasionally, creating a
heterophonic texture.
 Drum provides ostinato from Bar 153
 Piece finishes with a final ‘ting’ on a bell