African Nationalism
- The sound of Experiment
- Oct 21, 2024
- 15 min read
Updated: Oct 23, 2024
Introduction
Africanism can be defined as anything that is characteristic of African culture or tradition. According to Njaka (1971), "its components are so diverse as to include arts, beliefs, culture, history, music, philosophy, politics, science, and concepts such as nationalism and pan-Africanism." (Acquah et al.).
Historical Overview
African nationalism is an umbrella term referring to a group of political ideologies in sub-Saharan Africa based on the idea of national self-determination and nation-state-building. The ideology emerged under European colonialism during the 19th and 20th centuries and was loosely inspired by nationalist ideas from Europe. Initially, African nationalism was based on demands for self-determination and played an important role in imposing Africa's decolonization process. However, the term refers to a wide range of different ideological and political movements and should not be confused with Pan-Africanism which may seek the federation of many or all nation states in Africa (‘African Nationalism’). It is a political movement for the unification of Africa (Pan-Africanism) and for national self-determination. He tried to transform the identity of Africans. Instead of seeing themselves as Zulu, Xhoasa, Sotho, etc., nationalist leaders wanted Africans to see themselves as South Africans. Nationalists after World War I encouraged movements of self-determination. As a general contempt, African nationalism in South Africa can be seen, broadly speaking, as all political actions and ideological elements to improve the position, rights, and position of Africans in the emerging society imposed by the invasion and conquest of whites. African nationalism, in South Africa, also embraces the concept of pan-Africanism. It is a modern phenomenon that tries to build a nation within a specific geographical area. The ideal for South Africa among members of the African nationalist movement was a multiracial, democratic society", that is, the broadest and most inclusive kind of nationalism - with equality and equality; There would be an end to discrimination, inequality, and barriers based on color or race. It sought to unite all indigenous groups in favor of freedom and against racism and discrimination that evolved over time in changing circumstances in an inclusive South Africanism. Its most important feature evolved into the nationalism of the African National Congress which meant building a non-racist, non-sexist, democratic society. The tensions between this and narrow African exclusive nationalism, based on race, is an issue addressed by different schools of thought. In South Africa, African nationalism and white nationalism developed and evolved over time. He had to deal with the fact that he was facing a heterogeneous and racially divided society. The initial impetus embodied in the formation of the ANC was to unite all indigenous peoples to claim their freedom (African Nationalism | South African History Online).
The term "African nationalism" has been used very broadly. As a general definition, African nationalism in South Africa can be considered, broadly speaking, as all political actions and ideological elements to improve the position, rights, and position of Africans in the emerging society imposed by white invasion and conquest. The movement does not look back or want to restore any previous political or social situation. Thus, it is clearly a secondary form of resistance. appeared 1st and most clearly in the early phases of the Cape Colony, because this was the only area that had significant political rights and opportunities. African political interest and engagement began in the 1870s and became a major factor by the 1880s. In the polarization of politics in the 1898 elections, Africans were also divided. In the years that followed, this split deepened and eventually led to the formation of 2 political organizations among Africans: the South African Political Union led by Reverend Walter Rubusana in 1902 and the Cape Indigenous Voters' Association led by John Tengo Jabavu in 1907. Although the correlation was not complete (i.e., there were exceptions on both sides), membership in the 2 organizations tended to be Xhosa and Mfengu respectively. The first South African conference on the South African Act in 1910 mentioned above laid the groundwork for further action. It was recognized that Africans needed to coordinate their political actions and speak with greater unity in the new Union of South Africa. A new congress was held in 1912 and the National Congress of the Indigenous Peoples of South Africa was organized (the name was changed to the African National Congress in 1923). Because of the specific historical development of Africa, the term nationalism has a different meaning from European, at least because there are no classically defined nations; In our opinion, African nationalism should be understood more as an ideological and political movement to raise awareness about concrete African development, about the opposition of "blacks" against "whites". Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832–1912) was the most representative defender of the black race. At the height of colonial expansion, he elaborated a genuine philosophy for the African personality. Our study argues that at the source of contemporary African nationalism lie Blyden's ideas over which Black American influence has prevailed. His arduous activity – he was simultaneously a clergyman, university professor, politician, journalist, diplomat, lecturer, publisher, traveler, linguist – aimed to restore the "lost trust" of Africans, demonstrating their special role in the birth of civilization, but also their ability to form compatible institutions with European ones. In this way, Blyden was the advocate of "black consciousness and racial pride of the African continent, but also of the Diaspora", contributing decisively to the birth of the pan-African movement (Leahu).
Nationalist ideas in Africa emerged in the mid-19th century among the emerging black middle classes in West Africa. Early nationalists hoped to overcome ethnic fragmentation by creating nation-states. In his early period, he was inspired by African-American and Afro-Caribbean intellectuals from the Back-to-Africa movement who introduced nationalist ideals to Europe and America at the time. Early African nationalists were elitists and believed in the supremacy of Western civilization, but sought a greater role for themselves in political decision-making. They rejected African traditional religions and tribalism as "primitive" and embraced Western ideas of Christianity, modernity and the nation state. However, one of the challenges nationalists faced in unifying their nation after European domination was tribal divisions and the formation of nationalism. African nationalism first emerged as a mass movement in the years after World War II as a result of wartime changes in the nature of colonialism as well as social change in Africa itself. Nationalist political parties were founded in almost all African colonies during the 1950s and their rise was a major reason for the decolonization of Africa between c.1957 and 1966. However, African nationalism was never a single movement, and political groups considered African nationalists differed according to economic orientation and degrees of radicalism and violence. Nationalist leaders struggled to find their own social and national identity by following the European influence that controlled the political landscape during colonial occupation. African nationalism in colonial times was often clearly framed in contrast to colonialism and was therefore often vague or contradictory about its other goals. According to historian Robert I. Rotberg, African nationalism would not have emerged without colonialism. His relationship with Pan-Africanism was also ambiguous, with many nationalist leaders professing pan-African beliefs but still refusing to commit to supranational unions. African nationalists of the period have also been criticized for their continued use of ideas and policies related to colonial states. In particular, nationalists usually sought to preserve national borders arbitrarily created under colonial rule after independence and create a national sense of national identity among the heterogeneous populations within them. African nationalism exists in a difficult relationship with tribalism and subnational ethnic nationalism which differ in their conceptions of political loyalty. Many Africans distinguish between their ethnic and national identity. Some nationalists have argued that the tribes were colonial creations (‘African Nationalism’).
External influence
The Rastafarian movement in Jamaica is heavily influenced by Garvey's principle of African nationalism. Members support repatriation and decolonisation as a means to improve the lives of people of African descent. Famous political leaders and African nationalists, kwame Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta, former presidents of Ghana and Kenya, respectively, were influenced by Garvey's message. Nkrumah, a staunch supporter of Pan-Africanism, advocated the liberation of Africa from European colonialism and worked to accelerate economic growth in Ghana. His efforts helped achieve Ghanaian independence in 1960 and establish the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union). The league sought to promote peace and cooperation among African nations. Kenyatta supported and organized African nationalist movements to demand the independence of his country, Kenya, from colonialism. His interests created economic stability in Kenya and led to the country's independence in 1963 (‘Africa for Africans’ – Garvey’s Message of African Nationalism and Its Impact – Jamaica Information Service).
Arts
An interesting theatre of nationalist struggle in Africa in the early 20th century was the changing field of visual arts. Even more interesting was the nature of this struggle, which was not in direct opposition to the structures of colonialism, nor to the tropes of depiction and representation, but was written through a strategy of appropriation of the forms of imperial culture. In the second half of the 19th century, Christian missions began establishing schools in Africa. The missions needed interpreters and junior teachers, while growing colonial business concerns required cheap, semi-skilled labor and law enforcement officials. This necessity determined the scope of the school curriculum. As A D Galloway has written, "early mission schools ... [were] somewhat uninspired in their conception and overly utilitarian in their concentration on Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. In Nigeria, Revd Birch Freeman's school curriculum of 1848 departed slightly from this narrow scheme and included geography. Art education, however, was not considered necessary or even useful. In his History of Art Education in Nigeria, Uche Okeke concludes that with the colonial Christian mission, "cultural and creative education was not considered important to converts." While the colonial curriculum ignored art education and discouraged art teaching to the colonized, Christian missions were concerned with devaluing and destroying existing artistic traditions. Artistic practice in traditional idioms was condemned as idolatry and therefore violently combated, with tons of art objects confiscated and destroyed in fires. Converts were warned in damning language of the cruel and irreversible consequences of either creating or preserving indigenous art forms. The advent in parts of Africa of a new artistic idiom similar to that of Europe at the end of the 19th century was not only intended to demonstrate the equal competence of the colonized as an end, but also to undermine the ideological foundations of the colonial project and to replace, as it were, the colonial text (Oguibe).
In West Africa, the artist who was generally accepted as the first to paint and paint in a modern idiom began this practice without formal training. It is known that Aina Onabolu (1882-1963) was not the first West African to practice painting and graphic arts in the tradition of Renaissance Europe. But he is the first to register in colonial West Africa to defy colonial restrictions on crafts and begin an art practice teaching himself. Onabolu began painting as a student in Ijebu Ode, Western Nigeria, in the 1890s, copying illustrations from European religious and business literature. Although formally educated at a missionary school, Onabolu did not receive art instruction at school because the curriculum offered only training in craftsmanship. Nor was he encouraged in his artistic interests by the teachers. Between 1900 and 1906 when he finished school and got a job with the colonial marine department in Lagos, Onabolu worked on his own, improving his immersion and watercolor skills. Using connections provided by his work, he channeled his profits into obtaining materials from England and used his resources not only in the practice of art but also in teaching his chosen idiom. At that time, it seems, he was alone in the area in its peculiar charm. Onabolu described realism as the "true art." For him, the rules and mechanisms of realism, such as the science of perspective for which he became widely known throughout Lagos as "Mr Perspective", were not just European inventions or ciphers of Western civilization but part of a universal artistic idiom. It is important to note here that realism was also part of Onabolu's own artistic legacy, in the form of traditions of classical art. By choosing realism over abstraction, Onabolu was not just imitating Europe. He had also begun to define his idiom as a vehicle for translating and restoring his own legacy into new forms in the context of Africa's changing realities.(Oguibe).
Music
Africa is a large continent and gradually each country developed its own style of African art music. North Africa has a different musical tradition – its languages and cultures are similar to the societies of the Arab world. Composers from Morocco, Algeria, Sudan wrote music in a classical idiom using characteristic melodies and rhythms – the use of certain melodies such as maqams creates a common bond between their works. The leading North African composer Nabil Benabdeljalil (b. 1972) from Morocco. Initially trained in the Russian tradition at the Tchaikovsky Academy of Music in Kiev, followed by studies at the University of Strasbourg, Benabdeljalil's long engagement with traditional repertoires – including Arabic singing and his six nocturnes for piano – represent a wonderful synthesis of his various stylistic approaches. African Art Music not only bridges the gap between two cultures – Western and African – but also reveals the rich cultural diversity of the African continent reflected in its music (‘Exploring African Pianism’). African Art Music is a richly diverse genre that bridges Western classical music with traditional African music. It emerged in the 20th century as African musicians studying in Europe returned to their homelands to incorporate inherited traditional African melodies and rhythms into their newly acquired understanding of the classical idiom (‘Exploring African Pianism’).
Rebeca Omordia has written: Africa is home to more than 3000 ethnic groups, each with its own language, culture and music. Music is part of people's daily lives, present at the core of the beliefs, customs and traditions of African nations. Highly lyrical melodies using complex rhythms accompanied by traditional instruments are closely associated with rituals – weddings, funerals and social and cultural events – that express people's joys, sorrows and celebrations. When African composers began incorporating traditional melodies and rhythms characteristic of their own ethnic groups, he produced music that composes – and celebrates – the cultural diversity of the vast African continent." (Eales). Nigerian composer Akin Euba coined the term "African Pianism" for this new fusion of Western forms and polyphonic African tones – a style of piano music that expresses certain characteristics of African traditional music. Professor Euba dealt with the concept of African pianism in the 1960s while searching for a "key that could unlock the doors of an African identity in contemporary synthesis". According to Professor Euba, "one of the safest ways to achieve an African identity in the composition is the use of African traditional instruments." He goes further by explaining that "the piano already displays certain affinities with African music, and by creating a kind of African pianism to mix with African instruments, it should be possible to achieve a successful fusion." Persuasively, he argued that the techniques used "in performing African xylophones, thumb pianos, plucked lutes, drum beats ... Other composers followed suit: a large group of young Nigerian composers – Akin Euba, Joshua Uzoigue, Samuel Akpabot, Ayo Bankole and others – went on to found the Nigerian School of Art Music (‘Exploring African Pianism’). The piano first appeared in Nigeria in the mid-nineteenth century and has remained popular ever since. Today, it is one of the most common musical instruments in schools, colleges, universities and in the homes of middle-class families. The piano has important properties similar to Nigerian instruments (such as ngedegwu - Igbo xylophone and dundun - Yoruba speech drum) in its melo-rhythmic and percussion character. This makes it particularly suitable for representing elements of Nigerian music. Of the selected composers in this book, three – Bankole, Euba and Uzoigwe – have made impressive experiments, using the piano to evoke the texture of African music. In this chapter, scenes from Euba's traditional life (Omojola).
Notable Compositions
Scenes from Traditional Life - Euba
Olatunji Akin Euba (28 April 1935 – 14 April 2020) was a Nigerian composer, musicologist and pianist (‘Akin Euba’). Scenes from traditional Euba life consists of three pieces, each presenting slightly different organizational principles. Seen collectively, the pieces outline a structural form in which the second piece represents the staggered, the third provides an analysis of its relatively stable and danceable character. The work is characterized by the use of predetermined melo-rhythmic motivations and atonality. The first part is in three sections. Each section is delimited by the use of pauses and rests and the use of a reference rate pattern. In each of its cadaveric appearances, this pattern is characterized by higher registers and dynamic articulation (Omojola).
Three Yoruba Songs Without Words - Akin Euba (1935-2020)
The Nigerian Akin Euba (1935-2020), inventor of the concept of African pianism, published his doctoral thesis, Dùndún Music of the Yoruba, under the guidance of Professor Kwabena Nketia. Professor Euba directed a research center at the University of Lagos, was Andrew W. Mellon a professor of music at the University of Pittsburgh, and organized symposia around the world, primarily at the University of Cambridge, exploring the importance of interculturalism in music composition and performance. He published many academic works, including Yoruba Drumming: The Dùndún Tradition (1990). His Chaka, An Opera in Two Chants (1970) was recorded by the City of Birmingham Travelling Opera, conducted by Simon Halsey, in 1999 (‘Exploring African Pianism’).
Egun Variations in G major - Ayo Bankole
We will continue the show musically with the work Egun Variations in G major by Saint Bankoli.
Nigerian composer Ayo Bankole was a leading figure in contemporary African art music whose life was tragically cut short when he (along with his wife) was murdered at the age of just 41 (Eales). Egun variants of Ayo Bankole are well positioned as an opening option. It incorporates an Egun song, the Tona Nowe, in a diatonic frame in G major. The theme, accompanied by open spaces, sounds almost like an anthem – a nod, perhaps, to Bancoli's influences. The first variant derives its extended character from rolling arpeggios, while the second is shy but playful. The meandering trebles of the third introduce a lyrical character with touches of color color. What follows is an almost unexpected climax: a virtuosic turbulence that ends with a series of piercing chords before returning to the source material, now in a small key-reflective but somewhat mysterious (Ueno).
Play Time - J.H. Kwabena Nketia
A prominent Ghanaian figure, Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia (1921-2019), a student of Amu, was one of the most important musicians who composed and wrote about African musical aesthetics. He revolutionized the system of notation in the transcription of African musical rhythms and melodies (‘Exploring African Pianism’). Nketia is described as Amu's natural successor as Ghana's leading composer. Like Amu, Nketia has written vocal and instrumental works whose compositional processes were based on traditional African music that he devoted much time to studying (Amuah and Arthur). Here are the four tracks from Kwabena Nketia's set, in which the stems of African singing can perhaps be heard more easily than the rhythmic drum patterns found elsewhere in this recital, most notably in Christian Onyeji's three movement Ufie (Igbo Dance) below. Here the mood is festive, the piano vitality of Omordia is also fully evident (Eales).
Ufie (Igbo Dance) - Christian Onyeji (b.1967)
Five Kaleidoscopes for Piano - Fred Onovwerosuoke (b.1960) (2013)
We continue with Fred Onovverosuke's Five Kaleidoscope for Piano (b.1960).
The Five Kaleidoscope for Piano was composed in 2013 and commissioned by Omordia, which gives its world premiere here. These pieces have a tremendous depth of expression, modernist tone, exploratory in their approach to the sonic and creative possibilities offered by the instrument (Eales).
Waiting for Spring - Nabil Benabdeljalil (b.1972)
Nocturne IV - Nabil Benabdeljalil (b.1972)
Moroccan musician Nabil Benabdeljalil is the most important composer to emerge from his homeland to this day. While his own commentary on Nocturnes pays homage to Chopin's influence, Benabdelialil's modal writing is infused with the exoticism of Middle Eastern scales and musical gestures, perhaps picking up where Gurdjieff and de Hartman left off and reminding me of the creations of Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasian in its most inspiring form (Eales). Nabil Benabdeljalil's selected Nocturnes are also world premieres. Benabdeljalil tells how his arrest came after a trip to the mountains of Morocco. While the piece means "freedom found in nature," it also represents a spiritual journey. Despite the alignment with the stylistic elements of a nocturnal, the essence of inspiration is front and center: large, fluid lines wander, sometimes almost in a dreamlike way. The conclusion serves as a cataclysmic peak before enigmatically escaping (Ueno).
Nocturne V - Nabil Benabdeljalil (b.1972)
Nocturne VI - Nabil Benabdeljalil (b.1972)
Princess Rainbow – Earl
David Earl (born 1951) is a South African composer and pianist (‘David Earl (Composer)’). David Earle's The Rainbow Princess (piece 14) is taken from his suite, Scenes from a South African Childhood. Inspired by a bedtime story that Earl's father would tell, the play has some fascinating elements – we get a bit of Ravel's brilliance that Omordia adds just the right amount of urgency. I also took some influences from film music: the outer parts would not look misplaced at all in a cinematic shot of a small, gushing river. The middle part, with its atonality and chromaticity, offers a brief respite that does not leave us complacent (Ueno). It is clearly more romantic in tone than the music that precedes it. A wonderful concert piece, it awakens the memories of the composer of fishing with his father, whose stories about a trout named Princess Rainbow clearly fascinated the young boy (Eales).
Talking Drums - Joshua Uzoigwe (1991)
The Nigerian composer Joshua Uzoigwe (1946-2005), one of Africa's most important composers, also used the technique of African pianism in a series of works entitled Studies in African Pianism, including Talking Drums (1991) (‘Exploring African Pianism’).
Bibliography
Acquah, Emmanuel, et al. ‘The Africanism in Two Selected Works of C.W.K Mereku: A Formalistic Viewpoint’. European Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 2, June 2022, pp. 83–94. ResearchGate, https://doi.org/10.24018/ejsocial.2022.2.3.239.
‘Africa for Africans’ – Garvey’s Message of African Nationalism and Its Impact – Jamaica Information Service. https://jis.gov.jm/information/get-the-facts/africa-for-africans-garveys-message-of-african-nationalism-and-its-impact/. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.
‘African Nationalism’. Wikipedia, 28 Jan. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_nationalism&oldid=1136090130.
African Nationalism | South African History Online. https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/african-nationalism. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.
‘Akin Euba’. Wikipedia, 8 Feb. 2023. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Akin_Euba&oldid=1138173457.
Amuah, Dr Joshua Alfred, and Kras Kofi Arthur. Appreciating Ghanaian Choral Music: George Mensah Essilfie’s Yɛdze Wo Kɛseyɛ Maw’ (We Ascribe to Your Greatness) In Perspective. 2014.
‘David Earl (Composer)’. Wikipedia, 24 Dec. 2022. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=David_Earl_(composer)&oldid=1129368060.
Eales, Author Andrew. ‘Rebeca Omordia’s “African Pianism”’. Pianodao, 10 Mar. 2022, https://pianodao.com/2022/03/10/rebeca-omordia-african-pianism/.
‘Exploring African Pianism’. Gramophone, https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/exploring-african-pianism. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.
Leahu, Gabriel. 'The Origins of African Nationalism: E.W. Blyden'. Annals of University 'Valahia' Târgovişte. Section of Archaeology and History, vol. 11, no. 2, 2009, pp. 147–61. www.persee.fr, https://doi.org/10.3406/valah.2009.1032.
Oguibe, Olu. ‘Appropriation as Nationalism in Modern African Art’. Third Text, vol. 16, no. 3, Sept. 2002, pp. 243–59. Taylor and Francis+NEJM, https://doi.org/10.1080/09528820110120704.
Omojola, Bode. ‘4. African Pianism’. Nigerian Art Music : With an Introduction Study of Ghanaian Art Music, IFRA-Nigeria, 2013, pp. 79–88. OpenEdition Books, http://books.openedition.org/ifra/611.
Ueno, Azusa. ‘Review: African Pianism - Rebeca Omordia, Piano’. The Classic Review, 3 Mar. 2022, https://theclassicreview.com/album-reviews/review-african-pianism-rebeca-omordia-piano/.
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