History Assignment

The approach I chose for the "history" assignment was fairly broad. It was difficult to find articles/books on specific elements such as the development of the djembe. Instead, my research focused on the broad and diverse history of African music. Most anthropologists and ethnomusicologists find it absurd to lump all of African music into one category. Indeed the music of Africa is as diverse as the cultures within it. Moreover, culture change over time. Thus the diverse musical varieties that arise constantly evolve also, making the common dichotomy between contemporary vs. traditional difficult. In this light, music is simply an expression of a particular people at a particular point in time.

Though African music is incredibly diverse, some scholars argue that there are common elements that tie the continent together. The following are some common characteristics of African music that Alexander Agordoh (2005) identifies:

• Music has many uses, not just for entertainment. It often accompanies all sorts of activities in varies arenas of life.
• More than elsewhere, music is associated with dance.
• Music is highly percussive.
• Hand-clapping is often used as a percussive instrument.
• The audience is rarely separated from the artists.
• Music tends toward "dualism" in which melodies/motifs (including percussion) often consist of two phrases.
• High emphasis on improvisation and variation of motifs

I've been thinking a lot about what bearing history ought to have on Sankofa. Sometimes I wonder if playing instruments that don't "belong" to us isn't completely irreconcilable. What gives me the right to play a djembe or a didge? If I want to be honest about who I am, can I play them responsibly?

I think I can, I just have to be honest about who I am and who I'm not. I'm not African, and so trying to perfectly reproduce the elements listed above is dishonest. But I AM curious about the instruments I play and where they came from. I do think they are significant and legitimate musically. Therefore, maybe the question becomes more about how I can learn from the history of our instruments in a way that affects the way I create music. If I approach this "past" with humility and recognize it as legitimate, then I can let it mix and blend with me and influence my conception of music.

Sankofa begins and continues

The place we are now is different than where we began. I had started Makofi in Grenada after playing for a while with Veni Vrai la Grenade, a traditional dance company. I started Makofi based on the rhythms I played while in Veni Vrai. I was bored playing the same traditional rhythms so with Makofi we developed new rhythms and routines. We were still a ‘native drum ensemble’. In the spring of 2003 I assembled a group of internationals for Rangeela to do a drum performance. In the Fall of 2003 I chartered Sankofa as a Calvin organization and held auditions for the performance group.
Sankofa was started on the momentum of the 2003 Rangeela performance in addition to my experience with Makofi. Naturally the elements that I had brought into Sankofa were a continuation of the elements I had used before. As Sankofa matured, there was an amoebic reaction to its original momentum – pulling away to form a new and developed idea. While Sankofa forged an identity as a drum group, the eclectic mix of experience within the group and the natural evolution of ideas have prompted Sankofa to a new calling.
Sankofa was a challenge for the 3 years that I directed it. Besides the creative aspect of what the group presents the bigger challenge was logistical. I had a hard time getting people to come to practice consistently and then active engagement while in practice was difficult to provoke. I realized only after I was actively involved the problem was that the people in Sankofa were subject to my vision but my vision was not accessible to them and they didn’t ‘own’ my vision. The 2007 Rangeela performance represented a new capacity for Sankofa to own the music they play distinct from but not independent from its earlier days as a drum group playing traditional rhythms.

On a more personal note Sankofa was a responsibility. As a leader, I had to interact with people who wanted Sankofa to play and people within Sankofa and try to find a creative balance between our audience and ourselves. I wasn’t always able to bring the most creative or dynamic material to the table. I feel responsible for the time that Sankofa has spent in a rut of ‘drum circling’. Sometimes I would have an idea but then come back to the realization that the people are Sankofa are students first – not performers first. I want to help from a distance to get Sankofa out of a ‘drum circle’ classification and even away from an ‘African’ classification. I think the stereotypes are limiting and in a way, creatively demeaning.

From where we have come and where we are going, Sankofa is a unique cultural experience. We have flown under the banner of multiculturalism since the start; yet Sankofa has been boxed into a cultural category. Perhaps Sankofa should strive to exhibit a more true multiculturalism.

Sankofa Identity

I joined Sankofa for the same reason anyone joins any sort of student group. As a nervous, anxious, and excited freshmen, I was looking for two primary things: a network of friends and an arena where my talents were appreciated and used toward some end. Over the years, these motives changed. At times my involvement with Sankofa was solely motivated by obligation; I neither enjoyed [some of] the company, nor did I feel my/our talents were fully used or appreciated. Other times my involvement was motivated simply by the enormous and untapped potential of the group.

There are many little things that held Sankofa back, the most obvious being the lack of focus during practices. But two more fundamental things that I feel held Sankofa back relate directly to the two reasons people join student groups to begin with. (1) Sankofa needs to be unified. We need to become friends again. Rarely do members get together outside of practices. I know the idea of a Sankofa "drinking" and/or "listening" party was thrown around (and may have eventually happened at some point, I'm not sure) but such events are vital to the overall health of the group. (2) Sankofa must find a way to successfully utilize its members' abilities toward an end. One of the reasons Sankofa's contribution to Rangeela 07 was a success is that the band first formed a vision of what it wanted to achieve and then used a variety of means to achieve it (including the unprecedented use of piano and video editing). The brainstorming stage of Rangeela 07 allowed us to create something with purpose, and it freed us from prior, self-imposed limitations in medium. In other words, once we decided upon an end, each of us was empowered to use our unique talents and abilities to contribute towards it.

Sankofa has occasionally provided these two fundamental functions in the past (like during Rangeela 07), and when it did things worked well. However, this has never happened consistently. At various points I've felt disconnected from others in the group, that our individual gifts were not being used to their potential, and like we had no conception of an end toward which to work. The following is a proposal for the sort of "end" Sankofa ought to have.

My thinking of Sankofa's identity and direction has recently been influenced by conversations I've been having with friend. I've been working very closely with an architect the past three weeks and he's been rubbing off on me. My friend, Jared, often talks about the dangers of "historicism" in architecture. Historicism (in architecture) is when a new building hearkens back to a particular time period or style. It's rampant in contemporary American architecture and it's dangerous because it blurs the line between new and old. One might think that because it "pays homage" to a time period or style it therefore does it a service. In reality, it inhibits our ability to distinguish what is truly old or pure. Architecture is a product of (as well as produces) culture and thus attempting to reproduce it later is, in a sense, impure.

This very much relates to the predicament Sankofa finds itself in. We have the tendency to want to play "traditional" music because we have "traditional" instruments. But there's a sense in which we can never truly play traditional music because, like architecture, music is also a product of (and produces) culture. In this light, we must learn to "own" the music that we play by moving forward.

That said, no architecture would venture to "move forward" and design contemporary buildings without first gaining an understanding architectural history. Thus, I find it difficult to say that it is always inappropriate to play traditional music. But if we do so, we must do it well by knowing what we are playing and why. Standing on the shoulders of giants, we primarily learn from our past in order to inform our direction in the future. All of this is very closely tied to the meaning of the word, Sankofa: There is wisdom in learning from our past in order to move forward. Sankofa's primary identity must be this above all else.

In practical terms, this summer is our opportunity to learn from our past. I think Asher should prompt this venture, but it should be a joint venture. Anna and I ought to contribute and perhaps dig into our own past to discuss why we each play music at all. I think as we begin to gain a knowledge of our "past," the future of Sankofa and it's identity and purpose will begin to take form. So let's get to it!