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Major Problems Confronting Scholars and Educators of the Musical Arts in Sub-Saharan Africa

Eric A Akrofi, EdD
University of Transkei, South Africa

ABSTRACT

Centuries of European Christian missionary activities and colonialism resulted in the marginalization of indigenous African musical arts forms in the curricula of educational institutions in the continent of Africa. African scholars and educators of the musical arts have sought to rectify this state of affairs since most African countries gained their independence in the 1950s and 1960s. This paper first discusses the major problems confronting African scholars and educators of the musical arts, caused by factors such as: foreign missionary activities; imported state and school systems and curricular content; urbanization; modern economic pursuits; and the media. Secondly, it examines the contributions of the Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education (PASMAE) which has made strenuous efforts like bringing together African scholars and educators of the performing arts to write a book on African musical arts education, and to engage in philosophical debates on indigenous ways of life and values that address practical issues concerning African musical arts education.

1. Introduction

Africa is a continent whose past has been marked by Western Christian missionary and colonial influences which have resulted in the loss of the indigenous ways of life and value systems of its people. In order to negate the marginalization of African arts and culture caused by five centuries of Christian missionary activities and colonialism, African political leaders, scholars and educators, have, since the years of independence from the late 1950s and early 1960s, striven to revive their traditional arts and culture. As the Ghanaian music educator, Flolu (1998:183) rightly puts it, “Few scholars, writing on any subject of interest about sub-Saharan Africa will omit to wrestle – no matter how briefly – with colonialism, Christianity and cultural emancipation”.

The purpose of this paper is two fold. First, it discusses the major problems confronting African scholars and educators of the musical arts who are trying to revive their traditions; and secondly, it examines the extent to which some of these problems have been tackled.

Africa is a vast continent consisting of 53 countries inhabited by over 700 million people who collectively speak about a thousand distinct languages. Examples in this paper are drawn from four sub-Saharan countries, all former British colonies, namely, Nigeria (Africa’s most populous nation with a population of over 130 million), Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, which are a representative selection from the Western, Eastern and Southern regions of the continent. Countries of the North Africa region are not included because they are “ … inhabited by societies whose languages and cultures are very closely related to those of the Arab world of the Middle East” (Nketia, 1974:3).

2. The Musical Arts of Africa

Kwabena Nketia, the foremost scholar of African music, classifies the arts of Africa into traditional and contemporary arts. According to him “while the traditional arts are cultivated in contexts in which behaviour is guided by ethnicity, kinship and a common indigenous language, religion and culture, contemporary arts are cultivated in contexts in which linkages beyond those of ethnicity form the basis of social life. Such linkages are established through memberships in educational institutions, new social, political and economic associations such as trade unions, soccer and sports clubs” (Nketia, 1995:1). It is clear from Nketia’s statement that the traditional arts were the only category existing in Africa before the advent of Christianity and colonialism, which gave birth to the contemporary arts.

The traditional arts are basically community oriented. Music for example, is practised as an integral part of social life, a process by which the individual is integrated into his/her society. It is usually performed together with dance, play, oral literature, story telling and other arts. According to Mans (1998:374), musical arts education in Africa should be based on ngoma, which “… summarises the holistic connections between music, dance, other arts, society and life force. It encapsulates the notion of power in communal performance, and it draws from indigenous music and dance traditions for colour and vitality”.

The contemporary arts tend to combine indigenous African traditions of a country with those of the imperial power that colonized it. In the field of music, for example, the term ‘bimusicality’ has been employed to demonstrate the combination of African and Western idioms in modern African art music which Nketia describes as “an idiomatic form which integrates old (tradition) and recent (colonial) African techniques and experiences in music in the creative process … . Its African and Western roots are obvious and need not be overemphasized” (personal communication, 10 June, 2002).

Apart from art music, some African artists use indigenous resources and idioms to compose popular music, jazz and a variety of musical forms based on Western styles and idioms. Even the Christian church, which discouraged its African Christian converts from performing African music during the colonial period, is now an important venue for the development of contemporary music incorporating African drums, other African instruments and African dance in its worship services. This has resulted in the creation of a new style of ‘gospel’ music in African vein among many church choirs. Some musicians of popular music have also created their own popular drama, (known as the “concert party” in Ghana) which combines music with acting, miming, dialogue in the language of their communities, and impersonation.

While the traditional arts are based on African values, which are community-oriented and holistic, the contemporary arts combine African traditions with those of Western European cultures. Although both the traditional and contemporary arts are very much alive in Africa today, scholars and educators on the continent are concerned that current events may lead to a situation where the contemporary arts may displace the traditional arts, which may become extinct if not preserved. The major problems confronting scholars and educators of the musical arts in sub-Saharan Africa are based on this premise.

3. Problems Confronting African Scholars and Educators of the Musical Arts

According to the Nigerian scholar, Nzewi (1999:76-77) “factors that have been identified as determining the trends in the modern teaching and learning of music in African countries, include foreign missionary activities, imported state and school systems and curricular content, urbanization, modern economic pursuits, and the media. These factors have also generated preferences for foreign cultural tastes and values among African people”. In fact, these factors have also created problems for African scholars and educators trying to ensure that Western tastes and values do not supersede African values in the modern African school systems. The problems confronting African scholars and educators of the musical arts are discussed below in relation to the factors mentioned by Nzewi.

3.1 Foreign Missionary Activities

“The history of Western education in Africa is bound up with the history of missionary activities in the continent. Colonial policies, which defined the conditions under which the missionaries carried on their religious activities, shaped the ecology of African education” (Uchendu, 1979:292). Formal education instituted by the missionaries was at variance with traditional African education. Its primary objectives were to convert Africans to Christianity and inculcate European culture. The missionaries, therefore, discouraged the performance of traditional African music, which they regarded as primitive. Instead, they taught Christian hymns and anthems in the schools they established. The eminent Ghanaian historian, Boahen (1966:122), asserts that “…. the missionaries looked down on everything African - African art, music, dancing, systems of marriage and even naming, and their converts had to renounce all this. Their activities therefore created division in African society and retarded the development of indigenous African culture”.

Many schools in Africa still follow “… the nineteenth century colonial tradition of preparing children to perform at worship services and on speech days” (Evans, 1975:18). Indeed, the Christian missionary legacy of singing has continued to influence music education in African schools. Adnonum (1980:58) has observed that in Ghana, music is studied seriously in universities and secondary schools while primary and elementary schools place emphasis on singing especially in school choral ensembles.

African scholars and educators of the musical arts are concerned that the Christian missionary legacy of singing hymns and Western songs is overemphasized to the detriment of all other musical activities.

3.2 Imported State and School Systems and Curricular Content

The school systems in post-colonial Africa continue to be based on Western ideology and models. Nzewi (1999:77) has observed that the content and pedagogical approaches of music curricula in Africa are parodies of foreign models. In fact, the music curricula of former British colonies in Africa, four of which have been mentioned earlier, are based on the requirements for examinations conducted by British examining boards, especially the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music based in London. As this writer has stated elsewhere, “The teaching of Western music and the organization of musical activities based on Western concepts of music education has had a stranglehold on school music education in Africa” (Akrofi, 1998:40).

The Western domination of Africa’s educational system, “… tends to impose on arts education a somewhat exclusive and specialized connotation in which music is perceived as being reserved for the ‘talented’ few” (Muller, 1998:444). This does not augur well for the indigenous African practice of communal music making which emphasizes the acquisition of musical knowledge as part of the process by which the individual is integrated into his culture and society. Besides, the Western domination of education in Africa means that African music and arts will continue to be given a low position in the curricula of the schools on the continent.

Another problem created in Africa by the imposition of foreign educational systems and curricular content is the production of music and arts teachers of Western music who have little or no knowledge of African arts to impart to their pupils. This is confirmed by Mans (1998:376) who writes, “ A common problem in the southern African sub-region is that teachers with formal music training seldom have a working knowledge of the local peoples’ musics and dances”.

3.3 Urbanisation

Although a majority of Africans live in rural communities, rural dwellers are moving in droves to urban centres in search of jobs and better social services. Many indigenous music groups in rural areas break up when some of their members relocate to urban areas. Some new urban dwellers have managed to form indigenous performing arts groups with people from their former rural abode but this is not common and, as a result, very little indigenous music making happens in African cities and towns, which are the hub of the contemporary arts.

3.4 Modern Economic Pursuits

Modern life in Africa has caused many rural dwellers to abandon their traditional professions for new opportunities offered by Western technology. Until the early part of the 20th century, hunting and drumming were noble professions whose practitioners formed associations known for their performances of indigenous music and dance. Today, these two professions are virtually dead and the rich musical traditions associated with them are sinking into oblivion.

Many well-known performers of indigenous African music are part-time musicians. Daniel Amponsah (popularly known as Koo Nimo), one of Ghana’s leading musicians of indigenous African music, is a biochemist by profession who works full-time in a university science faculty.

3.5 Media

“The impact of the Western institutionalized approach to education in general has been considered by many traditionalists as being responsible for the breakdown of traditional values and learning processes. The evening fireside story-telling sessions, the full-moon hide-and-seek and other group activities, and most of the things that children would do as a reinforcement of their social development and responsibility have now been replaced by television programs, a majority of which are totally foreign” (Amoaku, 1998:25).

The above quotation aptly sums up the problems caused by the media with regard to indigenous African arts education. It is not only the television that has been responsible for the breakdown of traditional African values and learning processes. The radio and the availability of films and video recordings of foreign arts have equally undermined musical arts education in Africa.

4. Tackling the Major Problems Confronting Scholars and Educators of the Musical Arts in Africa

There is no doubt that foreign missionary activities, foreign school systems and curricular content, urbanization, modern economic pursuits and the media, have all contributed to the marginalization of African cultural expressions and values, resulting in cultural alienation, a situation which African scholars and educators of the musical arts have been striving to rectify over the past five decades.

Almost all post-colonial African governments have created institutions like language bureaus, national dance companies or cultural troupes to promote cultural development. Annual national arts festivals are also organized to promote unity among diverse ethnic groups by mobilizing performers and audiences from different regions of the country to interact and share cultural experiences.

At the continental level, a first World Festival of Negro Arts was held in Dakar, Senegal in 1966. A second festival, the Algiers Festival of Arts was held in Algeria in 1972 under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity, now known as the African Union, including the arts from Arab North Africa which were excluded from the Dakar festival. In 1977, the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) was held in Lagos, Nigeria in collaboration with all governments in Africa. Unlike the Dakar and Algiers festivals, FESTAC invited Africans in the Americas and the Caribbean and thus promoted a worldwide concept of black culture. According to Nketia (1995:13) “The enormous problems involved in organizing inter-African arts festivals of such magnitude and economic decline faced by many African countries have held such programmes in abeyance”.

National Festivals of arts and culture are held once in a year and as such are not the right answer to the problem of education in the musical arts. African scholars and educators have, therefore, formed an association known as the Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education (PASMAE was mooted at the International society for Music Education (ISME) World Conference in Pretoria, South Africa in 1998, and the society was subsequently formed in August 2000 in Harare, Zimbabwe. The society’s name was changed to PASMAE signifying the integrated nature of music, dance and theatre in Africa, during its meeting held in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2001.

PASMAE is affiliated with ISME, the International Music Council and UNESCO. Among its objectives are:

* Identifying and pooling the expertise of resource persons all over Africa and beyond.

* Assessing and disseminating available, relevant literature and learning materials.

* Advancing the increased use as well as methodological learning of indigenous music instruments in practical music education.

* Resourcing and effectively using music materials available in a community for creativity and music theory – illustrations and exercises.

* Assisting the teaching and research capability of local music teachers through local, regional and pan African seminars.

* Dialoguing with Ministries of Education as well as curriculum planners on emphasizing African music content in music education at all levels, in recognition of the centrality of music in building cultural-national identity in the global context. (PASMAE flyer)

In 2003, PASMAE invited 31 African music scholars from the fields of musicology, composition, performance practice, ethnomusicology, and music education to a one-week authors’ workshop at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, which have resulted in the publication of a book entitled Musical Arts in Africa: Theory, Practice and Education (Herbst, Nzewi & Agawu, 2003). This book, among other things, “attempts to correlate the various sub-disciplines of music, thereby restoring the original holistic philosophy and practice of musical arts education in Africa” (Musical Arts in Africa flyer). It is presented as a package, with a double compact disc and video featuring performances of African drumming, mouth bow playing, overtone singing, contemporary South and West African compositions and so forth.

PASMAE has also instituted a Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa that aims to combine ethnomusicological, musicological, music educational and performance-based research to promote the musical arts on the continent of Africa.

PASMAE offers hope that the major problems confronting scholars and educators of the musical arts in Africa are being tackled in earnest. Djedje (2003:vii) sees the birth of PASMAE as a major turning point in the study of African music for three reasons: “First, it is significant that Africans from different parts of the continent and various specializations in the performing arts have come together and taken action to improve the quality of learning and performance of African music in educational institutions. Second, PASMAE’s commitment to creating a publication that provides an African-sensitive perspective is encouraging. Third, PASMAE is important because it combines philosophical debates with indigenous ways that address practical issues related to musical arts education”.

REFERENCES

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