African Musicology Online https://utafitionline.com/index.php/amo <div class="wpb_text_column wpb_content_element "> <div class="wpb_wrapper"> <p><strong> African Musicology Online (AMO)</strong> is a Journal for interested music scholars from Africa and beyond. There have been many misconceptions, misrepresentations, and overgeneralizations about African music. Besides myriad problems in the study of African Musicology, there is a need to hear and consider the voices of owners of the music. African Musicology Online is published bi-annually in June and December. </p> </div> </div> en-US <p><a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license"><img src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a></p> <p>This work is licensed under a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p>Authors must distribute contributions under the same license as the original.</p> wanyamam@yahoo.com (Mellitus N. Wanyama) lilnabs.nabwire@gmail.com (Lillian N. Ouma) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 OJS 3.3.0.16 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 Tonality and Atonality of Speech Surrogacy as Resource for African Pianism https://utafitionline.com/index.php/amo/article/view/897 <p>While a good portion of African traditional music exists in the song idiom, a sizable part of the music of indigenous Africa is expressed in the speech mode, seen predominantly in drums and other instruments performance. The resultant effect of speech mode in Indigenous African instrumental music is known as speech surrogacy, which is the utilising of musical instruments to communicate like in spoken words. This paper investigates the aspect of pitch organisation, within the context of tonality and atonality, in ‘Verve Dialogues with Àjàntálá', an ensemble piece by the author, in which the piano plays a prominent role, within the principles of African pianism and makes use of speech mode as it exists in <em>Dùndún</em> tradition. Through the analysis of the case study piece, the extensive use of speech surrogacy in the piano part score and the process through which tonality and atonality lend credence to the ‘traditionalisation’ of the piano as a modern African instrument – a practice now known as ‘African Pianism’ is discussed. This paper ultimately presents the potential in the tonality and atonality of speech surrogacy as a tonal resource cardinal to evolving a viable model in African pianism.</p> Seun Owoaje Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 https://utafitionline.com/index.php/amo/article/view/897 Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 An Analysis of Indigenisation Dynamics of Kenya Army Band Martial Music https://utafitionline.com/index.php/amo/article/view/905 <p>The weakening of British rule and the eventual emancipation of Kenya from colonial control brought the promise of a free nation able to validate its indigeneity through art, culture, and music. However, the Kenyan army band martial music has not fully realised this potential. Sixty years after independence, the Kenya army band plays British-style music and has slowly adapted to indigenous music. This paper is part of a continuing study at Langata Garrison in Nairobi, the home of the Kenya Army Band. The study employed a qualitative approach and a case study research design to analyse selected martial music scores. The guiding theory for this study is Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory, which aims to deconstruct colonisation elements through decolonial listening. The study reveals that while some progress has been made in incorporating Indigenous music, a more deliberate and broad-based approach is needed to cut the umbilical cord of the colonised from the coloniser.</p> David Ekal, Mellitus Wanyama, Joyce Mochere Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 https://utafitionline.com/index.php/amo/article/view/905 Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000