Cover Texts Bayreuth African Studies 21 - 30
Bayreuth African Studies 21/22
Akin Euba
Yoruba Drumming. The Dùndún Tradition
Dùndún is the most characteristic type of Yoruba traditional drumming and
features in a wide variety of social contexts, both religious and secular. Hourglass
tension drums, which form the basis of dùndún, are found all over West Africa and are
believed to have entered the region from the north. Their spread over Yorubaland was
coincident with the rise of the Oyo Empire and the chief exponents of dùndún are
located in central and northern Yorubaland. The use of musical instruments as speech
surrogates is a major aspect of Yoruba culture and the preeminence of dùndún in the
culture is directly related to the value and versatility of tension drums as talking
instruments. Dùndún is practised extensively among the Yoruba and is the best-known
type of traditional drumming.
Consequently, a study of its theory and practise provides an overview of the style of
Yoruba drumming in general. The book is divided into four parts, titled (1) The Social
Background, (2) The Ensemble, (3) The Poetry and the Music, (4) Related Musical Types
and Other Art Forms.
"...a well rounded study, full of information on the history of the music and
instruments, the training of the musicians, performing techniques and the religious and
secular uses of dundun." - Musical Opinion (USA, 1992)
"Euba's discusssions of the talking drum dialect, syllabification, repetition,
narrative and sentence construction are marvellously detailed." - Bruce King in
Research in African Literature (RAL) (1993)
Bayreuth African Studies 23
Janos Riesz & Alain Ricard (eds.)
Le Champ Littéraire Togolais
Les articles réunis dans ce volume abordent, à partir de la notion de "champ
littéraire" développée par Pierre Bourdieu, divers domaines de la culture togolaise, de
langue ewe, française ou allemande. Des premiers documents écrits de l'histoire togolaise
à la littérature de la génération Eyadema, des littéraires mais aussi des linguistes et
des historiens y traitent de sujets aussi variés que les sources allemandes sur l'histoire
du Togo, la contribution de Westermann dans la recherche sur la culture ewe, la presse
togolaise avant l'indépendance, les problèmes de diglossie, la poésie togolaise en langue
française, ainsi que d'écrivains aussi divers que Félix Chouchoro, Sénouvo Agboto Zinsou,
Kofi Awoonor, Ferdinand Kwasi Fiawoo, etc, livrant ainsi un panorama permettant enfin de
mieux appréhender cette réalite polymorphe qu'est le champ littéraire togolais.
Bayreuth African Studies 24
Josef Schmied (ed.)
English in East and Central Africa II
The contributions to this collection are all based on original empirical work
by linguists with firsthand experience in the field. Their articles concentrate on the
practical problems surrounding English in Africa. Most of the articles in this collection
deal with the role of English in education, others with issues of stylistic and language
awareness, the Africanization of English as well as the influence of English in the
African setting. To evaluate these functions many small-scale empirical studies are needed.
In this volume African and European researchers present their work together as a basis for
discussion and further research.
Bayreuth African Studies 25
Joshua Uzoigwe
Akin Euba - An Introduction to the Life and Music of a Nigerian Composer
Joshua Uzoigwe's introduction to the works of Akin Euba illustrates how a
bi-cultural creative mind copes with the challenge of harmonizing two different cultural
idioms, the African and the Western. Although Akin Euba employs 20th century Western
techniques, his creative instincts are firmly rooted in the mystical and mythological
beliefs of his own people, the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria. The author also
demonstrates how Euba's research on Yoruba drumming has influenced his compositions.
Akin Euba is an articulate proponent of neo-African art music and has published widely
on this subject.
Uzoigwe illuminates the composer's mind by making extensive reference to his scholarly
writing.
"Uzoigwe's musical and philosophical sympathies become noticeable when he discusses
the 'Cultural Triangle' that circumscribes Akin Euba's compositional choices: The
Western, African and Yoruba" - Kofi Agawa in Research in African Literature
(RAL) (1996)
"Joshua Uzoigwe offers a strong launching-pad towards a better understanding of the
philosphical, aesthetic and methodological developments of modern African Music."
- John Baldacchino in Commonwealth Music (UK, 1994)
Bayreuth African Studies 26
Gudrun Ludwar-Ene & Mechthild Reh (eds.)
Focus on Women in Africa
This volume comprises eight articles based on recent fieldwork data on the
situation of women in various countries of West and East Africa. Most of the contributions
derive from research conducted in the context of the Bayreuth Special Research Programme
"Identity in Africa - Processes of Development and Change".
The articles cover a wide range of topics such as the concept of "sleeping pregnancy"
(kwantacce) as it affects Hausa women in Northern Nigeria, women as media in different
cults in Uganda, gender differences in socialization in Abidjan and Cameroon, industrial
entrepreneurship and urban-rural ties among women in Nigeria, the legal position of
widows in Zambia and female utopias in the lyric verse of Véronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast).
Bayreuth African Studies 27
Flora Veit-Wild
Survey of Zimbabwean Writers
The survey explores the factors, forces and circumstances that shaped the
personality and work of Zimbabwean writers and gives insight into the history of
Zimbabwean writing from its beginning to the present.
"The study offers a complex and fascinating look at the complexities of the
development of the collective literary sensibility in a multilingual society where a
variety of social, political and religious influence are brought to bear on the
developing sensibility of individual writers." - G. D. Killam (University of
Guelph, Ontario)
Bayreuth African Studies 28
Norbert Aas & Harald Sippel
Koloniale Konflikte im Alltag
Colonial legislation, legal administration and jurisdiction mirror the
colonial mentality of imperial Germany. The case of the notorious settler H. K. Langkoop
in German East Africa illustrates the duality between administration and the law courts.
Langkoop's manhandling of "natives" was considered a minor offence, insulting an
administrator was seen as close to treason. Racial superiority and colonial authority
were prime values to be upheld after World War I, Langkoop lost his farm and claimed
compensation from the Reichsentschädigungsamt.
The files that document the Post-War situation became only accessible after the fall of
the Berlin Wall. This second edition, therefore, includes more and new source material.
Bayreuth African Studies 29
Cynthia Tse Kimberlin & Akin Euba (eds.)
Intercultural Music I
Composers, musicians, musicologists from Asia, Africa, the Americas, and
Europe write about their concepts and experiences with intercultural music under the
following heading: The Composer's Approach to Creativity, Contemporary Perspectives on
Historical Approaches, Intercultural Approaches to the Teaching of Music, Music within
the Context of Government Policy, Political Conflicts and Conflict Resolution and
Theoretical Concepts, Social Functions, Rhythmic Norms and Contextual Practice.
The essays deal with traditional music, modern art music, popular music, film music,
musical instruments in different cultures from Egypt, Nigeria, Uganda, to India,
Malaysia, and Japan.
Bayreuth African Studies 30
Nalova Lyonga, Eckhard Breitinger & Bole Butake (eds.)
Anglophone Cameroon Writing
This volume of essays, produced in cooperation with Yaounde-based WEKA - A
Journal of Anglophone Cameroon Writing and the Arts, takes stock of the current critical
discourse on Anglophoneness and Anglophone writing.
Individual essays treat issues of the socio-cultural context like the role of education,
publishing, the Iinguistic situation; others deal with the importance of orality,
dramatic techniques in current theatre but also with the wider issues of minority and
dominant discourse or the place of Anglophone Cameroon Writing within a complex context
of linguistic and political hegemonies on the national and the international level.
"an important landmark in the critical discourse of Cameroon literature as a
whole" - Teddy Ako in Cameroon Post
"...the book succeeds to alert us to the dangers of marginalisation and ethnic
minority issues on the African continent." - Femi Abodunrin in West Africa
(UK, 16-22-May 1994)
