Item Detail
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Ames, David W.
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King, Anthony V.
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Glossary of Hausa music and its social contexts
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Book
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Evanston, Ill.
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1971
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Northwestern University Press
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xiii, 184 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
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English
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0810103613; 9780810103610
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Music--Dictionaries--Hausa (African people)---History and criticism.
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Music History; Musical Terms; Hausa; Africa
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ML 106 .N5 A5
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Ames, David W., and Anthony V. King. Glossary of Hausa Music and Its Social Contexts. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1971.
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This volume serves to provide a glossary of musical instruments and sound production of the Hausa city-states in Africa. In addition, it seeks to present a picture of not just the technical aspect of these definitions, but also to provide a view of the musical culture of this area. Students and ethnomusicologists would find this work especially useful.
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In terms of geographical limitation, the authors have limited their research to include only the emirates of Katsina, and Zaria (as they were understood at the time of the book’s publication). The data itself was collected between 1963-65 and 1968 although other data is occasionally included if it is historically noteworthy. The authors have attempted to classify as much information using Hausa terminology, but have had to resort to some Western classifications when equivalent terms and ideas were not found in the Hausa culture. This is not an exhaustive or definitive work, but represents the information these authors have collected thus far.
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The book is divided into five main parts, listed as follows: Instruments and Their Parts, Professional Performers, Patrons, Occasions, and Music Performance. Within each section, entries are listed alphabetically according to their Hausa terms. Entries in ‘Instruments’ lists the following pieces of information: physical description, terms for parts of the instrument, performance technique, ensemble combinations, social usage, and references in oral literature. ‘Professional Performers’ divides into three parts: collective terms, classes of performers, and offices and titles of performers. ‘Patrons’ entries list a description, the musicians traditionally patronized, occasions, and the role of the patron. ‘Occasions’ provides definitions of musical occasions with a definition of their social context, the time of performance, and the class of performers associated. ‘Music Performance’ divides into four categories of performances: general performance features, vocal music (further divided into proclamation, ululation, challenges, acclamation, and song), instrumental music (further divided into bushe-bushe da ki’de-ki’de, and miscellanea), and dance. The work concludes with a Hausa index, English-Hausa index, and an appendix of black-and-white photographs of Hausa musicians and instruments. These photographs are numbered for cross-referencing in glossary entries.
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As this work was published over thirty years ago, its contents could be potentially outdated.
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Besmer, Fremont E. Ethnomusicology: Journal for the Society of Ethnomusicology 16 (September 1972): 543-44.
Frisbie, Charlotte J. Yearbook of the International Folk Music Council 7 (1975): 159-60. -
BYU Mus Ref
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2064