African Music: Theoretical Content and Creative Continuum, The Culture-Exponent's Definitions

Meki Nzewi. African Music Theoretical Content and Creative Continuum, The Culture-Exponent's Definitions. Oldershausen: Institut für Didaktik populärer Musik, 1997. Distributed by W.D. Lugert, D-21436 Oldershausen, Germany. 84 pp. Photos. Diagrams. Musical examples. Bibliography. $13.50. Paper.

This short philosophical and theoretical treatise on African music is difficult to read on many levels, but worth the effort. It is an important work, not only for some of its original ideas that may stimulate new thinking, but also for the insight it gives into the work of a senior African scholar who has published on Igbo music for over thirty years.

The absence of a table of contents no doubt contributes to difficulties with taking in the book as a whole. In the opening preface and "Statement of Position" the author, writing from the "fringes of [the] world ethnomusicological market place" (6), immediately establishes a polemical tone, which at first makes for intriguing reading, but soon wears thin in its persistence: "For over thirty years... I have consistently encountered very discreet but firm suppression of my articulated theories and opinions about African traditional musical philosophies, thoughts and creative-performance principles. These derive from my unusual approach of respecting traditional knowledge and depending primarily on the traditional methods of sensitizing knowledge" (4).

In the first of four numbered chapters, "The African Scholar in Ethnomusicology," Nzewi presents his notion of a "modern trained culture-exponent" (16), explaining his own philosophy of African music scholarship, which is not so far removed from contemporary ethnomusicological practice: "The African ancestors have a philosophy about human-mental development. This requires that personal experience should pre-stage and stimulate inquiry and explanations in a learning situation: A person who has not experienced does not recognise the true nature of a thing" (18). In the second chapter, "The African Music Voice and the Emetic Mediator," the author makes a case for an "em-etic culture exponent," reconciling emic and eticapproaches to "explaining... cultural manifestations," and offers a somewhat cryptic "Creative Theory for the African performance arts" (26).

The meat of the book is contained in chapter 3, "Theoretical Content," the longest chapter by far. Here, in subheadings such as "Melorhythm," "Phrasing Referent," "Inter-rhythm," "Form," "Texture," and "Harmony," the author lays out his theories, which can be dense but fruitful for reexamining longstanding concepts. Nzewi's terminology can occasionally be both a distraction and also a great strength. For example, he uses the term "inter-rhythm" instead of "cross rhythm" because "cross rhythm"

is antithetical to African social and, therefore, ensemble philosophy. A community/family/ team does not work together at cross purposes (36).... The idea of crossing implicates movement in contrary or opposing directions.... Igbo mental culture... emphasises complementarity or interdependence rather than conflict or counter-play in a collaborative activity.... Two with three [is] an inter-rhythm that normatively implicates tonal (melorhythmic) depth. (40)

The final chapter, "New Directions-New Voice-New Focus," discusses issues of composition, performance, and pedagogy.

The writing can occasionally be difficult for a native speaker of American English not used to idiosyncratic Nigerian English filtered through a German institution of higher education (Bayreuth University). Generalizing throughout the book about sub-Saharan Africa based on very limited examples-mostly Igbo from the author's home of Nigeria-Nzewi places himself firmly within a well-established tradition of writing about African music. Although this tradition is rivaled by a plethora of writing (including Nzewi's own) that recognizes the importance of local identity and the uniqueness of regional culture, it remains fascinating to see how kernels contained in any one music culture can stimulate broader thinking about the artistic personality of a continent. Nzewi has made a significant contribution in this direction.

Eric Charry

Wesleyan University

Middletown, Connecticut

Copyright African Studies Association Dec 2003
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