I spent about a year-and-a-half working through 'African Polyphony and Polyrhythm' (by Simha Arom), practicing and recording the musical examples myself. There might be some confusion as to why the original recordings were not included with the book, the reason being, that the original multitrack tapes required expert interpretation (involving interaction with the Aka people themselves) to form the necessary sets and models from parts analysed individually and then in combination. This involved 'parsing' the recorded material, rather than simply reproducing it in score. However, there was a CD-ROM published in French as "Pygmées Aka, Peuple et Musique", which contained audio examples and even an interactive sequencer allowing the user to recombine recorded fragments to form various versions of selected Aka formulae. I managed to acquire a copy with great difficulty, as this is no longer on sale due to the (now) almost obsolete format. Although it is interesting to hear the isolated parts performed by the Aka themselves, it is important to remember that even the Aka do not hear their own parts in isolation but only as part of an interwoven polyphony. One obvious criticism is the (seemingly inexplicable) absence of any in-depth discussion on vocal music, although it is explained how songs rather ingeniously form the melodic basis of horn hocket models.
ERRATA: I have found a few errors in the English translation of book VI. Those that might cause a few problems arise in the chapter `Strict Polyrhythmics'. (#1} At the top of page 248 (i.e. `the principle of inserting binary quantities into configurations bound by ternary quantities') there are, strictly speaking, three possible ways to correct the paradigmatic representation. Either the `24 minimal values' should read: `20 minimal values', or the corresponding values should read: |3.|2.2.2.2 |3.|2.2.2.2.2 to account for 24 minimal values. Alternatively, a fifth row could be inserted to include both 20 and 24 minimal values. However, since the former (20) does not apply to Central African rhythmics, I suggest it should be corrected to account for 24 minimal values. (#2} From page 272, the part of the gàsà drum for the Yasmàlé dance is (probably) inventoried in ex.82 not ex.80, so the inventory for the agoa dance is likely to be ex.80 (and certainly not ex.81 as stated, which shows `all the realisations in the first pulse of the initial figure' extracted from both the Yamàlé and agoa dances). The reason I make this assumption is that the gàsà drum variations for the agoa dance are inventoried again on page 641, this time corresponding to ex.80 not ex.82, which is less likely to be in error. (#3) On Page 284, ex.98, the first kpòlò part should have dotted quavers and not dotted crotchets. (#4} On Page 297, ex.120, the clap at position 21 should be at position 22 to reflect the isochronous handclaps in the (middle) part. (Incidentally, the polyrhythmic substructure of this rite is said to have 'hemiola-like' interweaving, when in fact there is literally a hemiola relationship between the accents of mo.kongo and the durations of the iron stips part at the beginning of each 'hemistich'.) (#5} On page 305, ex.129, the ngué part of the mò.kóndi model is incorrect. The attacks should occur at positions 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 20, 21, and 22. (#6} In `The association of Polyphony and Polyrhythmics' chapter on page 636, the box representing the period of the `song and harp' in the diagram of fig.7 is too short, and should be extended to correspond to two periods of the `Double bell 2' and four periods of `Double bell 1', since it stands at a ratio of 2:1 and 4:1 with these parts respectively.
José A. Sotorrio
ISBN-13:
978-0521616010
ISBN-10:
0521616018
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club?
Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
-
Apple
-
Android
-
Windows Phone
-
Android
To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Customers who bought this item also bought
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Videos
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Customer reviews
Top reviews from other countries
Mr. Jose A. Sotorrio
Review and Errata
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2011Verified Purchase
Charles Berahas
Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2015Verified Purchase
giorgio gregori
monumentale
Reviewed in Italy on June 24, 2020Verified Purchase
Client d'Amazon
intéressant
Reviewed in France on March 6, 2016Verified Purchase
