Download or read book Mbira s Restless Dance written by Paul F. Berliner and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-11-13 with total page 907 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing out of the collaborative research of an American ethnomusicologist and Zimbabwean musician, Paul F. Berliner and Cosmas Magaya’s Mbira’s Restless Dance documents the repertory for a keyboard instrument known generally as mbira. At the heart of this work lies the analysis of the improvisatory processes that propel mbira music’s magnificent creativity. Mbira’s Restless Dance is written to be played. This two-volume, spiral-bound set features musical transcriptions of thirty-nine compositions and variations, annotated with the master player’s advice on technique and performance, his notes and observations, and commentary by Berliner. Enhanced with extensive website audiovisuals, Mbira’s Restless Dance is in effect a series of masterclasses with Magaya, suitable for experienced mbira players and those learning the fundamentals. Together with Berliner's The Art of Mbira, in which he provides an indispensable historical and cultural guide to mbira in a changing world, Mbira's Restless Dance breaks new ground in the depth and specificity of its exploration of an African musical tradition, and in the entwining of the authors’ collaborative voices. It is a testament to the powerful relationship between music and social life—and the rewards of lifelong musical study, performance, and friendship.
Download or read book The Art of Mbira written by Paul F. Berliner and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2020-01-31 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing out of the collaborative research of an American ethnomusicologist and Zimbabwean musician, Paul F. Berliner’s The Art of Mbira documents the repertory for a keyboard instrument known generally as mbira. At the heart of this work lies the analysis of the improvisatory processes that propel mbira music’s magnificent creativity. In this book, Berliner provides insight into the communities of study, performance, and worship that surround mbira. He chronicles how master player Cosmas Magaya and his associates have developed their repertory and practices over more than four decades, shaped by musical interaction, social and political dynamics in Zimbabwe, and the global economy of the music industry. At once a detailed exposition of the music’s forms and practices, it is also an indispensable historical and cultural guide to mbira in a changing world. Together with Berliner and Magaya's compendium of mbira compositions, Mbira’s Restless Dance, The Art of Mbira breaks new ground in the depth and specificity of its exploration of an African musical tradition, and in the entwining of the authors’ collaborative voices. It is a testament to the powerful relationship between music and social life—and the rewards of lifelong musical study, performance, and friendship.
Download or read book The Soul of Mbira written by Paul Berliner and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1993-06 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published: Berkeley: University of California Press, c1978, in series: Perspectives on southern Africa; 26.
Download or read book The Mbira written by Mahealani Uchiyama and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introductory guide to the mbira: the spiritual traditions, historical perspectives, and practical applications of a sacred Zimbabwean instrument. In this accessible overview steeped in history and tradition, teacher and student Māhealani Uchiyama offers insights for learning about the mbira and actively engaging with it in an informed and respectful way. The mbira is made of a wooden soundboard and hammered metal keys. It can be played solo or accompanied by singing, clapping, dancing, percussion, or other mbira. In traditional Zimbabwean culture, the mbira is a spiritual practice that bridges worlds: for example, the realm of the ancestors and of healing energies with the worlds of the living. Supplemented with 32 images and glossary of terms, this book helps readers understand: • The mbira’s special roles within the lamellaphone instrument family • Relevant Zimbabwean and African cultural, historical, and spiritual perspectives • Ways the mbira can become a connection point for people severed from their African roots • How appropriation and commodification have contributed to the mbira’s popularization around the world • Codes of conduct for respectfully playing the mbira and for taking it up as a practice
Download or read book A Prodigy s Calling written by Paul F. Berliner and published by . This book was released on 2024 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ethnomusicologist Paul F. Berliner has been studying Zimbabwean mbira for more than fifty years. When he first arrived in what was then Rhodesia shortly after the nation declared independence from the United Kingdom, he met Cosmas Magaya, an mbira player who would become his teacher and life long collaborator. This book chronicles the early years of Magaya's life, documenting the master mbira player's journey from child prodigy to established expert. As a child, Magaya was immersed in mbira music through his father's work as a healer and spirit medium. As Magaya grew, so, too, did his world; his performances extended beyond the family compound as his skill and knowledge increased, bringing him into contact with a rapidly changing society fraught with colonial conflict. Following Magaya's childhood, we see how his upbringing guided his journey through the community's social networks and how his early sensibilities, proclivities, and talents shaped his development. At the same time, his deepening engagement with music and the ancestors had unforeseen consequences as he grappled with the overlapping tensions in Rhodesia between Shona cosmology and Christian ideology, rural and urban lifestyles, and the escalating African nationalist struggle and the white supremacist state. Interlaced with tales of his unfolding relationships with family members and mbira experts, accounts of his experiences as a learner teach readers how to listen to the mbira, coming as he did to hear ever-finer details in the music's richly layered patterns and to discover its implicit principles, values, and forms. Berliner's vividly narrated account is accompanied by QR codes that take readers directly to recordings of music as Magaya learns it, and linocut illustrations by South African artist Lucas Bambo bring the narrative to life. Berliner has also included appendices for musicians interested in learning or improving their own mbira playing. The book will be a welcome window onto the transmission of musical culture in Shona society, inviting the reader into the very tradition it recounts"--
Download or read book If You Can Walk You Can Dance written by Marion Molteno and published by Niyogi Books. This book was released on 2017 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jennie de Villiers, an idealistic and politically engaged student, suddenly has to flee her native South Africa with a boyfriend whom she no longer loves—only to be stranded as an exile in neighbouring Swaziland. Fending for herself in a new culture, she discovers new ways of living and a kind of music that moves her deeply. As the story moves between Africa and 1970s London, the music of different cultures is woven through the narrative. Jennie works, studies, learns music and tries to bring these various strands together to create a fulfilling and meaningful life, as well as discover her way forward—personally and professionally. Lyrically written, extremely engrossing and deeply moving, If you can walk you can dance exemplifies the thought—‘the personal is political’. Its depiction of a young woman’s life as she travels across frontiers and cultures, reaffirms the healing power of music and the redemptive nature of human connections.
Download or read book The Absolute Sound written by and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 874 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Kalimba 31 Easy to Play African Songs written by Helen Winter and published by Helen Winter. This book was released on with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The kalimba or mbira is a traditional and typical African instrument. It consists of metal keys attached by a wooden support structure. Normally, the African mbira has 4-20 keys, but there also exist mbiras with 45 keys. One of the ethnic groups of people of Zimbabwe, the Rosvi, are called "Mbira people". Any folk song presupposes dance, but in Africa, dance is impossible to separate from a song. Music and dance accompany African birth, growing up, initiation, marriage, the birth of children, death, as well as most social activity, such as hunting, planting and gathering. Music is often associated in Africa with magic. As the African proverb says: "the spirit cannot ascend to heaven without a song". This educational book will help you begin to play music simply and easily. If you are a beginner, playing by notes can be difficult. It is easier to play the finger piano by following numbers. Learn how to play music in a quick and easy way, without knowledge of reading sheet music. Our sheet music is universal and suitable for any 8-, 10- or 17- note kalimbas and mbiras. Follow the numbers and begin to play! Some melodies might have been changed and simplified to be played in the diatonic range. If your thumb piano has flat keys, it is recommended that you use classic sheet music for the piano. Also, we added a QR code to all songs. You can follow the link and listen to the rhythm before beginning to play. List of 31 African songs for kalimba: Achta ta ta ta ta. Song from Morocco Askari Eee. Song from Tanzania Atadwe. Song from Ghana Banaha. Song from Congo Banuwa. Song from Liberia Bebe Moke. Song from Congo Before Dinner. Song from Congo Che Che Koolay. Song from Ghana Coco Laye-Laye. Song from Congo Do Do Ki Do. Song from Cameroon Eh Soom Boo Kawaya. Song from Nigeria Funga Alafia. Song from Ghana Kanzenzenze. Song from Congo Kotiko. Song from Congo L'abe igi orombo. Song from Nigeria Manamolela. Song from South Africa Mayo Nafwa. Song from Zambia Obwisana. Song from Ghana Plouf Tizen Tizen. Song from Algeria Sansa Kroma. Song from Ghana Sélinguenia. Song from Kenya Shosholoza. Song from South Africa Sindi. Song from Burkina Faso Siyahamba. Song from South Africa Siyanibingelela. Song from South Africa Stick Passing Song. Song from Uganda Umele. Song from South Africa Wa Wa Wa. Song from Congo Welcome Song. Song from Uganda Zimbole. Song from South Africa Zomina. Song from Togo
Download or read book The soul of mbira written by Paul Franklin Berliner and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tracing the Mbira Sound Archive in Zimbabwe written by Luis Gimenez Amoros and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 131 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the Mbira Sound Archive in Zimbabwe analyses the revitalisation and repatriation of historical recordings from the largest sound archive in Africa, the International Library of African Music (ILAM). It provides a postcolonial study on the African sound archive divided into three historical periods: the colonial period offers a critical analysis on how ILAM classifies its music through ethnic and linguistic groups; the postcolonial period reconsiders postcolonial nationhood, new/old mobility and cultural border crossing in present Africa; and the recent period of repatriation focuses on the author¿s revitalisation of the sound archive. The main goal of this study is to reconsider the colonial demarcations of southern African mbira music provided by the International Library of African Music (ILAM). These mbira recordings reveal that the harmonic system used in different lamellophones (or mbiras) in southern Africa is musically related. The analysis of sound archives in Africa is an essential tool to envision the new ways in which African culture can be directed not only from postcolonial notions of nationhood or Afrocentric discourses but also for the necessity of bringing awareness of the circulation of musical cultures from and beyond colonial African borders.
Download or read book Guitar Makers written by Kathryn Marie Dudley and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-11-10 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It whispers, it sings, it rocks, and it howls. It expresses the voice of the folk—the open road, freedom, protest and rebellion, youth and love. It is the acoustic guitar. And over the last five decades it has become a quintessential American icon. Because this musical instrument is significant to so many—in ways that are emotional, cultural, and economic—guitar making has experienced a renaissance in North America, both as a popular hobby and, for some, a way of life. In Guitar Makers, Kathryn Marie Dudley introduces us to builders of artisanal guitars, their place in the art world, and the specialized knowledge they’ve developed. Drawing on in-depth interviews with members of the lutherie community, she finds that guitar making is a social movement with political implications. Guitars are not simply made—they are born. Artisans listen to their wood, respond to its liveliness, and strive to endow each instrument with an unforgettable tone. Although professional luthiers work within a market society, Dudley observes that their overriding sentiment is passion and love of the craft. Guitar makers are not aiming for quick turnover or the low-cost reproduction of commodities but the creation of singular instruments with unique qualities, and face-to-face transactions between makers, buyers, and dealers are commonplace. In an era when technological change has pushed skilled artisanship to the margins of the global economy, and in the midst of a capitalist system that places a premium on ever faster and more efficient modes of commerce, Dudley shows us how artisanal guitar makers have carved out a unique world that operates on alternative, more humane, and ecologically sustainable terms.
Download or read book Understanding Music written by N. Alan Clark and published by . This book was released on 2015-12-21 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Music moves through time; it is not static. In order to appreciate music wemust remember what sounds happened, and anticipate what sounds might comenext. This book takes you on a journey of music from past to present, from the Middle Ages to the Baroque Period to the 20th century and beyond!
Download or read book The Voice of New Music written by Tom Johnson and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An anthology of articles on the evolution of minimal music in New York in 1972-1982, which originally appeared in the Village Voice (New York).
Download or read book Genesis Of A Music written by Harry Partch and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 1979-08-22 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Among the few truly experimental composers in our cultural history, Harry Partch's life (1901–1974) and music embody most completely the quintessential American rootlessness, isolation, pre-civilized cult of experience, and dichotomy of practical invention and transcendental visions. Having lived mostly in the remote deserts of Arizona and New Mexico with no access to formal training, Partch naturally created theatrical ritualistic works incorporating Indian chants, Japanese kabuki and Noh, Polynesian microtones, Balinese gamelan, Greek tragedy, dance, mime, and sardonic commentary on Hollywood and commercial pop music of modern civilization. First published in 1949, Genesis of a Music is the manifesto of Partch's radical compositional practice and instruments (which owe nothing to the 300-year-old European tradition of Western music.) He contrasts Abstract and Corporeal music, proclaiming the latter as the vital, emotionally tactile form derived from the spoken word (like Greek, Chinese, Arabic, and Indian musics) and surveys the history of world music at length from this perspective. Parts II, III, and IV explain Partch's theories of scales, intonation, and instrument construction with copious acoustical and mathematical documentation. Anyone with a musically creative attitude, whether or not familiar with traditional music theory, will find this book revelatory.
Download or read book Erotic Triangles written by Henry Spiller and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-09-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In West Java, Indonesia, all it takes is a woman’s voice and a drum beat to make a man get up and dance. Every day, men there—be they students, pedicab drivers, civil servants, or businessmen—breach ordinary standards of decorum and succumb to the rhythm at village ceremonies, weddings, political rallies, and nightclubs. The music the men dance to varies from traditional gong ensembles to the contemporary pop known as dangdut, but they consistently dance with great enthusiasm. In Erotic Triangles, Henry Spiller draws on decades of ethnographic research to explore the reasons behind this phenomenon, arguing that Sundanese men use dance to explore and enact contradictions in their gender identities. Framing the three crucial elements of Sundanese dance—the female entertainer, the drumming, and men’s sense of freedom—as a triangle, Spiller connects them to a range of other theoretical perspectives, drawing on thinkers from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Lévi-Strauss, and Freud to Euclid. By granting men permission to literally perform their masculinity, Spiller ultimately concludes, dance provides a crucial space for both reinforcing and resisting orthodox gender ideologies.
Download or read book Gateways to Understanding Music written by Timothy Rice and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-01-31 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gateways to Understanding Music explores music in all the categories that constitute contemporary musical experience: European classical music, popular music, jazz, and world music. Covering the oldest forms of human music making to the newest, the chronological narrative considers music from a global rather than a Eurocentric perspective. Each of sixty modular "gateways" covers a particular genre, style, or period of music. Every gateway opens with a guided listening example that unlocks a world of music through careful study of its structural elements. Based on their listening experience, students are asked to consider how the piece came to be composed or performed, how the piece or performance responded to the social and cultural issues at the time and place of its creation, and what that music means today. Students learn to listen to, explain, understand, and ultimately value all the music they may encounter in their world. FEATURES Global scope—Presents all music as worthy of study, including classical, world, popular, and jazz. Historical narrative—Begins with small-scale forager societies up to the present, with a shifting focus from global to European to American influences. Modular framework—60 gateways in 14 chapters allow flexibility to organize chronologically or by the seven recurring themes: aesthetics, emotion, social life, links to culture, politics, economics, and technology. Listening-guided learning—Leads to understanding the emotion, meaning, significance, and history of music. Introduction of musical concepts—Defined as needed and compiled into a Glossary for reference. Consistent structure—With the same step-by-step format, students learn through repeated practice how to listen and how to think about music. In addition to streamed audio examples, the companion website hosts essential instructors’ resources.
Download or read book African American Music written by Mellonee V. Burnim and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-13 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American Music: An Introduction, Second Edition is a collection of seventeen essays surveying major African American musical genres, both sacred and secular, from slavery to the present. With contributions by leading scholars in the field, the work brings together analyses of African American music based on ethnographic fieldwork, which privileges the voices of the music-makers themselves, woven into a richly textured mosaic of history and culture. At the same time, it incorporates musical treatments that bring clarity to the structural, melodic, and rhythmic characteristics that both distinguish and unify African American music. The second edition has been substantially revised and updated, and includes new essays on African and African American musical continuities, African-derived instrument construction and performance practice, techno, and quartet traditions. Musical transcriptions, photographs, illustrations, and a new audio CD bring the music to life.
