A bit of Transculturation between African and African-American culture

*** Due to slect restrictions te audio examples cited here are not posted for review with this blog. You may however find many of these tracks online at sites like YouTube, Amazon, and others***

The similarities shared by African and African-American music are substantial. Although many diverse styles of music can be found in both cultures, the creation and performance of the respective music is often quite similar. It is not only possible to apply similar rhythmic, harmonic, timbral and compositional concepts to each culture, but it is also probable to discover similar phonemic and lexical concepts applied in music in addition to revealing similarities in the application of oral-formulaic theory. These similarities are not only representative of the transculturation between African and African-American culture, but also embody the transnationlism and hybrid like evolutions of African and African-American music.

This paper explores the similarities between African-American and African music through the experiences and music of two well known performers; James Brown and Fela Kuti. The experiences of these two musicians are leading examples of the exchange of influences between African-American and African Culture as well as the similarities found in the cultural experiences that contributed to the evolution of their musical ideas.

African and African-American Music: Heterogeneous Sound Ideal

One definitive starting point in the exploration of African and African-American music is that concept of heterogeneous sound. Olly Wilson’s sound concept can be found not only in African-American music, but also has appropriate application in other styles of music including jazz, rock, pop, and world music genres, but most notably, music from the African continent. In both the case of African-American and African music, the principles of the heterogeneous sound concept are identified in a number of ways. These can vary significantly by genre but usually will include some or all of the following:

· The approach to the organization of rhythm based on the principle of rhythmic and implied metrical contrast.
· The tendency to approach singing or playing any instrument in a percussive manner.
· The tendency to create musical forms in which antiphonal, responsorial, or call and response musical structures abroad.
· The tendency to create a high density of musical events within a relatively short musical time frame--tendency to fill up all of the musical space.
· The tendency to incorporate physical body motion as an intrinsic part of the music making process.
· The tendency to approach music making in which kaleidoscopic range of dramatically contrasting sound colors (or timbres) in both vocal and instrumental music are used. (also known as "the Heterogeneous Sound Ideal"--Wilson, 1983, p.3)" [1]

In African music, heterogeneous sound is a prevailing quality of the music. Many instruments are all played percussively (including vocals, horns, and chordal instruments). The organization of songs is built around rhythmic concepts and knowledge of the entire piece so much so that improvisation exploration is founded upon the indefinite expansion of cyclic, repeatable phrases that may be explored sonically, rhythmically, or possibly in some other manner. Instruments with distinctly different timbres are combined and implemented in a way that treats each instruments sound and rhythmic contributions as dissimilar, but complementary to each other. This is often heard in the agogic stress, cross-rhythms, call-and-response, inherent rhythms, mosaic patterns, ulations, and other widespread elements of African music.

In African-American music, these characteristics were transferred and retained in American musical forms including early American blues and negro spirituals, work songs, classic jazz, and in church songs, praises, and hymns. It is also not uncommon to experience portions this concept in the everyday life of African-Americans through African-American political speeches, church sermons, and the general sounds of urban life.

Modern applications of the heterogeneous sound concept in African-American music now include the use of samples (either of individual instruments, groups of instruments, and recordings), sound effects, and newly constructed sounds that are added to an eclectic mix of auditory elements. This has also been demonstrated in more modern forms of African and African musical derivatives (including Afro-pop, Afro-jazz and Regatone) resulting in part from the cultural transference between African and African-American culture.

African-American Reinterpretation of African Elements: James Brown

The music of African-American singer and band leader James Brown has retained a significant number of those elements found in African music. James Brown began his career as a gospel singer, but his explosive performances in and outside of the church led him to pioneer development in African-American musical forms including soul, r&b, and of course, funk. His musical performances in each of these styles contain core elements of African music and illustrate the influence of his African heritage on his musical performances.

The elements of a James Brown performance are quintessential representations of African performance practice. Among the many elements present are the additive structures, the agogic stress, the multitude of cross-rhythms, and a myriad of call-and-response patters that can be found thorough the musical selections of any James Brown music catalogue.

The performances by James Brown himself are recognized in part for the poetry in the lyrics, the passion, and the storytelling, as well the greetings and libations from JB as a soloist. “It's a rawness, an on-the edge passion that's in [your] face...And his grunts and rhythms, familiar as our own heartbeats, help us to recognize our commonalities…James Brown-with all his soul, his splits, his screams, his cold sweats, his grittiness, his swaggering ego, his contradictions, his pride and his appeals”[2] are like epics; performed with the high points, the vocables, movement, and parody. It is also worth noting that most of the instruments in the ensemble, if not all, are played in a percussive manner. “Brown admitted, "[He] was hearing everything, even the guitars, like they were drums." By the end of the 1960s, he was mercilessly reducing every instrument to a percussive role.”[3]

The general qualities of Brown’s funk include performing using large bands using musicians with diverse background (his favorites were players with a strong background in jazz). The excitement in the music is comes from the ensemble’s vigorous performance in moderately fast tempos. The song forms contain many cyclic sections that can be repeated and extended depending on the desire of the band leader. The lyrics are presented as combinations of phrases and vocables that are powerful and evocative of “spirit” and high levels of energy. There is plenty of improvisation as the songs often do not have a pre-defined length of time for performance. The music is rich with rhythmic and implied metrical contrast, with singing and instrument performance implemented in a percussive manner. There are ample antiphonal, responsorial, or call-and-response musical structures, and musical space is filled with a high density of events. Physical body motion is an intrinsic part of the music making. Each part is equally important in filling its own role, as no one sound is responsible for the overall sonic quality, but instead complements the others in the heterogeneous sound ideal.

An analysis of James Brown’s “It’s Too Funky In Here” serves as a classic example of the African elements found song’s timeline. As is the case in many of James Brown’s songs, the “kick drum” (bass drum on the drum set) sets the function of establishing the timeline; the standard tempo and the breathing space for additional rhythmic patterns for the piece. James Brown (referred to hereafter a JB) starts with an improvisation (supported by the first rhythm guitar) to establish the foundation for the song. As the song continues, additional instruments enter with horns (saxophone and trumpet) announcing different sections with accent and additive rhythms. Electric bass and keyboards perform rhythms and harmonic parts that are fundamental to the song. At the same time additional guitars and percussion (tambourine) introduce more of the mosaic patterns heard through the entire song. Everything instrument (strings, drums, vocals, and horns) is being played percussively. The sum of parts is responsible for both the inner rhythm and the inherent rhythm (rhythm felt but not played) found in a James Brown song. Call-and-response elements are added by the background singers while James alternates between vocables and full phrases; thus completing the mixed sound of the piece.

James Brown. “Too Funky in Here” (Excerpt) Audio Analysis [4]:[5]
· 0:01 - Timeline (kick drum and 1st guitar), JB greeting and libation.
· 0:08 – Horns (percussive, repeatable “hits” (for announcement))
· 0:10 – Rest of instrumental ensemble enters (as per JB direction)
· 0:17 – Main groove begins, horns play 1st theme, 1st guitar transfers to parts with agogic stress.2nd guitar parts play forming hockett rhythm between the two parts
· 0:26 – First Verse (JB), loud short repeatable phrases, vocals are percussive. JB makes numerous affectations, alliteration, and uses assonance (same sounding syllables) and parallelism (lyrics “Too funky in here! Gimmie some air!)
· 0:35 – First Verse continues, variants on pitch (JB)
· 0:45 – Chorus: Call-and-Response between JB, background singers, and horns, horns (percussive, repeated announcement “hits” parts), tambourine enters to support the groove.
· 1:06 – Horns return to first theme, call-and-response between JB, singers, and horns continues
· 1:21 –Second verse (JB), horns play accent parts (announcement parts), guitar
· 1:39 – 2nd Chorus: Call-and-Response between JB, background singers, and horns, horns return to the 1st theme (interchangeable), tambourine enters to support the groove.

Overall elements shared with African music: Agogic stress (guitars), cross-rhythms (lead vocals, drum set), call-and-response (lead and background vocals, horns), inherent rhythms (all), mosaic patterns (keyboards, guitar, electric bass); cyclic, repeatable patterns (all instruments and vocals).

Reinterpretation of African and African-American Elements: Fela Kuti

Fela Kuti is an immense example of cultural transference and reinterpretation of African, and African-American musical elements. Fela, a middle class African of Yoruba heritage, began his career as a touring musician in Europe and in the U.S. While in the states, “Against the background of the flashy, sophisticated technology of the American society that awed him, he saw people who were turning to Africa's cultural treasures for inspiration and wisdom. The Autobiography of Malcolm X in particular convinced Fela to claim and explore his African identity, both personally and with his music. Inspired by the expatriate African musician Ambrose Campbell, he immediately began composing music based on chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms. He dubbed the new sound "Afrobeat."[6] Kuti was particularly enamored with the music of James Brown, and thus a significant amount of his influence can be heard in Kuti’s works. Of particular interest to Kuti were the funk rhythms, the elements of traditional high life and jazz, and the “choppy, angular guitar and electric bass figures of James Bown-whose communal, rhythmic orchestrations were, ironically, an Africanization of Afro-American rhythm and blues that were later utilized by Fela in the far more sophisticated context of African rhythms… Each composition's rhythmic possibilities were abundantly explored with several extended solos which, added to Fela's vocal passages, meant that few recordings lasted less than ten minutes.[7] Many songs on Fela’s recordings (including full versions on the excerpts analyzed in this paper here) last an average of thirty minutes each. Fela’s lyrics also mirrored the strongest, and perhaps most controversial elements, of the James Brown experience. The lyrics (sung in a combination of Yoruba and pidgin English), are bluntly delivered evoking strongly felt political overtones; as pungent as those found in James Brown’s “Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing" and “Say It Loud [I’m Black and I’m Proud].”

Fela embraced his Yoruba upbringing; a lifestyle in which music and dance are tied to every aspect of life. Traditional Yoruba timelines can be felt even within the juxtaposition of African and African-American styles. Fela’s performances seem to invoke the same poetry in the lyrics, the passion in performance, and the storytelling, as well the greetings and libations as found in the music of James Brown, yet do so in a way that is distinctively African. In this manner, Fela’s reinterpretation of James Brown makes the transculturation from James (who was reinterpreting African performance practice) to Fela (who brought African-American elements of performance practice back to Africa) cyclical. Fela, like James, was also incredibly adept at combining a high density of musical elements, and then developing musical ideas as extending sections of groove for extensive durations of time expounding on tonal harmony, instrumental accompaniment, complex cross-rhythm, and evoking spirits. Traditional African instruments including bells, shakers, shells, and more can be heard along side the guitars, keyboards, and other amplified instruments. The disciplined barrage of Fela's band invited comparisons with James Brown, to which Fela's responded, "I don't object to what people hear. But my music is African music."[8]

Fela’s Afrobeat songs were usually performed by large bands (up to 30 people) using diverse musicians playing various instruments. The music is vigorous and exciting utilizing tempos that are moderately fast. The song forms contain many cyclic sections that can be repeated and extended depending on the desire of the band leader. The music itself contains a diverse mixture of influences including jazz, funk, and traditional African styles, juxtaposed against each other. There is plenty of improvisation. Lyrics can be sung in Yoruba and also in English, but usually are found in some combination of phrases and vocables that invoke “spirit” and high levels of energy. Kuti’s Afrobeat performers keep the music rich with rhythmic and implied metrical contrast, singing and instrument playing is implemented in a percussive manner, antiphonal, responsorial, or call and response musical structures are present, musical space is filled with a high density of events, physical body motion is an intrinsic part of his music making, and a diverse number of instruments complete the heterogeneous sound of the Afrobeat compositions.

Fela Kuti’s Underground System (excerpt) Audio Analysis [9]
· 0:05 – speech in Yoruba
· 0:11 – call-and-response
· 0:27 – speech in Yoruba
· 0:47 – singing in English

Overall elements shared with African-American music: Agogic stress (shells and shakers), cross-rhythms (drum set), call-and-response (lead and background vocals), inherent rhythms (all), mosaic patterns (keyboards, guitar, electric bass); cyclic, repeatable patterns (all instruments and vocals).

Fela Kuti’s Pansa Pansa (excerpt) Audio Analysis [10]
· 0:01 - Example of emotionally charged call-and-response between baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, keyboards, and from the orchestra (horns).
· 0:21 – More complex jazz harmony from piano. Call-and-response between baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, and keyboard continues.
· 0:01- 1:03 – Mosaic patterns by keyboards, guitar and bass. Agogic stress, inherent rhythms, cross-rhythms.
Overall elements shared with African-American music: Agogic stress (shells and shakers), cross-rhythms (drum set), call-and-response (lead and background vocals), inherent rhythms (all), mosaic patterns (keyboards, guitar, electric bass); cyclic, repeatable patterns (all instruments and vocals).

Fela Kuti’s MOP (Movement of People) (excerpt) Audio Analysis [11] [12]
· 0:01 – Singing in Yoruba.
· 0:15 – call-and-response with background singers.
· 0:43 – Improvisation leading to audience call-and-response.

Overall elements shared with African-American music: Agogic stress (shells and shakers), cross-rhythms (lead vocals, drum set), call-and-response (lead and background vocals, audience vocals), inherent rhythms (all), mosaic patterns (keyboards, guitar, electric bass); cyclic, repeatable patterns (all instruments and vocals).

Conclusion

The similarities in the music of James Brown and Fela Kuti are considerable representations of the transculturation and transnantionanalism between African and African-American culture, and exemplify hybrid like evolutions of African and African-American music. The comparable rhythmic, harmonic, timbral and compositional concepts, and the phonemic and lexical concepts applied in music are prime examples of the exchange of influences between African-American and African Culture as well as the similarities found in the cultural experiences that contributed to the evolution of their musical ideas. It is possible that the music, rich with rhythmic and implied metrical contrast, singing and instrument playing, is implemented in a way that seems inevitable for cultures with similar heritages. The percussive manner, antiphonal, responsorial, or call and response musical structures, high density of events in musical space, and the physical body motion have been an intrinsic part of the music making in both African and African-American culture. The process of transculturation and transnationalism appears to be cyclic, and seems it is this process continue to influence itself and its musical progeny.


Bibliography

Brown, James, with Bruce Tucker. James Brown: The Godfather of Soul New
York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986.

Boyd, Valerie. “The Ritual”African American Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, Black South
Issue Part 1 of 2. (Spring, 1993), pp. 43-45. (44)

Glass, Randall. “Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: The Art of an Afrobeat Rebel” The Drama
Review: TDR, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Spring, 1986), pp. 131-148.

Wilson, Olly. “Black Music as an Art Form” Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 3.
(1983), pp. 1-22.


Discography

Brown, James. Too Funky in Here. It’s Too Funky in Here. 1979. Polydor. LP.

Kuti, Fela. MOP (Movement of People). Underground System.
Wrasse Records. 1991. LP.

Kuti, Fela. Pansa Pansa. Underground System. Wrasse Records. 1991. LP.

Kuti, Fela. Underground System. Underground System.
Wrasse Records. 1991. LP.
[1] Olly Wilson. “Black Music as an Art Form” Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 3. (1983):3.


[2] Valerie Boyd, “The Ritual” African American Review, Vol. 27, No. 1, Black South Issue Part 1 of 2. (Spring, 1993): 44.
[3] James Brown, with Bruce Tucker. James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company,1986):200.
[4] James Brown. Too Funky in Here. It’s Too Funky in Here. (1979). Polydor. LP.
[5] For your convenience, and extended version of this song is also listed on the companion CD.
[6] Randall Glass. “Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: The Art of an Afrobeat Rebel” The Drama Review: TDR, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Spring, 1986): 134.
[7] Glass. 135.
[8] Glass, 137.
[9] Fela Kuti. Underground System. Underground System. Wrasse Records (1991): LP.
[10] Fela Kuti.. Pansa Pansa. Underground System. Wrasse Records (1991): LP.

[11] Fela Kuti. MOP (Movement of People). Underground System. Wrasse Records (1991):LP.
[12] For your convenience, and extended version of this song is also listed on the companion CD (not available online).