| Unit 1: Introduction: Ethnomusicological Approaches to African Music |
| 1 |
Preliminaries; Overview of Course |
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| 2 |
The Field of Ethnomusicology, the Concept of "Soundscapes" and its Application to the Study of World Music
Building a Cross-Cultural Musical Vocabulary |
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| 3 |
Organology and Instruments: The Sachs-Hornbostel System of Instrument Classification |
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| 4 |
African Music: A Review of Ethnomusicological Literature |
Paper 1 due |
| Unit 2: Senegal |
| 5 |
Senegalese History, Culture, and Music
Focus on Wolof Griots, Masters of the Sabar Drum |
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| 6 |
Popular Music in Senegal: mbalax and Hip-Hop |
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| 7 |
Sabar Drumming: An Introduction to Basic Hand Techniques, Rhythms, and bàkks |
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| 8 |
Sabar Drum Workshop with Artist-in-Residence, Lamine Touré |
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| 9 |
Interlude: Southern Africa |
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| Unit 3: Mali |
| 10 |
Music of the Mande: The jali and his Instruments |
Musical transcription exercise due |
| 11 |
Guest Lecture - Demonstration by Balla Kouyate, a Balafon Player from New York City
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| 12 |
Malian Superstars: Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare and Ali Farke Touré |
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| 13 |
Midterm Exam |
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Evening Performance by Lamine Touré and Group Saloum |
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| Unit 4: Ghana |
| 14 |
Music Cultures of the Ewe and Dagbamba |
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| 15 |
Case Study: Agbekor (Ewe) |
Paper 2 due |
| 16 |
Urban Music Roots: Highlife and Palm-wine Music |
Submit final project proposal |
| 17 |
Interlude: Central Africa |
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| Unit 5: Nigeria |
| 18 |
Music and Identity: jùjú and fúji Bands |
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| 19 |
Music and Politics: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's Afro-Beat |
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| 20 |
Music and Ritual: Hausa Music and the bori Ceremony |
Submit final project progress report |
| 21 |
Interlude: East Africa |
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| Unit 6: Conclusions |
| 22-24 |
Final Presentations |
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| 25 |
Conclusions |
Final paper due |