drumming was called Congo Square.4 The Niger River is the third longest in Africa and bears great importance in West African his- tory and cultural life. With its source in Guinea, it

Mali and then bends southeast into the delta region inflows Nigeria. northward Timbuktu, through by virtue Bamako of its to location Timbuktu at the in northernmost part of the Niger, connected the West African interior with the outside world. Ancient Mali (also known as the Mande empire) was locat- ed along the stretch of the Niger River that crosses

of gold northward, and Mediterranean and North Africanbetween goods Guinea southward, and Mali. the By Mali controlling empire thebecame flow the largest and wealthiest in all of West Africa in

court musicians and oral historians, called jelis in the Maninkathirteenth language through and fifteenth known centuries. more generally Its royal as A pair of congas. The Cuban conga drum is griots (pronounced gree-ohs), are among the most an adaptation of a similar drum from the Congo renowned artists in all of Africa for their musical region. virtuosity and historical knowledge. Photo by Añoranza. The Zambezi River, the fourth longest in Afri- which is the major thoroughfare through Central through Angola and Zambia, marking off the border Africa, grew from a modest colonial settlement to a betweenca, has its Zambia source and in Zimbabwe, southern DRC, and flowingthen into south Mo- major urban center of over 11.5 million people, and is now the third largest city in Africa (after Cairo region marked off by the Zambezi in the north and and Lagos) and the most populous French-speaking thezambique Limpopo where River it flows in the into south the Indian(which Ocean. separates The city in the world. from Zimbabwe) has been home to the Music associated with the Lower Congo region Shona people since about the tenth century. They - are the ones probably responsible for building the shasa was home to an early recording industry, and impressive stone structures marking Great Zimba- thehas cosmopolitan been very influential city gave in birth several to a realms.unique Kingui- bwe, the capital of the kingdom of Zimbabwe (thir- tar-based pop music (called Congolese rumba or soukous), which is one of the most widely appreci- group in Zimbabwe, are renowned for their mastery ated musical styles in Africa as well as in the wider ofteenth–fifteenth the mbira, which centuries). is a lamellophone Shona, the predominant (an instru- Francophone (French-speaking) world beyond. As ment with tines or lamellae, like the metal prongs the region was a primary source for slaves intend- ed for Brazil and Cuba, Congolese (and neighboring in print in 1589 by a Christian missionary.5 Angolan) culture left important traces: the Brazil- on a rake, plucked by the fingers) first documented A series of large lakes in East Africa known as ian berimbau (bow struck with a stick) has roots in the Great Lakes attracted a dense population that Angola, and the Cuban conga drum is an adaptation formed kingdoms and states, some of which gave of a similar drum from the Congo region (generical- their names to the post-colonial nations in which ly called “ngoma” in central Africa). Titos Sompa, a they are located: Rwanda, Burundi, and Buganda brilliant musician from the Republic of Congo (Braz- (Uganda). The lakes include, from south to north: zaville), introduced Congolese drumming in the U.S. Lake Malawi (which drains into the Zambezi Riv- in the 1970s, teaching and touring extensively. And er), Lake Tanganyika, the world’s second largest in a famous nineteenth-century gathering place for volume (which drains into the Congo River system), slaves in New Orleans that featured dancing and and Lake Victoria Nyanza (which drains into the

USAD Music Resource Guide • 2017–2018 9 gaining popularity after the Civil War. Their reper- The Lion tory added jubilee songs (based on black spirituals), King and the 1997 original Broadway cast album. and eventually their humor could be seen as subtly andBut Solomonit was featured Linda hadin the sold 1994 the Disney song outright film to his poking fun at their white audience. record label (without a proper contract) and would not collect the millions of dollars in royalties that troupe—Orpheus McAdoo’s Virginia Concert Com- later recordings would earn. An exposé in Rolling panyIn and the 1890sJubilee anSingers African-American (renamed Minstrel, performance Vaude- Stone magazine in 2002 and a documentary short- ville and Concert Company in 1895) toured the Brit- ly thereafter, however, enabled Linda’s family to recoup some of those royalties, settling a suit with 109 to great acclaim. McAdoo was a veteran of the Fisk Disney out of court. Jubileeish Isles, Singers, South Africa,which wasAustralia, formed and in Newthe 1870sZealand at Many male choral groups formed in the historically black Fisk University for the pur- pose of arranging spirituals for the concert stage fueling the energy of the genre. Choir competitions wereSouth commonAfrica from in schools,the 1930s and on, this with was competitions picked up McAdoo, urban middle-class black South Africans by male workers in hostels in Johannesburg and (teachers,to tour and artisans, raise funds petty for traders), the school. Christian Inspired mission by school graduates, and migrant workers in industrial Joseph Shabalala formed the isicathamiya group mining camps formed song and dance troupes, com- LadysmithDurban, who Black competed Mambazo against (“black each other. axe from In 1965 La- bining African-American, European, and local Zulu styles of singing. soon after. They became one of the most acclaimed dysmith”), and they made their first recordings Choir leader and composer Rueben T. Caluza and 1980s they recorded on Paul Simon’s Graceland al- groups within South Africa in the 1970s. In the mid- black colleges in South Africa (established by Afri- bum and have since gone on to a major international canhis choirNational at theCongress Ohlange founder Institute, John one L. Dube), of the were first an important force in the 1920s in developing this career. (They will be covered more in Section IV.) style. The choir’s tours attracted large crowds that appreciated their dance movements and topical Zulu Listening Example 8: went to the U.S. and earned his Bachelor’s degree at lyrics in a ragtime style. In the early 1930s, Caluza Solomon Linda’s Original Evening at Columbia University, returning to South Africa in Birds, “” Hampton Institute (Virginia) and Master’s degree near Durban.108 1936 to lead the School of Music at Adams College “Mbube” (“Lion”), which helped popularize the A piece called “Mbube” (“Lion”) composed by Sol- style.This Many is themay original recognize recording this song from as “The 1939 Lion of omon Linda and recorded by his group the Origi- one can hear a snippet of the melody that would and set a new standard for the genre, which by then Sleeps Tonight,” particularly at the 2:23 mark when wasnal Evening called isicathamiya Birds in 1939 (“stepwas a majorlightly”). turning The group point jungle.” Two features in particular mark the contri- enjoyed much popularity, and “Mbube” was a hit in butionlater be of set Solomon to the lyrics:Linda’s “In group: the jungle,the chord the patternmighty South Africa, lending its name as a sub-genre within and the distribution of voices in the ensemble. The isicathamiya. American folk singer lat- chord pattern became an enduring standard: G, C, er heard their record and recorded a version with G (with a D in the bass), D, with each chord getting his group in 1952, calling it “Wimowe,” V. The arrangement of voices in Linda’s group was - novelfour beats. for its It time: can also one beperson diagrammed each as soprano,as I, IV, I alto,6/4, ers’a mishearing recording, of released a Zulu language a version, line called in the “The song. Lion In and tenor, and several basses, which gave them a Sleeps1961 The Tonight,” Tokens, which who went learned to number it from one the on Weav the booming sound.110 U.S. pop charts. Many more versions were recorded,

62 USAD Music Resource Guide • 2017–2018