MUSC 3045 - World Music Across Cultures: Advanced: Africa

I.L.A.M. aims to discover, record, analyze, and archive the music of sub-Saharan Africa, with the object of establishing a theory of musicmaking in Africa and assessing the social, cultural, and artistic values of African music. It is one of the largest repository of African music in the world.

The collaborative project with the University of Michigan digitized nearly 900 audio recordings and associated scripts of the weekly radio program. The archive now features 691 radio programs with a combination of program script and broadcast audio, https://www.voanews.com/a/mtia-archive/6137619.html

Developed by Michigan State University. This module is comprised of four learning activities that explore African musical traditions; engage students in discussion on why it is important for them to know and understand other musical traditions, in this case, those traditions from Africa and their connection to other traditions in the world today; investigate as a class and in small groups the functions of music in African society and how different economic, political and religious practices of all people in the Americas, and of European colonizers in Africa, have made an impact on the nature of Africa’s musical practices today.

Find lesson plans on music from Botswana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe as well as lessons examining connections between West Africa and the Caribbean. Lessons are for multiple ages and grades.

Art and culture often are deep expressions of identity and politics. In various contexts in Africa, music has been a potent instrument of social movements. Featuring Bode Omojola, Five College Professor of Music, and Nathaniel Braddock, musician & teacher, this episode produced by Primary Source with the support of the BU African Studies Center explores recent historical and contemporary examples of protest music throughout Africa. It highlights how musicians in social movements expressed their anticolonial, antiapartheid, and anti-corruption sentiments through music.

Use this free interactive tool to explore Afro beats and rhythms.

This enlightening video dives deep into the rhythmic soul of Africa, uncovering eight diverse pentatonic scales that form the backbone of the continent's rich musical tradition. Each scale showcases a different facet of Africa's musical diversity - from captivating ceremonial songs to heartwarming folk music.

Online Folk Music and Dance Archives of fieldwork from Ethiopia, recorded in 1965 by György Martin and Bálint Sárosi. Includes audio, film, photos, and field notes.

Founded in 1954 by Hugh Tracey, the International Library of African Music (ILAM) is a research institution devoted to the study of music and oral arts in Africa, it preserves thousands of historical recordings going back to 1929 and supports contemporary fieldwork. ILAM recordings are available for listening via Smithsonian Global Sound.

The James Koetting Ghana Field Recordings collection presents a mix of traditional and popular music recorded at a broad range of locations and events in Ghana during the 1970s by ethnomusicologist James Koetting. Listen online to the complete archive of Koetting's field tapes (142 audio reel tapes) of musical performances from arts festivals, traditional ceremonies and events, stage concerts, church services, and less formal gatherings and sessions throughout Ghana.

Based on a six-week expedition into Middle Congo in 1946, initiated by French ethnologist Noel Ballif and 11 other explorers including ethnomusicologist GIlbert Rouget. The aim of the mission was to capture the culture and musical traditions of the Congo Pygmies. The exhibition is an amalgamation of photography and 500 audio clips of the Pygmies.

Singing Wells recorded material is made available via their open source digital music map of East Africa, which they hope will be shared by the widest possible audience of musicians, ethnomusicologists and enthusiastic listeners.