1. Area of Study 4 World Music
Yiri by Koko
Area of Study 4
World Music

2. Keywords Monophonic Balophone Heterophonic Djembe Dundun
Call and Response
Talking drums
Pentatonic
Ostinato

3. African Music
This piece comes from land locked Burkino Faso.

4. African percussion instruments used
Talking drums
Balaphone
Djembe

5. African percussion instruments used
Dundun
Maracas

6. An example of how to use a talking drum

7. Common Features of African music
Repetition – could be a few notes or a whole section
Improvisation – where music is made up on the spot
Polyphony – many different “melody” layers playing together at the same time
Call and response – solo calls and group answer

8. Yiri by Koko
What musical features make this music African and how does it differ to music of the Western Culture?

9. Yiri There are 3 clear strands to this piece:
The balaphone ostinati (riffs)
The 1 bar drum ostinato
The vocal line using a pentatonic scale.

10. Other factors to remember
Tempo is unvaried
Beat is regular
Drum ostinato is throughout the piece
Dynamics on the whole stay the same

11. Intro ( )
Free metred Monophonic texture (high balaphone plays) Melody is improvised Key: Gb major (hence all those flats at the beginning!)

12. Moderato (0.18-0.34) Tempo is set (beat set)
Lower balaphone joins in after high balaphone plays it’s melodic phrase and plays the same melody as high balophone (an octave lower) but sometimes a tiny bit different. Heterophonic texture
Major tonality (heavy use of Gb and Db )

13. 0:34-1:09
1 bar drum ostinato starts (learn it!) on djembe and talking drum.
Balaphones continue to play a variation of first melody
Lots of syncopation!
Meldic phrases are short (around 2 bars)

14. Chorus A1 (1:09-1:25) Voices sing all together (in unison)
No harmony is used

15. Solo break (1:25-1:44) Instrumental for higher balaphone.
The drums are still playing that 1 bar ostinato…

16. Chorus A2 (1:44-2:01) Voices enter again.
Music is similar to chorus A1

17. Solo break (2:01-2:10) Instrumental for lower balaphone.
Melody varies a little with continuous repeated note.
Yes, the drums are still playing that 1 bar ostinato!

18. Solo with choral responses (2:10-2:45)
Solo voices “calls”.
Melody has changed
Rhythms now have triplets
Variation of original melody
New ostinato for the balaphones

19. Solo voice (2:45-3:14) Solo call again with a long held note.
Higher balaphone plays 3 semi motive and lower balaphone plays on the beat. This creates cross rhythms.
Solo voice sings another variation of the original melody.
Those drums are still play that 1 bar ostinato…..

20. 3:15- 3:19 Call and response between the solo singer and the choir.
The choir answer back in unison.

21. 3:20 – 3:28 Call from the solo voice and balaphone solo break starts.
Balaphone rhythms have changed slightly.

22. Balaphone break (3:28-3:59)
New melodies are being played on the balaphones.
Just before the next section, there is a one bar (3 beat rest)

23. Chorus B1 (4:00-4:31) Choir sing in unison.
Balaphones play short melodies between the choir melody phrases.
Call and response between the choir and balaphones.
The drums are still playing that ostinato (1 bar)

24. 4:31-4:45
Call and response between the choir and balaphones much clearer.

25. Balaphone break (4:45-5:20) Play ostinatos with variaitons.
Still based on the original melody
This section is extended to show how good the balaphone player is.
Melody has octave leaps.

26. Chorus A3 (5:20-5:36)
Choir are singing in unison (notice that they always sing in unison)

27. Balaphone break (5:36-6:24)
Improvised balaphone break using bothe the high and low balaphone.
Rhymically, this uses a lot of syncopation.
The drums had stopped playing their 1 bar ostinato (hurrah!), however they reappear with the same ostinato in the very last bar of this section.

28. Coda (6:24-end) First 2 balaphone phrases are in octaves.
Noticeable rests as whole group stop playing for the rests.
Some heterophonic texture.
Drums back to playing that ostinato.
Piece finishes with a “ting” on the cow bell.