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Meg Reilly Mus 593R 2/26/10 Listening Response No.

2 The first listening exmple, "Mo ti Gboro," is a bright and lively West African highlife song. It starts off with a short intro, the first bar of which could almost be mistaken for an American blues song. When the highest guitar line is added, however, with its rapid repetitive strumming, the song immediately takes on a more tropical feel. The song is performed by three ensemble sections, each with a leader. Within the vocal section, the lead singer's mellow voice is both soothing and captivating. The male chorus responds to his statements in lively parallel harmonies, and though the chorus varies little from verse to verse, the lead singer takes greater liberties as the song progresses. Each guitar has an individual line, playing in each others' rests and filling any gaps that might occur. The lines are distinctive, mainly for their differences in pitch range. The lead guitar's melody, also the highest, becomes more varied and complex as the piece progresses, but never distractingly so. The percussion section comprises traditional African drums, with the lead drummer using a talking drum initially to emphasize the first beat of the quadruple meter, but he soon begins to vary his part to an even greater extent than the other leaders. The song has a form much like western pop music, with clear verses followed by a chorus which is distinctive for its contrary motion between the rising voices and the descending bass line. Prior to each chorus, there is a very brief break in which each section stops, though the guitar strings continue to ring. This incorporation of silence

surprised me at first. Following the continuous interplay of the vocals, guitars, and drums, the silence is entirely unexpected and strikes me as a western influence considering so much African music is based upon filling the silences. There is also a guitar solo which follows the leader shouting out as though he's saying "take it away!" which also seems western-inspired. However, the solo is stunningly simple. It is not a flashy, western guitar solo, but one which is repetitive, moves mostly stepwise, and seems to continue blending in with the other instruments. The song ends with repetitions of the verse before fading out, a decidedly western recording technique. Mwenda Bsoco's song "Ulofa Ni Mabaya" is even more laid back, with charming, lighthearted vocals and only the accompaniment of a guitar. If I hadn't made a point of looking up Bosco's music following class last week, I would probably think it sounded like an American folk tune or even a cowboy song. As it is though, the complexity of the guitar part belies the song's central African roots. The finger-picking guitar style functions just as an ensemble would, with three distinct voices. The bass line is the most simple, outlining a tonic triad which resolves to I at the end of every phrase. The middle voice fills the gaps when the bass notes are not picked, playing a brief succession of notes in a swinging rhythm. The highest voice plays the same simple phrase over and over again, with very slight variations on occasion. The descending second half of the phrase (5-4-3)almost always always lines up with the final descent of the vocal line on each phrase (3-2-1), which creates a subtle harmony of parallel thirds. Like the first example, the song is in a consistent quadruple meter, with the bass notes emphasizing beats one and three most often. The overall form of the song is mostly derived from the cyclical nature of the

repeated guitar and vocal lines. The guitar part continues mostly unchanged, and even at the end when the voice stops, it is easy to envision the song continuing on and on without losing any of its charm. In both cases, the music seems intended for listening, rather than dancing, most likely a western element. Likewise, the use of both guitars and major keys reflects western influences. However, both songs also reflect the traditional music of Africa, particularly in how the guitar is used and through the calm repetition of ideas. Through the combination of these western influences with older traditional elements, both songs represent neo-traditional music. They represent a completely new music that goes beyond just a hybrid style and instead functions as a new traditional foundation for contemporary music in Africa.

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