UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST

CENTRE FOR AFRICAN & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

ASP 104A: TRADITIONAL MUSIC IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA AND NEW
TRENDS IN AFRICAN MUSIC
NAME OF LECTURER Rosemond E. Kutsidzo
E-mail rosemond.kutsidzo@ucc.edu.gh
Office Department of Music and Dance

COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course aims at giving a conceptual understanding of African Music and enhancing students’
ability to appreciate and critically evaluate creative ways in which cultural values of Africa have
been and continue to be preserved through the organization and performance of music and dance
in the societies of Africa. Case studies will be drawn from music traditions of societies in and
outside Ghana. Among other things, the course will engage students in a critical discussion
about the nature and value of African music, role of music in African societies, musical
organization and classification in African societies and so on. Finally, students will be engaged
in the history, performance practice, instrumentation and functions of selected Ghanaian
ensembles.

OUTLINE OF TOPICS
1. The Concept of African Music (Musical Arts of Africa)
a) Problem of Meaning and Understanding of African Music (e.g. Cultural
heterogeneity)
b) Components of the Performing Arts
c) Elements/Characteristics

2. Classification of African Musical Instruments

a) Sachs/Hombostel
b) Types
c) Social Roles

3. Groupings of African Music

a) Occasional
b) Incidental
c) Recreational
d) Blurred boundaries
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 4. Musical learnings in Africa
a) The apprenticeship model
b) Social Learning Theory

5. Functions of Music in African Cultures

a) Social
b) Political
c) Economic
d) Religious

6. Factors that influence change in musical traditions

a) Social (Western/Arab civilizations – Religion/Education)
b) Economic impact
c) Political
d) Technology/modernity

7. Ensemble study (Group Presentation)

a) History
b) Performance practice
c) Occasions/functions
d) Instrumentation

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Students are expected to actively participate in all lectures and write at least two
assignments/quizzes that will constitute Continuous Assessment mark, and in addition, write an
end of Semester exam. Dates for all quizzes will be communicated in advance. Assignments
may be on given topics, group work or reading summaries.

REFERENCES
Blacking, J. (1973). How musical is man? Seattle , University of Washingon Press.
Blacking, J. (1983). The concept of identity and folk concepts of self: A Venda Case Study.
Identity: Personal and Socio-Cultural. A. Jacobson-Widding. Uppsala, Uppsala
University: 47-65.
Carver, M. (2012). Understanding African music. International Library of African Music.
Rhodes, Grahamstown. South Africa.
Fiagbedzi, N. (2005). An essay on the nature of the aesthetic in the African musical arts. Accra,
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 Royal Crown Press Ltd.
Gunderson, F. (2010). Sukuma labor songs from Western Tanzania. Netherlands, Brill.
Kaemmer, J. E. (1993). Music in human life: anthropological perspectives on music.
Austin, University of Texas Press.
Nketia, J . H. K. (1964). African music in Ghana. Evanston, I L: Northwestern University Press.
Nketia, J . H. K. (1974). The music of Africa. New York: W. W. Norton Company.
Otchere, E. D. (2018). Work and happiness: Songs of a Ghanaian seine fishing culture. In L.
Gilman et. al. Everyday life on the African continent: fun, leisure and expressivity.
University of Ohio Press.
Otchere, E. D. (2017). Toward a “culturally responsive music curriculum”: Harnessing the power
of Ghanaian popular music in Ghana’s public education sector. Ghana Studies. 20(1), 93-
110. University of Wisconsin Press.
Otchere, E. D. (2017). “In a world of their own”: memory and identity in the fishing songs of an
Ewe migrant community. African music: Journal of the International Library of African
Music. 10(3). Rhodes University, South Africa.
Younge, P. Y. (2011). Music and dance traditions of Ghana: history, performance and teaching.
North Carolina, McFarland & Company, Inc.