Sub-Saharan Music and Culture

  As some of you may know I am a part of the Esports team for a game called Valorant. In this game there is a character named Astra, who is considered the role of a controller/smokes character. Astra is considered of Gahnian descent and all aspects of her character, trailer music, and accent show this. The main thing I want to focus on though is that second item, a trailer song that was used for her reveal. 

    

    The song was created by JessB, a New Zealand raised rapper, who was adopted at a young age into her Aunt/Uncles family. Though, her birth mother and father are from Kenya and stayed there throughout her life. In an article written by Nicky Park, JessB states the culture shock she experienced while visiting Kenya after growing up in New Zealand. She also states the importance of keeping in touch with her roots back home with her parents and with her birth parents. She continued to reflect on the trip, “It's not something I would ever talk about, it's just something that was there. I hated my hair. In summer I would stay out of the sun because I didn't want to go any darker, just little things like that.” She began to accept that she was “Afri-Kiwi” and began to reconnect with herself and her own appearance.

    Music is used to tell a story and can give a pretty detailed look onto what life was like during a certain time period. South African music was no different during the time of Apartheid, a song created in 1987 named Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela), created by Hugh Masekela, was about freeing Nelson from prison. The most straightforward a song can be with its meaning and intent. The song was created with a variety of instruments which greatly contrasts the music we are learning about in class. Hugh Masekela’s song is a westernized form of South African music. Similar to Hugh Masekela, Brenda Fassie created a song called Black President, recounting the tragedies of the Apartheid and Nelson Mandelas arrest, its effects on the black citizens of South Africa. Again, this song is a more westernized form of song, but has aspects of traditional clothing and singing style.

    Ugandan cultural music is very similar in style to other Sub-Saharan countries of Africa as we’ve stated in class. For example in this video about Buganda Folk Song, there seems to be only one instrument, the drum which is assisted by the clapping of the children that are dancing/singing to keep the beat, tempo, and rhythm. The rhythm of the song is very simple, this in comparison to Agbekor Drumming is starkly different. Agbekor drumming consists of multiple simple rhythms layered on top of each other to create a complex polyrhythm. Also the singing with the Agbekor Drums was creating a rhythm of its own and was not in line with the drums. Unlike the folk song, which syncs the singing and drumming together to create a singular rhythm and tempo. But, the Buganda Folk Song does involve call + response, something that we’ve seen through many cultures we’ve studied, including Sub-Saharan Africa. Also similarly, the Folk Song drummer is using different sized drums to create the differing pitches heard throughout the song, something that is a unique concept of Agbekor drums.