Koko:

1
Koko Yiri
2
African music in society

• Rich, colourful and diverse
• Covers 50 different nations, each with their own
  musical traditions and language
• Plays an important role, used to express emotions
  and feelings
• Part of every social gathering i.e. celebrating
  the harvest, birthdays, weddings, funerals,
  imprtant meetings.
• Often combined with speech, dance and vibrant
  costumes
• Falls into 3 strands - Drumming, Choral music,
  instrumental music.

3
Common features of African music

• Repetition
• Improvisation
• Polyphony
• Call and response

4
African Drumming

• Considered the most important instrument
• A means of communication, with certain rhythmic
  patterns meaning different things .e. slow beat
  could signify a sad occasion such as a funeral.
• Hundreds of drums and names vary between each
  region.
• Most common is the Djembe a single-headed drum,
  made in a range of sizes to produce different
  pitches
• Frequently heard on their own but also in
  ensembles
• Ensemble is made up of a master drummer playing a
  solo drum and a set of accompanying drums
• Famous group The Royal Burundi Drummers

5
Playing techniques

• Hands on the skin different sounds are made by
  opening/closing fingers, using different parts of
  the hand etc
• Hands on the wooden edge of the drum
• Using sticks to make short, staccato sounds
• Stretching the drum membrane to produce a range
  of pitches

6
A typical performance

• Master drummer in the centre of the ensemble,
  responsible for directing the performance and
  will be surrounded by other drummers and
  percussionists
• The master drummer will signal to the performers
  when he is ready to start, often with a vocal cry
  followed by a rhythmic solo to set mood/tempo
• Response is an exact copy or a different rhythm
  entirely by the other performers
• Call and response main feature of tribal music

7
A typical performance

• Master drummer will signal to the other players
  to perform a solo.
• This will be a variation or development of the
  original pattern
• A steady, continuous beat is played by the master
  drummer, called the timeline. There may be
  percussion instruments playing as well.
• The complex rhythms create polyrhythms, often
  with stresses that conflict with eachother,
  resulting in polyrhythmic texture.

8
A typical performance

• Piece increases in tension as the piece
  progresses
• Tempo and dynamics will vary from section to
  section to provide interest and variet.
• Master drummer is responsible for controlling the
  changes and making sure that the music does not
  become too monotonous.
• Some performances can take up to 5 hours or even
  longer!
• As well as solo drumming to show off the soloists
  skills of improvisation, there is often movement
  and dance

9
African choral singing

• Sub-saharan musical traditions are often centred
  around singing
• Believed that it serves as a link to the
  spiritual world
• Vital part of everyday life, like drumming
• Unites communities, everyone is involved in
  singing regardless of ability
• Means of communication - Use of tone like in
  language. Melodies and rhythms fit the pitch and
  rhythm of the speech to convey correct meaning.

10
Common Features

• Call and response
• Short, simple, repeated melodies using scales of
  only 4-7 notes
• Melodies are changed by different singers giving
  a theme and variations effect
• Performers improvise melodies over the main
  melody resulting in polyphonic textures
• Music often sung in rounds (i.e. Zulu choral
  music, overlapping ever-changing textures).
• Harmony varies from tribe to tribe, some only
  using octaves and unison, with occasional 5ths,
  other using lots of harmony i.e. 3rds and 6ths.

11
African instrumental music

• Many instruments which vary between regions.
• Instruments are selected according to nature/mood
  of the music.
• Instrumental music has more complex tuning and is
  capable of playing more demanding rhythms and
  melodies.
• Lots of overlapping of melodies to create
  polyphonic textures.
• Families of instruments
• Membranophones - With a skin or membrane, like a
  drum
• Aerophone Using air, a woodwind instrument
• Chordophones String instruments
• Idiophones resonant/solid instruments, this
  includes the Balaphone or Xylophone, the most
  common African instrument.

12
African instrumental music
Idiophone Aerophone Chordophone
Rattle/Shaker Flutes (Bamboo/Horn) Zithers
Bells Ocarinas Lutes (Kora)
Mbira Panpipes Lyres
Xylophone Horn (From animal tusks) Musical Bows
Clap sticks Trumpet (Wood and metal)
Slit Gongs Pipes (Single and double reed)
Stamping Tubes Whistle
Body percussion is also used i.e hand clapping
and foot stomping, also vocal effects such as
shouting and vocables (eh, ah, oh)
13
Xylophones (Balaphones)

• Most common african instrument
• Many sizes with a variety of pitches
• Wooden bars on a frame, allowing them to
  resonate, using a piece of rubber or dried fruit
  as a membrane to help this.

14
Common features of African instrumental music

1. Repetition (including ostinato)
2. Improvisation
3. Cyclic structures
4. Polyphonic structures
5. Intertwining melodies

15
Background to Yiri - Musicians

• Madou Kone Vocals, Balaphone, Flute
• Sydou Traore Vocals, Balaphone
• Jacouba Kone Djembe
• Francois Naba Vocals, Tam-Tam, dundun, maracas
• Keresse Sanou Talking Drum
• Tidiane Hema Vocals, Maracas

16
Background to Yiri

• From Burkina Faso
• Landlocked nation in West Africa.
• Surrounded by Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana,
  and Cote DIvoire
• Renamed by president Thomas Sankara in 1984
• Burkina Men of Integrity, Faso Fathers House
• Inhabitants are called Burkinabe

17
Background to Yiri

• Main themes for music from Burkina Faso bring
  images of mankinds greatest battles
• Fight for survival
• Need to look after the environment
• Creation
• Also community celebrations and friendships

18
Background to Yiri

• There are 3 clear strands in this set work
• The Balaphone ostinati Combinations produce
  complex polyphony
• The Drum ostinati They play a relentless
  one-bar pattern (with only a tiny variation)
• The vocal line this is a simple pentatonic,
  call-and-response structure.

19
000-018

• Begins with free tempo
• High balaphone playing an improvised solo at a
  soft dynamic
• Sets the scene with a monophonic texture
• Solo is a melody in Gb Major with fast high and
  low rolls on every note.
• A simple, repetitive idea.

20
018-034

• Moderato established by the first balaphone.
• Second balaphone enters at Bar 9, playing mostly
  and octave below.
• Strong sense of Gb Major as the opening notes are
  Db and Gb (V-I).
• Strong rhythmic basis to the melody, built on
  2-bar phrases.
• Second balaphone plays the same melody but with a
  few different pitches (see bars 11-12). Makes a
  heterophonic texture
• Rhythm is mainly semiquavers and quavers with
  some tied notes

21
034-109

• Large and small talking drum and djembe enter
  playing an incessant halfbar ostinati
• Balaphones continue melody
• Lower balaphone plays an ostinato figure in bars
  17-20
• Occasional djembe fills in this melody
• Melody has lots of syncopation and octave
  repetitions on Gb and Db (I-V)
• From bar 21, melodic phrases are repeated with
  slight variation in 2 bar phrases

22
109-201

• Chorus A1 Voices in unison, short, simple,
  repetitive melody. No Harmony.
• Followed by a balaphone break (solo) with drum
  ostinati as before
• Chorus A2 same as before mostly

23
201-245

• Voices out, lower balaphone break . Some
  variation on the melody this time (continuous
  semiquaver Gb)
• Solo with choral responses. Long held or short
  punctuated notes on Yiri
• Drum ostinati continues
• Vocal melody incorporates triplet now (adding
  variation to original melody
• Lower balaphone plays same ostinati from bar17-20
• Voices in unison to call at bar 63.
• New melodic riff on balaphone, based on the
  original.

24
245-314

• Solo voice call again, featuring long notes
• Drums continue as before
• Balaphone plays rhythmic 3-note semiquaver
  melodic figure, creating cross-rhythms
• Bar 71- another variant of the melody in the
  vocals
• Triplet figure, syncopation and semiquaver-quaver
  rhythms have all been heard already in the piece

25
315-431

• Vocal responses from the choir in unison
• Solo voice with varied balaphone rhythms in break
• Instrumental solos continue.New melodies on the
  balaphone. Short 3-beat (one bar) rest before
  next chorus.
• Chorus B1 Full choir in unison, singing Yiri
  with short instrumental interjections to break up
  the vocal lines.

26
431- 520

• Dialogue effects between voices and instruments
• Instrumental as a balaphone break. Riff with
  variations
• This is extended and based on the original melody
  with variations
• More virtuosic, rapid figures with octave leaps
  and demisemiquaver and semiquaver patterns

27
520-624

• Chorus A3 Full, unison choir with instrumental
  interjections
• Instrumental ending played as a balaphone break
• Very syncopated. Drums re-enter at bar 153, one
  bar before the coda

28
624-End Coda

• 5, 2-bar phrases
• Mostly in octaves, with dramatic rests by all
  instruments
• Strong sense of riff
• Some differences in notes occasionally, creating
  a heterophonic texture.
• Drum provides ostinato from Bar 153
• Piece finishes with a final ting on a bell