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Culture

There is lots of material on the web about african culture, dance, religion, magic and the gods. Here is a small excerpt from World Arts West to whet your appetite.

African dance embodies athleticism and a graceful beauty flowing with rhythm. In Africa, dance is a means of marking the experiences of life, encouraging abundant crops, and healing the sick soul and body. It is also done purely for enjoyment. All ceremonial African dances have a purpose. They tell stories and relate history. African music and dance in its essence communicates concepts of life on an elevated level; dance to the African is a universal, transcendent language. Traditionally, people throughout the continent of Africa achieve direct communication between themselves and their gods through ritual music and dance, including many with masks.

Ceremonies
The importance of ceremonies in African society, as in other societies, is apparent at significant points in a person's life cycle. Ceremonies often announce changes in one's social status and social relationships with those in the community, for instance the transition from childhood to adulthood, or marriage.

Many things about ceremonial dances change when they are brought to the stage from their original context in village life. For example, in Africa the dancers are not on a stage, but are interacting directly with the rest of the people, who also participate in the ritual, not by sitting in seats in an audience, but by singing, playing and having dialogue with the musicians and dancers. When these dances are done on the stage, they often include both traditional and innovative elements, illustrating how dance is not static, but changing and growing even as the performers meet new people and styles on their travels!

Mali and Senegal: Mandeng and Wolof
A griot (GREEoh) or djialy (jali) is the traditional keeper of cultural traditions and history of the Mandeng people of West Africa. These traditions and stories are kept in the form of music and dance, containing elements of history or metaphorical statements that carry and pass on the culture of the Mandeng people through the generations. The music will usually follow a form, beginning slow with praise singing and lyrical movements accompanied by melodic instruments such as the kora, a 21-stringed harp/lute, and the balafon, a xylophone with gourd resonators, both characteristic of Mali and the Mandeng people.

Wolof drumming and dancing, originating in Senegal, features the Djembe and DounDoun drums, athletic jumps and spectacular up-tempo movements engaging the whole body. In Senegalese life, the Wolof play drums to heal the sick, communicate with the spirit world, and bring communities together, but most of all, they play drums to dance. Wolof drummers accompany dancers by playing strongly marked cross-rhythms that are laced with interjecting calls. Using precise control, the drummers weave intense patterns. Africa covers about one fifth of the world's land area and about an eighth of its people. It is a land of striking contrasts and great natural wonders, from the tropical rain forests of western and central Africa, to the world's largest desert, the Sahara, to vast grasslands, and the world's longest river, the Nile.

Credits
Text: excerpt from World Arts West
Kora image: from the site of the griot / musician Diakalia Diarra

Enjoy, and Happy Drumming!
Dennis

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