British Forum for Ethnomusicology

Review: [untitled]
Author(s): Lara Allen
Reviewed work(s):
Mashindano! Competitive Music Performance in East Africa by Frank Gunderson ;
Gregory F. Barz
Source: British Journal of Ethnomusicology, Vol. 10, No. 1, Music and Meaning (2001), pp. 137
-139
Published by: British Forum for Ethnomusicology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3060782
Accessed: 06/01/2009 20:06
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REV IEWS 137
FRANK GUNDERSON AND GREGORY
F. BARZ (eds) Mashindano! Com-
petitive
music
performance
in East
Africa.
Forward
by
Terence
Ranger.
Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na
Nyota
Publishers, 2000. xii +
468pp.,
map, figures,
works cited, index.
ISBN 9976-973-82-9
(pb.
?26.95;
$44.95).
An
important
contribution to the literature
on East African music and dance, this vol-
ume consists of 19
locally
situated case
studies, generally focusing
on a
single
style
or
genre
and framed
by
an editorial
introduction and
epilogue. Many
articles
address issues raised
by
the
approaches
and
assumptions
of earlier research
(Cory,
1947; Jones, 1945; Lambert, 1962/3;
Mitchell,
1956), particularly
the seminal
work Dance and
society
in eastern
Africa
by
Terence
Ranger (1975),
who
provides
a
lively
forward to this volume. From
Africa and Euro-America, the contribu-
tors
present
a wide
range
of
disciplinary
and theoretical
approaches:
historical
investigations
are balanced
by synchronic
studies characterized
by participant
obser-
vation; chronological
historical accounts,
detailed
ethnographic
and
musicological
descriptions
and
analyses
exist
alongside
work that
engages
in
gender, post-colo-
nial and "new
theory"
debates.
Although
Tanzania receives the most attention,
music and dance from
Kenya, Malawi,
Uganda
and northern
Mozambique
are
also considered. A small
political map
of
East Africa is
provided, although
a more
detailed
presentation
of the areas on
which each article focuses would have
further facilitated the
ability
of readers to
contextualize the studies in relation to
each other.
The
styles
of music discussed
range
from rural dance forms similar to their
pre-colonial predecessors
to
contempo-
rary popular
music such as Muziki wa
Dansi
(dance music) and KiSwahili
rap.
The volume most
usefully
elucidates con-
fusion in the literature over definitions of
umbrella terms such as taraab and
ngoma
by providing
a number of
precise
defini-
tions of these
genres
and their offshoots
as understood
locally by
individuals and
groups, exposing
the
slippages
and dis-
crepancies
that have
developed
over time
and across
space.
Gunderson
(11) pro-
vides a broad
description
of taraab as "a
secular music
genre
of
sung poetry
with
instrumental
accompaniment performed
throughout
the Islamic East African coast
at
weddings
and other festivities"; ngoma
may
be understood as a
drumming, song
and dance event, either in the form of a
competition
between two
groups
for
entertainment or for the ritual
purposes
of
instruction, healing
or
religious
affirma-
tion. While the term
ngoma
includes
surviving competitive
dances from
pre-
colonial times, the focus in this volume is
on
beni-style ngoma:
a
syncretic
form
most
popular during
the first half of the
20th
century
characterized
by military
drill-influenced
choreography,
a
hierarchy
of officers with elaborate ranks, uniforms
and titles, and
rhyming sung
commen-
taries about current affairs
(Ranger,
1975:5). Generally sung
in KiSwahili,
beni started
along
the East African coast.
Inland variants such as
malipenga,
mganda
and its women's version chihoda,
usually
in
indigenous languages
other
than KiSwahili, are
argued by
some
scholars to have
developed
in Malawi
independently
from beni
(Gilman:
324-6).
The
principal
theme
running through
this volume is
competition,
for com-
petitive performance
is a fundamental
organizing principal
in much East
African music.
Long-term competitive
pairings
are
frequently
formed between
artists or
groups
who
develop
a
"joking
relationship" (utani) expressed
in
song
duels that include
self-praise
and criti-
cism, even insult, of
opponents.
The
138 BRITISH JOURNAL OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY VOL. 10/i 2001
game-like atmosphere
of utani allows for
the
public airing
of volatile issues and
enables the
singing
of
provocative
state-
ments
unacceptable
in other contexts.
On occasion, however, as in the
mpasho
phenomenon
within taraab, the level
of
rivalry expressed
becomes extreme,
manifesting
in
particularly
virulent ver-
bal insult and attack.
Topp-Fargion (43,
48-9)
and Hill
(369-70, 375)
cite several
examples
of such
song-duels leading
to
violence that
provoked
the intervention
of authorities, often
resulting
in the ban-
ning
and
subsequent
demise of certain
styles. Occasionally
the winners of com-
petitive
events are
formally
identified
by
selected
judges
and rewarded, but more
often the
prize
is
prestige
and favourites
are chosen in a
haphazard
democratic
fashion
according
to
greatest
audience
response, allowing
for the
possibility
of
multiple interpretations.
An
important subsidiary
theme of this
volume is the formation and
expression
of
community
and
identity. Many
of the
case studies
presented
demonstrate how
music
competitions define, construct and
reinforce a sense of
community
around
a
particular identity.
Whether music is
used to
express
difference
-
as in the
case of the makonde dance
performed by
Mozambican
immigrants living
in Dar es
Salaam described
by
Johansen (255-70)
-
or to
forge
a new
commonality,
identity
is shown to be a
constantly
negotiated process.
As Ellison
(201)
and
Nyoni (238) point out, competitive
dance
was, for instance, fundamental in the
formation of both
Nyakyusa
and
Nyasa
ethnic
identity
from the fusion of a
number of smaller
groups. Similarly,
Gearhardt (354)
describes how the inclu-
sion of Islamic verses in
ngoma
on the
Kenyan
island of Lamu facilitated the
incorporation
of converted
indigenous
people
into elite Swahili
society
that was
largely
defined
by religion,
while Fair
(143-74) explains
how certain Zanzibari
women's dance forms
expressed
and medi-
ated class, ethnic and
religious identity.
In a
cogent
discussion of the
concepts
of culture contact and
syncretism
in
relation to Malawian
malipenga,
Gilman
(322) argues
that
ngoma
traditions are
simultaneously
stable and
dynamic,
constantly incorporating
new influences
with
changing expressive
needs and
resources but
retaining
basic core
patterns
and conventions. In contrast to
many post-colonial studies, both Gilman
and Barz
(403) de-emphasize
colonial-
ism as the dominant force
driving
changing
identities and their cultural
expressions.
The effect of
political
and economic
changes
on music is another concern
common to
many
of the case studies.
For instance, it has been common for
dance
competition hosts, often from rela-
tively poor communities, to
prepare
for
several
years
and make
large
material
sacrifices to house and feed
visiting
troupes: competition
is as much in the
lavish entertainment as in the dance itself
(Nyoni: 242-4, Hill: 374, Gearhardt:
361-3).
Hill
(372-6) proposes
that the
introduction of cash
cropping during
the
colonial and
post-independence periods
in
Tanzania
changed gender
relations and
dance forms as men took over the
agri-
cultural
production
of coffee and used
the
disposable
income
produced
to host
prestigious mganda competitions.
How-
ever, due to a
slump
in the world coffee
price, along
with the Tanzanian economic
and
political
liberalization
programme
of
the late 1980s and 1990s, fewer
competi-
tions were hosted. The context for dance
competitions
was undermined because in
the free market
prestige
is
gained through
the accumulation of
personal
wealth as
opposed
to
being
achieved
through grand
redistributive measures
(Nyoni: 251-2,
Hill:
378).
In Dar es Salaam the new era
of
political
and economic liberalization
affected
competition
between
government
REVIEWS 139 REVIEWS 139
and
privately sponsored
cultural
troupes
(Lange: 67-86), and it
catalysed
dramatic
changes
in the urban
landscape, providing
a fertile context for the evolution of
KiSwahili
rap (Haas and Gesthuizen:
279-94).
This volume answers Terence
Ranger's
25-year-old
call for
specific
studies focus-
ing
on the historical and the local in
relation to East African dance and
society.
Rich in detailed
ethnographic
data and
theoretical
insights,
it is a
significant
and
substantial contribution to a
long-per-
ceived vacuum.
References
Cory,
H.
(1947) "Jando, Part I". Journal
of
the
Royal Anthropological Institute,
lxxvii: 159-66.
Jones, A. M.
(1945) "African dance: the
Mganda
dance".
African Studies
4:180-8.
Lambert, H. E.
(1962/3) "The Beni dance
songs".
Swahili
xxxiii(I): 18-21.
Mitchell, J. C.
(1956)
The Kalela dance:
aspects of
social
relationships among
urban
Africans
in Northern Rhodesia.
Rhodes-Livingstone
Institute
Paper,
xxvii.
Ranger,
T. 0.
(1975) Dance and
society
in Eastern
Africa
1890-1970: the Beni
Ngoma. Berkeley: University
of Cali-
fornia Press.
Mashindano! is distributed
by
African
Books Collective Ltd, The Jam
Factory,
27 Park End
Street, Oxford, OX1 1HU,
email:
abc@dial.pipex.com;
www.africanbookscollective.com
LARA
ALLEN,
Girton
College, Cambridge
Lva20@cam.ac.uk
and
privately sponsored
cultural
troupes
(Lange: 67-86), and it
catalysed
dramatic
changes
in the urban
landscape, providing
a fertile context for the evolution of
KiSwahili
rap (Haas and Gesthuizen:
279-94).
This volume answers Terence
Ranger's
25-year-old
call for
specific
studies focus-
ing
on the historical and the local in
relation to East African dance and
society.
Rich in detailed
ethnographic
data and
theoretical
insights,
it is a
significant
and
substantial contribution to a
long-per-
ceived vacuum.
References
Cory,
H.
(1947) "Jando, Part I". Journal
of
the
Royal Anthropological Institute,
lxxvii: 159-66.
Jones, A. M.
(1945) "African dance: the
Mganda
dance".
African Studies
4:180-8.
Lambert, H. E.
(1962/3) "The Beni dance
songs".
Swahili
xxxiii(I): 18-21.
Mitchell, J. C.
(1956)
The Kalela dance:
aspects of
social
relationships among
urban
Africans
in Northern Rhodesia.
Rhodes-Livingstone
Institute
Paper,
xxvii.
Ranger,
T. 0.
(1975) Dance and
society
in Eastern
Africa
1890-1970: the Beni
Ngoma. Berkeley: University
of Cali-
fornia Press.
Mashindano! is distributed
by
African
Books Collective Ltd, The Jam
Factory,
27 Park End
Street, Oxford, OX1 1HU,
email:
abc@dial.pipex.com;
www.africanbookscollective.com
LARA
ALLEN,
Girton
College, Cambridge
Lva20@cam.ac.uk
Recordings
Latvian Folk Music
Collection, Upe,
1999-2001.
The
recording company Upe,
founded in
1997
by
the
popular
Latvian rock
singer,
media
producer
and entertainer Ainars
Mielavs, has issued 11 CDs since 1999 in
a series
entitled, perhaps misleadingly,
Latvian Folk Music Collection. Priced at
$11.50 each,
these
are,
in order of their
publication
from
1999-2001, as follows:
Pagainu gadagrdmata (Pagan yearbook),
Upe
CD
009, 1999.
Latvies'u danci
(Latvian dances, vol.
1),
Upe
CD
011, 1999.
Bolta eimu (Dressed in white
-
Latgalian
songs
with
kokle), Upe
CD
013, 1999.
Du-das
Latvijii (Latvian bagpipes), Upe
CD
017, 2000.
Supuldziesmas (Lullabies), Upe
CD 018,
2000.
Danco dievis
(God is
dancing,
Latvian
dances vol.
2), Upe
CD 019, 2000.
Dzelzim dzimu (Born for
the iron
-
Soldier
songs), Upe
CD 020, 2000.
Skaistdkis dziesmas (Prettiest songs),
Upe
CD
021, 2000.
Kalado (Winter solstice
songs), Upe
CD
022, 2000.
Alus dziesmas (Beer songs), Upe
CD 026,
2001.
Kyukova dzagyuze (Songs of
the cuckoo
-
Latgalian wedding cycle), Upe
CD
025, 2001.
The series is also available on cassettes.
For notes in
English
see
www.upe.parks.lv/english.
A twelfth
CD,
Bernu dziesmas (Children's songs
and
rhymes) sung by
children of Jirmalas
Alternative
School, is in
preparation
for
release in 2001.
Latvian Folk Music Collection embraces a
range
of musical
styles
from those
using
traditional Latvian sounds and texts as a
Recordings
Latvian Folk Music
Collection, Upe,
1999-2001.
The
recording company Upe,
founded in
1997
by
the
popular
Latvian rock
singer,
media
producer
and entertainer Ainars
Mielavs, has issued 11 CDs since 1999 in
a series
entitled, perhaps misleadingly,
Latvian Folk Music Collection. Priced at
$11.50 each,
these
are,
in order of their
publication
from
1999-2001, as follows:
Pagainu gadagrdmata (Pagan yearbook),
Upe
CD
009, 1999.
Latvies'u danci
(Latvian dances, vol.
1),
Upe
CD
011, 1999.
Bolta eimu (Dressed in white
-
Latgalian
songs
with
kokle), Upe
CD
013, 1999.
Du-das
Latvijii (Latvian bagpipes), Upe
CD
017, 2000.
Supuldziesmas (Lullabies), Upe
CD 018,
2000.
Danco dievis
(God is
dancing,
Latvian
dances vol.
2), Upe
CD 019, 2000.
Dzelzim dzimu (Born for
the iron
-
Soldier
songs), Upe
CD 020, 2000.
Skaistdkis dziesmas (Prettiest songs),
Upe
CD
021, 2000.
Kalado (Winter solstice
songs), Upe
CD
022, 2000.
Alus dziesmas (Beer songs), Upe
CD 026,
2001.
Kyukova dzagyuze (Songs of
the cuckoo
-
Latgalian wedding cycle), Upe
CD
025, 2001.
The series is also available on cassettes.
For notes in
English
see
www.upe.parks.lv/english.
A twelfth
CD,
Bernu dziesmas (Children's songs
and
rhymes) sung by
children of Jirmalas
Alternative
School, is in
preparation
for
release in 2001.
Latvian Folk Music Collection embraces a
range
of musical
styles
from those
using
traditional Latvian sounds and texts as a