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African Music Re-Examined in the Light of New Materials from the Belgian Congo and

Ruanda UrundiAuthor(s): Alan P. MerriamSource: The African Music Society Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 6 (Sep., 1953), pp. 57-64Published by: International Library of African MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30250331

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AfricanMusic Re-examined n the light ofNew Materials Page 57AFRICANMUSIC RE-EXAMINEDN THE LIGHTOFNEWMATERIALSROMTHEBELGIAN ONGOAND RUANDAURUNDI*by ALAN P. MlERRIAMReprintedby kintdpermission..fromAIRE, Vol. VII - 3In recentyearsthe studyof the musicof nonliterate eopleshas begunto be recognized s of considerablemportance othin its own rightand in relationto broaderproblems n musicand anthropology. uch investigation,we realize, can lead in

music to a cognizanceof the enormouspossible range of thematerialswithwhich themusician works, nd in anthropologyto an understanding f culturecontactand culturedynamicsas well as others. This renewed nteresthas led to an upsurgeof activity n the field of comparative musicology, r ethno-musicology, ith consequentmphasison thetraining fyoungscholars n the combinedfieldsof anthropologynd music. Itis this nterest,oo,whichpromptedhe research n theBelgianCongo and Ruanda Urundi upon which the present study isbased (1).While hedefinitiveesults fthisfieldworkcannot, fcourse,as yetbe anticipated, t does not seem too early to state thatour ideas and impressions fAfricanmusicseemdue fora re-examination,rperhaps rebalancing" s a better erm.Bythismean to indicate that those of us who are concernedwiththestudyof Africanmusichave oftentendedto emphasizecertainof itsaspectsto thevirtualexclusion fother, qually mportantaspects, nd thatwe have exploited nlythose facetsofAfricanmusicwhich complement esearchproblems n whichwe are

* This paper was presentedat the meetingsof the AmericanAnthropo-logical Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,on December 29th, 1952.Gratefulacknowledgements made to the Belgian American EducationalFoundation and the Wenner-GrenFoundation which provided financialsupport for the research program, and the Institut pour la RechercheScientifiqueen Afrique Centrale whichgave its close co-operation n theCongo.(1) The researchperiodbegan witha brief nvestigation f themusicofthe Bashi on the western horeof Lake Kivu, and continued n Ruanda andUrundi over approximatelyfivemonths.Time was then spent with theBambuti in the Ituri Forest and the Bahema near Lake Albert. The finalperiod,a month n duration,was devotedto a concentrated tudy of themusic of the Ekonda near Lakes Tumba and Leopold II. Further travelsbroughtcontact with the Manglbetu,Lugware, Wagenia and [Bishongo;although recordingwas not carried out withthesepeople, numerousoppor-tunitieswere foundto hear and make note of theirmusic. A considerablepart of thehuge Congo land mass was thus covered, nd a notablevarietyof musical styles encountered.

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Page 58 AfricanMusic SocietyNewsletterspecifically,nterested.This is particularly rueof the studyofthemusicof WestAfrica,and the resultshave had a strikinginfluence n our conceptsof African music as a whole.It seemsproper, hen, hatwe examine hisnew materialfromthe Belgian Congo, not as it applies to specificproblemsofresearch,but as to the overallpatternswhich t (lemonstrates,beforewe become ost in the finerpointswhichwill inevitablydistort urperspective.To do this,however,we mustfirstmakesome brief nquiry ntothemusicof Africa as a whole,forpaststudies have had a considerable nfluence n the conceptsofAfricanmusicpresentlyheld by both scholarsand laymen.Incredible s it seems, t mayalmostbe flatly tated thatwehave no well-roundednformation boutthemusicof anyAfri-can culture rea (2) save theGuineaCoast. As far as theCongois concerned,whilea rather urprising umber farticlesonthemusicof tspeopleshas appeared ndiverse ources, xaminationreveals thatmostofthemdeal in vaguegeneralitieswhich eavetheethnomusicologistith ittle f anydirect nformationboutthemusic and musicalstyles. Unfortunately,hemajority eemeither obe romanticisedccountswhichrhapsodize n the beau-ties of themusic, r rather olemndiscussionswhichdeclarethat"the music of Congo is functional";the first s fatuous,thesecondobvious. On theotherhand,thereare a veryfewworkswhichdeal directlywiththemusical nstruments f Congo,anda smallgroupwhichgive some dea ofthe music tself.For otherpartsofAfricathepicture s considerably righter;we have,forexample.Tracey'sexcellentworkwiththemusicoftheChopi nsoutheastern frica ('), Jones' ntheRhodesias(4),and thatofscattered cholarsonBritishEast Africa (5), as wellas others (6). Nowhere,however, ave for the Guinea Coast,

(2) M. J. Herskovits, "A PreliminaryConsiderationof the CultureAreas of Africa", AmericanAnthropologist, XVI, 50-63.(3) Hugh Tracey,ChopiMusicians; TheirMusic,Poetryand Instruments(London: OxfordUniversityPress, 1948), 180 pp.(4) A. M. Jones, AfricanMusic in NorthernRhodesia and Some Othe,Places (Livingstone: Rhodes-ILivingstone useum, 1949), 78 pp.(5) Marius Schneider, "Gestinge aus Uganda", Archiv firi M'usik-forschung,I (1937), 185-242.(6) See, for example, the work of Percival Kirby in South Africa,HerbertPepper in French Equatorial Africa,K. P. Wachsman in Uganda.Bibliographies of African music may be found in: Douglas H. Varley,African Native Music; .4n Annotated Bibliography (London: The RoyalEmpire Society, 1936), 116 pp., and Alan P. Merriam, "An AnnotatedBibliographyof African and African-Derived Music since 1936", Africa,XXI (Oct., 1951), 319-29.

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African,Music Re-examined n the lightofNew Materials Page 59has a cohesivepatternbased on strictlymusicalcharacteristicsbeen attemptedfor a culture area.

This workhas beencarriedoutbyDr. RichardA. Watermanof Northwestern niversityn theUnitedStates; in it he haslistedlive otiitstanldiingmusicalharacteristics f the Guiinea(Coastarea as follows: "the metronome ense, dominanceofpercussion, olymeter,ff-beathrasingof melodic ccents, ndoverlapping all-and-responseattern" (7). We have, then,forthis African ulture rea a definite et ofmusicalcharacteristicswhich urvives bservation nd testing. t cannotbe emphasizedtoooften hatthisis theonlysuch set of criteriawe have. It isevident lso thatour bestavailable recorded ollections overingthe widestareas are of the music of the Guinea Coast; whileother ollections, orexample, hatgatheredbyTraceyand filedin SouthAfrica, re also extant heyhave notyetbecomewidelyknownnorbeen the subjectof exhaustive nalysis. Thus mostof the studyof Africanmusicmust be projectedagainst theseinvestigations romWest Africa.

Let us turnnow to a surveyof Congo music. Four majorpoints seem outstanding n the music of Congo and RuandaUrundiwhenviewed n broadestperspective.These are: a lackofspecificmphasison percussion; n enormous ariety fmus-ical instrumentsnd musicalstyles;a heavy nfluence rom heArabicworld; and a considerable mountof current hangeinprocess (8).Certainly hefirst f these- a lack of specific mphasisonpercussion is most urprisingnviewofthefactthatourstud-ies of Africanmusichave consistentlyed us to discussion ofpercussion nstrumentsnd their rhythms.This emphasis, tseemsclear,has developedfrom hree ources. n thefirst lace,theliterature n themusicofAfrica,particularlyWestAfrica,has almostalways concernedtselfwithdrumsand drumming,beginningwith the early volumesof travellersand explorers.The reasons forthisare notobscure, or n its use ofpercussioninstrumentsnd complex hythmss a basis fora musical diom,(7) Richard A. Waterman,"African InavYuence,)ntheMusic of theAwI;.e-ricas", in Sol Tax, Acculturation n theAmericas (Chicago: UniversityofChicago Press, 1952; Vol. II, Proceedingsof the 29th InternationalCon-gress of Americanists), pp. 207-18.(8) It mustbe emphasizedthatthese "characteristics"do notnecessarilyapply to every regional or tribal style. They are, rather,generalizationsbased on the author's experienceand must be treated flexibly ather thanas immutablemusical laws.

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Page 60 AfricanMusic SocietyNewsletterinstead of harmonyas in the Westernworld,West Africanmusicdiffersmostmarkedly rom heEuropeanmusicalconceptalthough he basic idea ofdrummings common o bothculturesand thusprovides ome familiargroundforcomparison.Again,the idea of the "talkingdrum" complex s a fascinatingonewhichappeals deeplyto the imagination; nd finally,he splen-diddrummingobe heard npartsofAfricamusthave stoodoutsharplyforthe earlytraveller s it does today.This emphasisin the literatureon drums and drumming as tendedto per-petuate tself nce begun. n the secondplace,American nthro-pologistswhose nterest ies in African tudiesand especially nthe influence fAfricaupontheNegroin theNew World,havefor the mostpart concentrated heir studiesupon the GuineaCoast ofAfrica, nd this s certainlyhe mostoutstandinginglearea in terms ftheuse ofpercussionn complexform.The em-phasis on West Africa in connection, specially,with Afro-Americanstudies, s quite understandable, ut it seems clearlyto have distortedour overall pictureof the music of Africa.Finally,the anthropologists,nd ethnomusicologistsy exten-sion,have tendedto emphasizereligiousbehaviour nd the cul-turalfocus (9) ofWestAfrica,and it is in thiscultural spectthatmusic, nd thuspercussionnstruments,lays itsmost m-portantpart; indeed,drumsthemselves ftenhave great sig-nificance n thetotalreligiouspattern.With thisresumeoftheemphasison percussion n themusicof the Guinea Coast, it would be well to comparebriefly hemusic of Congowiththe fivepointspostulatedby Waterman,noting t the same timethatof thesefivepointsno fewerthanfourare directly oncernedwithpercussionnstrumentsnd therhythmicmphasisproducedthrough heir use. The call-and-response pattern,not a rhythmic attern n the conventionalsense of theterm,s fully s strongntheCongoas it is inWestAfrica. As to thedominance f percussion,t is firstmportantto clarifywhat is to be includedunderthe headingof "per-cussion". In speakingoftheGuineaCoast,Waterman nd mostothershave emphasized"drums,rattles,and gongs", as wellas "thepercussive ffect fhandclapping" 1o). In theseterms,

(9) Melville J. Herskovits,Mantand His Works (New York: AlfredA. Knopf,1948), pp. 542-60.(10) Richard A. Waterman, "Laboratory Notes oio Tribal, Folk andCafe Music of West Africa",in ArthurS. Alberts, (Ed), Tribal,Folk andCafi Music of West Africa (New York: Field Recordings,Cover Notes,1950), p. 5.

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AfricanMusic Re-examined n the lightofNew Materials Page 61themusicof thegroupsstudied n Congocannotbe said to bedominated ypercussion, ut if on the otherhand we include nthepercussion nyinstruments hich re "struck, lucked, ub-bed, shaken,beaten and stroked", Congo music comes muchcloser othe West Africannorm.However, t mustbe notedthatthe emphasisplaced on percussion nstruments f the GuineaCoast is made in termsof drums,rattlesand gongs,while thevarious stringed nstruments,or example,which come undertherubricsof "plucked,rubbed,beatenand stroked", re gene-rallyleft out of consideration.

1'olymeters presentnthemusicoftheCongogroupsstudied,but ts importances mimimaln comparisonwiththefrequencyof use of this device in WestAfricanmusic.Off-beat hrasingofmelodic ccentsand the use of themetronomeense are alsopresent lthough gain in strength owherenear comparable othat in the GuineaCoast.We see, then,that a comparisonbetweenthe music of theGuinea Coast and Congoyieldsfruitful,lthoughnegativere-sults. Onlyone characteristic,he call-and-responseattern, sof approximate qual intensityn bothareas, whilethe use ofpolymeter,ff-beathrasing, nd thepresence fthemetronomesenseare weaker ntheCongoarea, anddominance fpercussionin termsof its definitionimplydoes not apply.The second"characteristic" f Congomusic the enormousvarietyof musical instrumentsnd musical styles- becomesespecially trikingwhenprojectedagainst the emphasisplacedon drums nd drummingn themusicofWestAfrica.While tis clearthat a notablevarietyofmusical nstrumentsnd stylesis similarly o be found n WestAfrica,this has been to somedegree ublimated ywriters n favourofthepercussion.FromCongo,musical instrumentsf all kindsmay be noted, nstru-ments uiteas importantntheirplacesas are drums.The eight-stringedharp,knownvariously s lulanga, unangaand inanga,is found n a considerable rea oftheKivu,Ruanda and Urundi,nottomentiontswidedistributionn East Africa.The nzenze,a two-stringednstrument tilizingthreefingerfrets is usedbytheBashi peopleoftheKivu as well as theEkonda of LakeTumba n theEquatorial Province;in thelattercase it is callednjenjo. Again this nstruments found hroughoutast Africa.Themusicalbowhas a widedistributionn easternCongoas hasthendingiti,riningiri, single-stringednstrumentlayedwith

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Page.62 AfricanMusic SocictyNewslettera bow.Flutesare foundextensivelyn Congo,rangingfrom hemulizi of theBashi, in whichextraordinary emandsare madeuponthemusicianship f theperformer,othesimplewhistleoftheBambuti. The likembe, nown s the sanza in WestAfrica,is present lmosteverywhere,nd further ariety ouldbe citedat considerable ength.As tomusicalstyles, herange s fully s great.The Abatutsi,Bahutuand Batwa, livingtogethern Ruanda and Urundi, achhave theirown distinctmusicalstyle.The Bambuti of the IturiForest exhibit complexityf stylewhich utilizesan involvedhocketing, r durchbrochene bbeit,as its basis and whichisquite differentrom the three groups mentioned bove. TheEkonda peopleshow a mastery fharmony eldomduplicated nAfrica, s well as complexpartsinging.Andthisis notto men-tionthe widevarietyof stylesto be foundwithin ach of thesegroups,singingas contrastedwith the variousmusical instru-ments, orexample.Surelyoneof themost mpressive haracter-isticsof the music of Congowhen takenas a wholeis the im-mense varietyexhibited not only among the various ethnicgroups,butwithin ach groupas well.Again the contrastwiththe emphasisplaced on drums and drummingn the studyofthe music of the Guinea Coast is striking.The third "characteristic" f the music of Congo- the in-fluence f Arabicmusicalpatterns-is fully s impressive s thefirst wo. Here again it should be pointedout that themusic ofthe Guinea Coast is also heavily nfluenced romthe north; inthiscase,the nfluence as received omedetailed ttention romethnomusicologists.n theCongo, s inWestAfrica,bothmusicalinstrumentsnd musical styleshave been borrowedfromtheArabic world.Of the former, he ndingiti s perhapsthe out-standingexample; this single-stringediolinis clearlya modi-fiedversionof the Arabicrebec. n thequestionofmusicalstyle,attentionmust mmediatelye drawn to theAbatutsiofRuandawho, in theirmigrationprobablyfromEthiopia some fourtofive hundredyears ago, broughtwith themdistinctlyArabic-derivedforms n their traditionalmusic.These influenceshowthemselvesn a number fways, ncluding heuse ofa hummedintroduction hich sets thegeneralmodality orthemusicandtextwhichfollow, learlyakin to theArabicmaqam. The styleofvoiceproduction,rnamentationfmelodic ine,generalmelo-dic characteristics,nd the use of intervalssmaller than halftonesall suggestArabic nfluence.t is interestingonote, t the

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AfricanMusic Re-examined n thelightofNew Materials Page 63sametime, hatalthough heAbatutsihave lived n closecontactwithboth heBahutuand Batwa peoplesfora considerable ime,the two lattergroups have remainedrelativelyunaffected yArabicstyles, ontinuingo singand playmusicmorecharacter-isticof the Congo Negroidpeoples.Arabic musical influencesre by no means restricted o theAbatutsi.The Bahema,forexample, ing in a styleclosely kinto the WesternArabic; musical instruments f Arabic prove-nance are widelydistributedhroughouthe tribes of northernCongo,and even into some of the more centraland southernareas. It is clear that in studying he music of the northernportionsof the Belgian Congo and particularlyRuanda, thecthnomusicologist ust have a well-definedackground n themusic of the Arabic world.

Of considerable nterest o the ethnomusicologists the vastamountof change whichhas been takingplace and which iscontinuingt a rapidrate.Perhapstheforemostnfluencenstru-mental n makingchange in the past has been the missionarywho, hrough is effortso destroy ndigenous eligiouspatternshas also invalidated largebodyofmusic.Moreand moreCon-golesetodayare learningEuropeantraditions f hymn inging,to theextent hatcasual and informal inging n thehomeor inthefields ftentendsto be expressed n this form.Whilemissionarynfluenceontinues o be an important on-tributor o changingmusical forms, t is probablythe phono-graph and radio whichare at presentmost influentialn theprocesses fchange. t is through hese mediaofcommunicationthattheguitarhas emergedwithever-increasingopularitynrecentyears and thattherumbaand samba are fast becominghighlypopularmusical forms.There have been at least threemajor commercialrecordingfirmsestablished n Leopoldvillewhose librariesare aimed directly owardthe modernpopularAfricanmarket.At least one ofthesefirms ad a master ist ofover six thousand tems a year and a halfago, ofwhichonlyaminority epresentedraditionalCongomusic. A startlingnum-ber ofCongoleseownportablemechanicalphonographs,nd re-cordings fthismodern juke box"musicare available in almostall African hops.The changingpatterns fmusic n theCongoreflectherapid changesto be seen in almostall aspects of in-digenous ulture, nd provide heethnomusicologistitha widenew fieldforacculturation tudies.

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Page 64 AfricanMusic SocietyNewsletterIt must be emphasizedhere thatwe are speakingabout thegeneralcharacteristicsfthe musicof interiorCongo.We have

good reason to believethat the music of the coastal area, theMayombe,resembles n muchgreaterdetail the music of theGuineaCoast.Further,t seemsfairly learthatfrom hiscoas-tal area there tretches belt ofpeopleswhose nterestn drumsand drummings fairlyhighbut diminishes s one penetratesfarther nd farthernto the interior 11). Andfinally,here arescattered hroughouthe Congocertainethnicgroups n whosemusicdrums nddrummingeemtoplayan important art (12).At the same time, t mustbe pointedout that nowheredid thepresent uthor finddrumming evelopedto anywherenear thecomplexitys it is commonlyound long the Guinea Coast.The major points presentedheremustnot,of course,he toorigidlynterpreted. o say thatthere s no emphasison percus-sion,thatthemusicof Congopresentsno unity, r thatArabicmusicis the singledomination actor,wouldbe not onlygrossmisrepresentationut foolishas well. At the same time thesebroadcharacteristics,oupledwiththerapidchanges n musicalform urrentlyakingplace, present view of Congomusic notin directaccordwiththegenerally ccepted pictureof Africanmusicwhich, s has beenpointedout,has been derived n greatpart fromthe studyof the music of hte Guinea Coast. A re-examination f deas in which heArabicinfluence s well as theenormousvarietyof musical instrumentsnd stylesare moreproperly quatedwith therhythmicechniqueswhichhave beenemphasized n htepast will certainly id the ethnomusicologistin achievinga finerbalance in his understanding f Africanmusicas a whole.

(11) This contention eems to have been borne out by the inclusionofexamples of Bambala drumming n the record album, Folk Music of theWesternCongo, P. 427, issued by Ethnic Folkways Library in New York.(12) For example, the Bushongo, Mangbetu and, in certain ways, theWagenia.