The aim of this book is to stimulate debate by offering a critique of discourse about African music. Who writes about African music, how, and why? What assumptions and prejudices influence the presentation of ethnographic data? Even the term "African music" suggests there is an agreed-upon meaning, but African music signifies differently to different people. This book also poses the question then, "What is African music?" Agawu offers a new and provocative look at the history of African music scholarship that will resonate with students of ethnomusicology and post-colonial studies. He offers an alternative "Afro-centric" means of understanding African music, and in doing so, illuminates a different mode of creativity beyond the usual provenance of Western criticism. This book will undoubtedly inspire heated debate--and new thinking--among musicologists, cultural theorists, and post-colonial thinkers. Also includes 15 musical examples.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
presents a new way to think about African music. . . . obligatory reading. -- Grant Olwage, South African Journal of Musicology
few books in recent years have pursued a more ambitious agenda. . .without any doubt the most powerful theoretical intervention in African musicology in a decade or more. . . by a long stretch, one of the most edgy and stylish pieces of writing on the politics of culture in postcolonial Africa to have appeared of late. -- Veit Erlmann, Music Theory Spectrum
strikingly original.. upset[s] applecarts of convention and dispassionate prose. . . engag[es] readers in thorough, lively, critical debate about African music and Africanist musical scholarship. . .will be required reading for students of ethnomusicology, music theory, and historical musicology for some time. -- Gabriel Solis, Notes
At times frankly informative, at times darkly ironic, and at times passionately earnest, Representing African Music reads like a resource text, satire, and manifesto all at once...[offers a] trenchant critique of otherwise neutral-seeming representations of African music.. makes many daring statements and reaches a series of alarming conclusions...Those in search of a genuinely global musical discourse...could do much worse than begin their quest by reading Agawu's Representing African Music. His is the unmistakable voice of authentic hope. -- Martin Scherzinger, Current Musicology
unfailingly intelligent, well informed, and closely argued . . .lucidly and elegantly written. . .stimulating and provocative. . provides an African outlook on controversies that have been primarily covered by scholars in Europe and the United States. . .filled with incisive observations. -- Richard M. Shain, International Journal of African Historical Studies
This is a strikingly original book, promising to shed new light both on music from across the African continent, and on the history of Africanist musical discourse. Upsetting apple carts of conventionand dispassionate prose, this book, while sure to elicit controversy from virtually all corners of contemporary American musical scholarship, should be required reading not only for African music theorists, and historical musicologist with an interest in the politics of representation.
Kofi Agawu's Representing African Music does an excellent job of engaging readers in a thorough, lively, critical debate about African music and Africanist musical scholarship. -- Gabriel Solis, University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign,Notes
few books in recent years have pursued a more ambitious agenda. . .without any doubt the most powerful theoretical intervention in African musicology in a decade or more. . . by a long stretch, one of the most edgy and stylish pieces of writing on the politics of culture in postcolonial Africa to have appeared of late. -- Veit Erlmann, Music Theory Spectrum
strikingly original.. upset[s] applecarts of convention and dispassionate prose. . . engag[es] readers in thorough, lively, critical debate about African music and Africanist musical scholarship. . .will be required reading for students of ethnomusicology, music theory, and historical musicology for some time. -- Gabriel Solis, Notes
At times frankly informative, at times darkly ironic, and at times passionately earnest, Representing African Music reads like a resource text, satire, and manifesto all at once...[offers a] trenchant critique of otherwise neutral-seeming representations of African music.. makes many daring statements and reaches a series of alarming conclusions...Those in search of a genuinely global musical discourse...could do much worse than begin their quest by reading Agawu's Representing African Music. His is the unmistakable voice of authentic hope. -- Martin Scherzinger, Current Musicology
unfailingly intelligent, well informed, and closely argued . . .lucidly and elegantly written. . .stimulating and provocative. . provides an African outlook on controversies that have been primarily covered by scholars in Europe and the United States. . .filled with incisive observations. -- Richard M. Shain, International Journal of African Historical Studies
This is a strikingly original book, promising to shed new light both on music from across the African continent, and on the history of Africanist musical discourse. Upsetting apple carts of conventionand dispassionate prose, this book, while sure to elicit controversy from virtually all corners of contemporary American musical scholarship, should be required reading not only for African music theorists, and historical musicologist with an interest in the politics of representation.
Kofi Agawu's Representing African Music does an excellent job of engaging readers in a thorough, lively, critical debate about African music and Africanist musical scholarship. -- Gabriel Solis, University of Illinois,Urbana-Champaign,Notes
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
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Representing African Music,
By American Ssebo "Ssebo" (Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions (Paperback)
This text offers a well-informed critique of current post-colonial theory surrounding representations of Africa and African Music. It is a fantastic theoretical and bibliographical resource for the serious student of African Music.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
In the early 1400s, Portugal, a relatively small and not particularly well-endowed European nation, sent groups of explorers along the West African coast in search of opportunities to trade and to spread the Christian religion. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
multipart singing, highlife songs, additive rhythm, metropolitan scholars, beauty approaching, main beats, support drums, dance mode, music analysis, comparative musicology, staff notation, music theorists, signal mode, speech mode, cross rhythm, master drummer Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Grove, United States, David Locke, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Simha Arom, Gold Coast, John Chernoff, Rose Brandel, South Africa, Abena Serwah, African Negro Music, Desmond Tay, Gerhard Kubik, John Blacking, Mark Slobin, Nana Ntiamoah, Sierra Leone, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Francis Bebey, Kwabena Nketia, Meki Nzewi, Middle East, New World, Seize the Dance New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In the early 1400s, Portugal, a relatively small and not particularly well-endowed European nation, sent groups of explorers along the West African coast in search of opportunities to trade and to spread the Christian religion. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
multipart singing, highlife songs, additive rhythm, metropolitan scholars, beauty approaching, main beats, support drums, dance mode, music analysis, comparative musicology, staff notation, music theorists, signal mode, speech mode, cross rhythm, master drummer Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Grove, United States, David Locke, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Simha Arom, Gold Coast, John Chernoff, Rose Brandel, South Africa, Abena Serwah, African Negro Music, Desmond Tay, Gerhard Kubik, John Blacking, Mark Slobin, Nana Ntiamoah, Sierra Leone, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Francis Bebey, Kwabena Nketia, Meki Nzewi, Middle East, New World, Seize the Dance New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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20
books
cite this book:
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- Studies in African Music (2 Volumes) by A. M. Jones on 10 pages
- Dictionary Of Music And Musicians (9 Volumes)) (Music Book Index) by Sir George Grove on 9 pages
- New Grove Dictionary by Sadie on 7 pages
- Popular Music by Richard Middleton on 5 pages
- Akin Euba (Bayreuth African studies series) by Joshua Uzoigwe on 4 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- Interpreting Popular Music by David Brackett in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Arrest the Music!: Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics (African Expressive Cultures) by Tejumola Olaniyan in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Echoes of History: Naxi Music in Modern China by Helen Rees on page 23, and Back Matter
- World Music: The Basics by Richard O. Nidel in Back Matter
- Performing Africa by Paulla A. Ebron in Back Matter
See all 20 books citing this book
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