Music in West Africa: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture

by Ruth M. Stone

Music in West Africa is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visit www.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study. Music in West Africa presents fundamental style concepts of West African music using a focused case study of performance in Liberia, West Africa, among the Kpelle people. The book discusses the diversity, motifs, and structure of West African music within the larger patterns of the region's culture, highlighting those aspects of Kpelle music that are common to many other West African traditions. It also describes how music and dance in West Africa are tied to the fabric of everyday social and political life. Kpelle musicians value musical performance where multiple performers each contribute aspects of sound that fit together in elaborate ways. Drawing upon her extensive fieldwork and research, author Ruth Stone―who was raised in the Bong County region of Liberia―centers on key stylistic elements that Kpelle performers articulate and faceting or breaking music into smaller parts, layering tone colors, part-counterpart relationships in musical structures, and time and polyrhythm. She explores fascinating parallels to these analytic themes in the textiles and masks of related arts and in broader cultural practices such as greeting sequences. Music in West Africa is enhanced by eyewitness accounts of local performances, interviews with key performers, and vivid illustrations. Packaged with a 70-minute CD containing examples of the music discussed in the book, it features guided listening and hands-on activities that encourage readers to engage actively and critically with the music.

Genres: Music

Paperback

First published May 29, 2004

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was another book from the Oxford UP Global Music Series and was, unfortunately, the weakest by far. Stone seems to have written the book with the impression that the intended audience was unsophisticated middle school students with a very simple and limited understanding of or experience with the mechanics and performance of music. Thus, not only was the subject matter discussed in overly simple terms, the author also often came off as condescending. This became increasingly irritating as I made my way through the book.
What made this book a true disappointment, though, was the obvious richness of the Stone's subject matter: West African music in general and that of the Kpelle people of Liberia in particular. The examples on the accompanying CD were really great, and quite fascinating. There was a wide variety of instruments, styles, and genres, and the music itself was complex and compelling.

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Global Music series. This book concentrates on the music of the Kpelle people of Liberia. It is short, but one of the more interesting volumes in the series. This is another musical culture of which I had little previous knowledge.

One point I thought was especially interesting is that apparently the men and women take turns running Kpelle society, four years for the men and then three years for the women. I'm surprised this hasn't been more emphasized in all the discussions of matriarchy and so forth.