Hello everyone! I hope your week was fantastic, and you did phenomenal on your midterm exams if you had them. This week in class we explored the music and culture of some countries in Africa. As we were talking in class, there were some things that I wanted to explore further and share with you guys!
One very interesting instrument that played in West Africa is the Kora. The Kora is an instrument that is played by Griots or Jali, and they use them to tell stories about the past. The Kora originates in small Mandinka areas in the 1700s. It is now a very popular instrument in the Gambia River Vallery amongst the Mali people. This instrument is mainly used by males as most males are Griots, and it is an instrument that has an amazing structure. It is an instrument that is bilateral and it has a bunch of string. It has a very long neck, and it looks like it could be played like a guitar. The Kora is played in an upright position and both hands are used. The thumbs and the index fingers are used to pluck the strings and the other hands are used as support. Down below is a pretty cool song that has the Kora playing with a guitar.
Griots are another aspect of the West African culture that I was really interested in. Griots are the storytellers, musicians, and oral historians in society. They have been around since the 13th century from the Mali Empire. These historians keep the traditions and history alive and train all of their lives to uphold a big responsibility. Griots were responsible for keeping a record of births, deaths, and marriages within the village. Not anyone can become a Griot. You have to be born into the position and train for many years. Griots use instruments like the Kora to tell the history of their people. Once a person who is training to be a Griot master many songs about their heritage, they are given their own instrument. The balafon and the ngoni are two other instruments used during the Griots storytelling, and they also sing too.
BALAFON
Griots are not the only people who sing in this culture. The Isicathamiya choirs are a choir made of 10-25 males who put on amazing performances. It is an a capella genre that originated in South Africa through the Zulu culture. This genre has been existence at least since 1890 when it was mentioned in a newspaper article from the Ilanga Lase Natal. Isicathamiya was mainly prominent among Migrant Workers during the Apartheid era. Now, Isicathamiya choirs have become so popular that they have competitions. They have amazing performances and they sound so lovely. Please enjoy this video of an Isicathamiya competition below and if you want to skip to the performance, please skip to 1:50.
I hope that you found these as interesting as I did. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. I hope that you all will have a great week next week and I'll see you soon!
Sources:
https://thekoraworkshop.co.uk/about-the-kora/history/
https://www.britannica.com/art/kora-musical-instrument
https://theculturetrip.com/africa/mali/articles/what-is-a-griot-and-why-are-they-important/
https://baslerafrika.ch/contents/isicathamiya/
https://ums.org/2010/01/14/what-is-isicathamiya/
Hi! I really liked reading your blog. It is quite interesting to see the different types of instruments in West Africa. One of the things that I found intriguing is the choirs. It mainly consists of men. When you see a choir you mainly see women and a couple of men, Overall, I really enjoyed your blog!
ReplyDeleteHey stranger :), I really enjoyed reading your blog about Africa and its culture. There are multiple things that I loved about your blog was that you found the Kora interesting. I agree with you on that! The instrument has a gorgeous sound, and is very unique. I also liked that Griots peaked your interest, and I really wanted to know more about them, so I am glad you went more into depth on the subject!
ReplyDeleteHey! I loved hearing about the different instruments in Africa and it's culture. I thought the choir was very interesting. They sounded amazing and it's so cool that it was an all male choir.
ReplyDeleteGood evening, I really found your information on the choirs interesting, I had not found anything like that through my research and I am so glad that you did! I thought it was interesting how the choirs consist of men, when traditionally in America there are more women in choirs. I really enjoyed the videos that you included as well as the format of your blogs!
ReplyDeleteHello! I loved the first song you have it is so calming. I loved the sound that the Kora made and the guitarist using a slider really just adds to the sound and soothing composure. The Kora almost sounds like a piano to me because of all of the different notes that are able to be played at once.
ReplyDelete