1. ADVANCED SEMINAR SERIES Faculty of Arts Tshwane University of Technology South Africa

2. AFRICAN PIANISM: A Compositional Framework & Musical Culture Identifier
Ayọ̀ Olúrántí, PhD

3. Introduction Does African art music exist as a distinct genre?
The authenticity and identity debate in African Art Music (AAM)
Does African art music exist as a distinct genre?
Can African composers create musical works that at once aesthetically valid and recognizably African?

4. Introduction
The authenticity and identity debate in African Art Music (AAM)
“…When African composers are not writing within the Western tradition…they seem unable to produce works…that are idiomatically African. At best they hover between Western and African traditions without achieving a satisfactory integration of both.” (Irele, 1993) “African (art) music, in the sense of a conscious and elaborated art form with distinguishable stylistic conventions is not possible.” (Irele, 1993)
Abiola Irele

5. Introduction
The authenticity and identity debate in African Art Music (AAM)
“Compositions written by Africans…even when they have… utilized elements of African music have generally conformed
to European ideals to such a degree that the African elements have been overshadowed by the Western. The influences at work here are so forceful that the music produced must be regarded as representing an almost total rejection of African norms.” (Euba, 1970)
Akin Euba

6. Introduction
The authenticity and identity debate in African Art Music (AAM)
To achieve a tradition of art music that is distinctively African, composers must develop appropriate compositional frameworks that will enable them deal at deeper structural levels with the details of musical form and language. (Euba, 1970 & Nketia, 1995)
Akin Euba
Kwabena Nketia

7. African Pianism Akin Euba Composer Ethnomusicologist Pianist Scholar
Origin
Akin Euba
Composer
Ethnomusicologist
Pianist
Scholar
“The concept of African Pianism entered my creative consciousness in the early 1960s, during which time I became increasingly occupied with thoughts of an African identity in modern composition.”

8. African Pianism Thematic repetition
DEFINITION
The percussive use of the piano to:
Invoke a symbolic representation of African musical textures
Express the rhythmical and textural components of traditional African music without actually using traditional instruments.
INGREDIENTS
Thematic repetition
Direct borrowings of thematic material (rhythmical and/or tonal) from African traditional sources
Percussive treatment of piano.
Making the piano ‘behave’ like African instruments.

9. Ukom for Piano COMPOSER Joshua Uzoigwe (1946 – 2005) FRAMEWORK
UKOM for Piano (Studies in African Pianism IV) op.11
COMPOSER
Joshua Uzoigwe (1946 – 2005)
Composer
Ethnomusicologist
Pianist
Scholar
FRAMEWORK
African Pianism
AFRICAN MUSICAL SOURCE
Ukom traditional music

10. Ukom Traditional Music
Overview
Instrumental genre of Igbo (Nigeria)
Ritual music
Okwukwu nwanyi women’s funeral ceremony
Igbo new yam festival
Ogbom (honouring of the earth deity)
Instrument
Aria nkwa (drum row) – 10 small membrane drums
Ebelu – large open-ended membrane drum (pulse)
Ekere – small wooden slit-drum (metronome)

11. Ukom Traditional Music
Stylistic Features
Free form
Call and response melodic patterns: the principal soloist composes single-line melodies.
Alternation of melodic with chordal phrases
Development of short motivic ideas
Alternation between song and dance sections
Music can be in free rhythm &strict rhythm

12. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe 1. Thematic Repetition
Elements of African Pianism
1. Thematic Repetition
Theme 1
Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4
Theme 5 Theme 6

13. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe 2. Direct Borrowings Figure 1
Elements of African Pianism
2. Direct Borrowings
Figure 1
Figure 2

14. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe
Elements of African Pianism
3. Percussive Treatment of Piano (Accents invoking drum slaps)
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5

15. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe
Elements of African Pianism
4. Making the Piano ‘behave’ like African Instruments
(Hocket Technique)
Figure 6
Figure 7

16. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe Formal Structure (Song & Dance Structures)
Elements of Ukom Traditional Music
Formal Structure (Song & Dance Structures)
Pitch Organization & Structure
Rhythmic Structure (no strong-weak beat accentual matrix)
Phrase Structure (asymmetry & macro-periodicity)
Polyrhythm (to invoke percussive effect)
Repetition with Variation
Minimalism (rhythm, material development, register)
Musical Stasis & Linearity

17. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe Pitch Centricity Fixed Harmony Minimalism
Pitch Organization & Structure
Figure 8
Figure 10
Figure 9 E G A C D B
PITCH SET A
PITCH SET B
Pitch Centricity
Fixed Harmony
Minimalism
Figure 11

18. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe
The Role of Pitch Organization
“…Pitch and tonality are among the indicators of national or cultural identity in music.” (Femi Adedeji, 2005)
Femi Adedeji
Style in contemporary African art music can be used to help define a clear African identity whose basis should be derived from African tonal organization and harmonic logic as viewed from the conception and perspective of an African social-musical universe. (Uzoigwe, 2005)
Joshua Uzoigwe

19. Ukom – Joshua Uzoigwe
Tradition as key to Identity
A composer who is able to capture “the spirit and stylistic characteristics of traditional music in modern African composition, written for Western musical instruments” merits an achievement bordering on a “mastery of traditional and conventional creative ingenuities.” (Nzewi, 1981)
Meki Nzewi

20. African Pianism
Tradition as key to Identity
African traditional music uniquely identifies the people of Africa
African traditional music as basis of art music can balance out the musical transformation experienced in Africa
African traditional music is a vast resource yet to be maximized

21. Is African Art Music Possible?
COMPOSITIONAL FRAMEWORK
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MUSIC
African Traditional (Art) Music
Modern African Art Music