ETHNOMUS 108B Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: African Diaspora, Music Of Africa, Berimbau
13 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 6 04/19/2016
● Criollo
● Creole and creolization: mixture of African and European culture in the Caribbean
Music of Africa and the African Diaspora in Latin America
● Do reading by Thursday
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
● 12 million people brought by force from Africa to the Americas
○ Vast majority to South America and Caribbean
○ 39% to Brazil
○ 40% to Caribbean
○ 21% to rest of Americas (5% to US)
● African: huge term that has the potential to gray out the different diversities within the term
○ African ethnolinguistic groups
○ Linguistically and culturally diverse
○ Kingdom of Congo (from Central Africa to Angola)
○ West Africa (above the center to the left-- not side of Morocco) (primarily Nigeria,
Cameroon)
The African Diaspora
● Diaspora: “a dispersion of people from their homeland”
○ Originally applied to Jewish people
● Roger Brubaker (UCLA Sociology) definition:
○ A dispersion of people, usually migrating across borders (forced or not)
○ An orientation to a real or imagined homeland, or the reconstruction of a culture away
from that homeland
○ The maintenance of group boundaries to preserve a distinct identity within a host society
● Africans brought until late 1800s in Caribbean and Brazil
○ U.S colonies of Britain ended slave imports in early 1800s
○ Cuba 1886; Brazil 1888
● Sites for maintenance of African cultural practices
○ Barracones (slave barracks): plantation living quarters where culture was maintained
○ Cabildos (confradias): mutual-aid societies with ethnic and religious affiliations
■ Maintain languages, maintain cultural practices
○ Palenques (runaway slave settlements)
African Music
Musical Instruments
● Membranophones (Drums, et al.)
○ Often central, but not always!
○ Drums that “speak”
■ Ex: talking drums
■ Drumming as speech surrogate; replacement for language; drumming language
● That rhythm means this
● Praising drummings for African kings
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● Playing history on the drums
■ Drumming that calls or guide dances
■ Changing dance motion/ formations
● Aerophones
○ Flutes
○ Trumpets
○ Associated with king in Ghana/ people of royalty
○ Mostly did not transfer to the Americas
● Chordophones
○ Monochord instruments (Single string):
■ Berimbau (in Brazil)
■ Burumbumba (in Cuba, extinct)
● Idiophones
○ Bells
■ Double bells (agogo in Brazil)
■ Guataca (in Cuba)
■ The bell plays a huge role in the foundation of African music (huge part in
rhythmic foundation)
○ Rattles and shakers
■ Chequere in Cuba (aka guiro) ← listening
● Common practice in Cuba
● Bell holding down the rhythm
● Regular common gourd, hollowed out with a net (that has African
antecedents)
○ Different tones (1,2,3) : small, larger,
○ mbira/ sanza (words of African language)
■ Became marimbula: more commonly used in Cuba/ Spanish speaking parts in the
Americas
● Larger bass instrument
○ Marimba (a word of Bantu origin)
■ Ma- (many) rimba (keys/bars)
■ Still found in Afro-Colombian communities
● Colombia and Ecuador
■ An African instrument
■ Example of how African culture has been transferred and become a part of
American culture
● Yet the culture has been negated/ denied
● Central America: marimba not from Africa
■ Listening: curroolao from Colombia
● Ex: marimba music
● Ex: polymeter- hard to establish the beat
Black in Latin America Clips
● Dominican Republic
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Creole and creolization: mixture of african and european culture in the caribbean. Music of africa and the african diaspora in latin america. 12 million people brought by force from africa to the americas. Vast majority to south america and caribbean. 21% to rest of americas (5% to us) African: huge term that has the potential to gray out the different diversities within the term. Kingdom of congo (from central africa to angola) West africa (above the center to the left-- not side of morocco) (primarily nigeria, Diaspora: a dispersion of people from their homeland . A dispersion of people, usually migrating across borders (forced or not) An orientation to a real or imagined homeland, or the reconstruction of a culture away from that homeland. The maintenance of group boundaries to preserve a distinct identity within a host society. Africans brought until late 1800s in caribbean and brazil. U. s colonies of britain ended slave imports in early 1800s.
