Eastman Johnson - Fiddling His Way - ebj - fig 78 pg149

The term African fiddle may be applied to any of several

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to t ...

Instruments

; Luo orutu : Luo orutu, or simply "

orutu The ''orutu'' is a one-stringed vertical fiddle originated in the pre-colonial societies of Western Kenya, especially amongst the Luo community. The Luo had a strong tradition of stringed instruments and was famous for their skills with harps and ...

", is the one-stringed

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. It is typically accompanied by Nyatiti lyre, Bul drums, the Nyangile sound box, Ongeng'o metal rings, Asili flute, and the Oporo horn. ; Gongey : Gonjey music is found amongst the Dagomba people of

Northern Ghana The Northern Region is one of the sixteen regions of Ghana. It is located in the north of the country and was the largest of the sixteen regions, covering an area of 70,384 square kilometres or 31 percent of Ghana's area until December 2018 when ...

, which is in West Africa and is known to the West through modern proponents such as Kenge Kenge and the ethnomusicological archival activities of Nana Kimati Dinizulu, son of the late Nana Opare Dinizulu. According to published archival footage

Talensi Tallensi, also spelled Talensi, are a people of northern Ghana who speak a language of the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo language family. They grow millet and sorghum as staples and raise cattle, sheep, and goats on a small scale. Their normal do ...

people who are located in the Upper Eastern Region of Ghana and in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

. The gonje is constructed from "a gourd, lizard skin, stick and... a horsehair bow". ; "Fiddle tube" : The so-called " fiddle tube" of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

is also referred to as "

endingidi The endingidi (endingiri in Runyankole) is a type of bowed string instrument native to Uganda. The endingidi has one string, extending from the neck to a cylindrical sound-box or resonator made of wood or cow horn. A piece of hide is stretched ov ...

Ethnomusicology

Self-described "culture bearer" Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

broke new ground in ethnomusicology with her study of "fiddle" music of the

Luo Luo may refer to: Luo peoples and languages *Luo peoples, an ethno-linguistic group of eastern and central Africa **Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania or Joluo, an ethnic group in western Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. ***Luoland, the ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Citing

Kwame Anthony Appiah Kwame Akroma-Ampim Kusi Anthony Appiah ( ; born 8 May 1954) is a philosopher, cultural theorist, and novelist whose interests include political and moral theory, the philosophy of language and mind, and African intellectual history. Appiah wa ...

, she rejects "nativist nostalgia . . . largely fueled by that Western sentimentalism so familiar after Rousseau". This is consistent with trends which urge caution when introjecting cultural stereotypes. Following her earlier academic studies, she released ''Fiddling in West Africa Touching the Spirit in Fulbe, Hausa, and Dagbamba Cultures'' in 2008.

Contemporary African fiddle music

Noise Khanyile & the Jo'burgm C is a

Johannesburg, South Africa Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

based ensemble produced by

West Nkosi West Nkosi (born Mkhubatseli West Nkosi, 1940 – 8 October 1998) was a South African music producer, saxophonist and songwriter. Nkosi was born in Nelspruit, South Africa. He was an original member of the Makgona Tsohle Band which backed Mahla ...

that has been critically acclaimed. They exhibit a sophisticated multiply layered tapestry of Zulu inspired sound on his 1989 release ''Art of Noise''.

Moses Mchuno

Moses Mchuno's township jive track incorporates fiddle and traditional Soweto singing.

References

{{Reflist

Additional scholarly resources

* Makubuya, James. 2000. "Endingidi (Tube Fiddle) of Uganda: Its Adaptation and Significance among the Baganda." ''The Galpin Society Journal'' 53:140–155. * Euba, Akin. 2001. “Issues in Africanist Musicology: Do We Need Ethnomusicology in Africa?” In ''Proceedings of the Forum for Revitalizing African Music Studies in Higher Education'', edited by Frank Gunderson, pp. 137–139. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The U. S. Secretariat of the International Center for African Music and Dance, The International Institute, University of Michigan. * Nketia, J. H. Kwabena. 2005. “Introduction: Thinking About Music in Ethnomusicological Terms.” In ''Ethnomusicology and African Music: Collected Papers. Volume One. Modes of Inquiry and Interpretation'', compiled by J. H. Kwabena Nketia, pp. 1–20. Accra, Ghana: Afram Publications (Ghana) Ltd. * Nketia, J.H. Kwabena, and Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje. 1984. “Introduction: Trends in African Musicology.” In ''Selected Reports in Ethnomusicology. Vol. 5. Studies in African Music'', edited by J. H. Kwabena Nketia and Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, pp. ix–xx. Los Angeles: UCLA Program in Ethnomusicology, Department of Music. * Noll, William. 1997. “Selecting Partners: Questions of Personal Choice and Problems of History in Fieldwork and Its Interpretation.” In ''Shadows in the Field: New Perspectives for Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology'', edited by Gregory F. Barz and Timothy J. Cooley, pp. 163–188. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

External links

Frederick Omondi recorded in some remote sugar cane fields outside of Kisumu, Kenya, June 28, 2006

Kenge Kenge with fiddle
African musical instruments