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Topic 4 of 6 · Form 5

African musicology and Zimbabwean music

The study of music in its cultural context – fieldwork, participant observation, recording and transcription, respecting performers and communities.

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Ethnomusicology

The study of music in its cultural context – fieldwork, participant observation, recording and transcription, respecting performers and communities.

Features of African music

Polyrhythm and cross-rhythm, interlocking parts (hocketing), cyclic structures, call and response, improvisation, the link between music, dance and ritual, and timbre preferences (buzzing sounds from bottle caps on mbira or resonators).

Zimbabwean instruments and genres

  • Mbira dzavadzimu (Shona; ceremonial bira), nyunga nyunga, karimba; tuning systems vary between players and regions.
  • Marimba (developed for schools and the Kwanongoma College of African Music in Bulawayo in the 1960s), ngoma drums, hosho, horns and the chipendani.
  • Dances: Mbende Jerusarema, Muchongoyo, Mhande, Isitshikitsha, Amabhiza, Ngoma Buntibe (Tonga).
  • Popular music: chimurenga (Thomas Mapfumo adapting mbira patterns to electric guitar), sungura, jiti, Afro-jazz (Oliver Mtukudzi's "Tuku music"), gospel, urban grooves and Zimdancehall.

Music and society

Music in spirituality, healing, political mobilisation (liberation songs), social commentary and identity.

Notation

Transcribing African music with Western staff notation has limitations; alternatives include box notation (TUBS) and tablature for mbira.

Exam tip: Show how social function shapes musical structure – e.g. participatory music relies on repeated cycles so that anyone can join.

Check yourself

  1. What is polyrhythm?
  2. Which college helped develop marimba ensembles in Zimbabwe?
  3. Why can staff notation be limiting for African music?
Show answers
  1. Two or more contrasting rhythms played at the same time.
  2. Kwanongoma College of African Music, Bulawayo.
  3. It struggles to show cyclic structures, interlocking parts, timbre nuances and flexible tuning.
Next topicComposition and arranging

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