Customer Reviews

Music in West Africa: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (Global Music)

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This is an initial impression, after having read this short paperback in the last few hours. First, the various titles in this series (Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture) seem directed at very different audiences with very different levels of musical sophistication, in spite of the uniformity implied by the grouping as a series. The volumes Music in South India (or Music in North India), for instance, could be used with music majors in college, while the present volume and its companion volume Music in East Africa seem more directed at high school students or perhaps college undergrads with more of an anthropological bent. However, that is just to say that different people will write different books, series or not, and the present text is in fact a finely written and informative book. But it is frustrating to find a volume titled Music in West Africa when the text is entirely about the Kpelle in Liberia. It is as if a book titled Music in North America actually only treated music in the south side of Chicago. A more general survey, though such might seem quite unfashionable in the very highly specialized world of ethnomusicology, would be most welcome.

Ruth Stone provides a narrowed and scholarly focus in chapters which consider call and response patterns, layered tones in vocal structures, and underlying polyrhythms, using specific quotes and examples from Liberia's Kpelle performers.
Intended as a case-study volume for college-level users referencing the Global Music Series master volume THINKING MUSICALLY.