Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa

by Eric Charry

With Mande Music, Eric Charry offers the most comprehensive source available on one of Africa's richest and most sophisticated music cultures. Using resources as disparate as early Arabic travel accounts, oral histories, and archival research as well as his own extensive studies in Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and the Gambia, Charry traces this music culture from its origins in the thirteenth-century Mali empire to the recording studios of Paris and New York. He focuses on the four major spheres of Mande music—hunter's music, music of the jelis or griots, jembe and other drumming, and guitar-based modern music—exploring how each evolved, the types of instruments used, the major artists, and how each sphere relates to the others. With its maps, illustrations, and musical transcriptions as well as an exhaustive bibliography, discography, and videography, this book is essential reading for those seeking an in-depth look at one of the most exciting, innovative, and deep-rooted phenomena on the world music scene. A compact disc is available separately.

Genres: Music

500 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't say I read this cover-to-cover as there are parts that are more for a musicologist or musician with an interest in playing traditional African instruments (the author studied the Kora with masters).

The most interesting sections to me were the discussion about the differences and similarities between the peoples of West Africa (how they obviously don't follow the national borders); the parts about Griot culture; and the parts about the move from traditional to modern African styles. Lots of my favorite music from that part of the world was covered (Rail Band, Bembeya National, the Regional Bands of Mali etc.) and there was a pretty detailed Syliphone Records discography...which was nice.