Introduction to the First Phase of Modernism in Africa

Introduction

Africa is a large continent full of myriad countries and cultures, its art cannot be defined under a single title. "African Art" as a term, therefore, usually refers primarily to Sub-Saharan African art. The artistic trends and periods of the Mediterranean coast of Africa, or the art of the Islamic and Christian nations of Africa, have their own names, traditions and artistic movements. African art has many characteristics, some of which are the preference of creative expressionism over realism, the prevalence of images and sculptures of the human figure, a greater focus on sculpture over painting, abstract themes and representations, a fusion of visual and performing arts, and nonlinear scaling. African art incorporates an extraordinary array of objects, materials, media and subjects. A striking aspect of African painting is their emphasis on perspective and form of naturalistic representation.  Among the best-known examples of traditional African art are the striking masks produced by many cultures across the continent: from the Zamble masks of the Guro culture (located in present-day Côte d'Ivoire), to the Yoruba, Lulua and Goma face ornaments – created by communities in Nigeria, Congo and Tanzania. These masks often had an expensive religious or ceremonial function, thought to take on magical properties in the context of a particular ritual or event. They also had an immeasurable impact on the development of contemporary art in Europe in the early 20th century, with cubists such as Pablo Picasso deeply moved and influenced by their moving removal (‘Traditional African Art Movement Overview’).

Politics

The nineteenth century brought changes, new pressures and opportunities. The economic horizon of the villagers was explored as the tram strengthened ties that stretched from villages to coastal ports and foreign markets. The expansion of trade brought social and political changes. Initially, it tended to strengthen the position of chiefs, for whom it became easier to accumulate wealth by taxing the trade in salt, iron, and copper.  Further, Africa's economic relations with the wider world changed, which led to the partition of Africa, which began around 1750 and culminated in European colonization that took place in the late nineteenth century. In addition, an educated elite appeared in Africa, which had two unique and interesting consequences.  The first was the rise of Ethiopianism, an African religious and political nationalist movement. The second was the spiritual revolution, especially in South and West Africa (Ajayi).

After the 1850s, pseudo-scientific thought emerged in Europe and America that interpreted society racistly. These racist ideas received much publicity during the second half of the century from the writings of such people as Arthur de Gobinaud, Sir Richard Burton and Winwood Reide. These ideas were accepted by most European missionaries and administrators in Africa, who began to discriminate against educated Africans in favor of whites, both in the Church and in government. This racial discrimination against educated Africans led to the religious and political nationalist movement Ethiopia (Ajayi).

Arts

In terms of art, during this period many African countries fell victim to colonial-era looting, with artworks taken without consent and placed in museums and galleries around the world. This resulted in a decades-long effort on the part of many African nations to repatriate historical works. Perhaps the most famous case involves a group of sculptural busts and plaques known as the Benin Bronze. In 1897, it is estimated that thousands of Nigerian works from the Kingdom of Benin were taken from the country by British troops. Today, these pieces are in museums around the world, including 900 included in the British Museum's collection. While works in private collections would be nearly impossible to recover, serious efforts have been made to return works. While some institutions and governments have begun to seriously discuss the return of the Benin Bronzes they hold, progress has been slow. It is this inertia that has disappointed many Africans, including artist Victor Ehikhamenor, who has written that "generations of Africans have already lost immeasurable landmarks of history and culture due to the absence of some of the best artworks created on the continent. We shouldn't be asking, again and again, to take back what is ours." (‘Traditional African Art Movement Overview’). The history of African art includes not only the colonial period that coincides with the "modern" period in the west. "Contemporary art with its imperative of formal evolution and abstract art with its claim to transcend social forces provided an exemplary order of evolution as developments" (Kasfir, 1999). Therefore, the modern came hand in hand with colonialism and is closely linked to the imposition of social and economic transformation based on colonial theories of indigenous improvement. Gidden quoted in Kasfir (1999) defines 'modernity' as a new kind of civilization that swept away all previous social classes." (Kangai and Mupondi).

Influence of African art

The legacy of African art in the West, meanwhile, cannot be examined except for the European modernist movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Artists such as Georges Braque, André Dérain, Juan Gris, Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso found it a source of great inspiration due to its distinctions from the post-Renaissance traditions of art. According to a historical account, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso were emotionally shocked when they met their first African mask in the studio of their friend André Derain. The work of these contemporary artists often clearly shows the influence of African art on the elongation of faces and eyes, while the long necks of the figures in Modigliani's portraits bear a striking resemblance to early African masks. Explaining this influence, author Carolina Sanmiguel states that "contemporary artists were attracted to African art because it meant an opportunity to break away from the rigid and outdated traditions that govern the artistic practice of 19th-century Western academic painting. Contrary to Western tradition, African art was not concerned with the canonical ideals of beauty nor with the idea of depicting nature faithfully to reality. Instead, they cared about representing what they 'knew' rather than what they 'saw.'" However, African art so influenced some early contemporary artists such as Braque and Picasso that they used its forms and structure as building blocks for the development of the early modern art movement Cubism. According to Sanmiguel, "the impact of the intense expression, structural clarity, and simplified forms of African art inspired these artists to create fragmented geometric compositions full of overlapping planes." An early example is Picasso's iconic painting, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907). Often considered a work documenting the transition of his work to cubist style, the faces of the women in the brothel have the distinctive appearance of African masks. Cubism was not the only contemporary movement influenced by African art. Its impact can also be seen in works of Fauvism and German Expressionism. As Sanmiguel claims, "[it is] also visible in the bold angular brushstrokes of abstract expressionists like Willem de Kooning. And of course, contemporary artists as diverse as Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Sale have also incorporated African images into their works." It can be argued that many works of contemporary art inspired by African art, and even some movements such as primitivism, which developed in the late 19th century and drew inspiration from African and other tribal arts, helped perpetuate the myth that African art reflected a state of uncivilized naivety. This was a misconception that would take decades to correct and is still addressed by some contemporary African artists. Modern artists were not, however, the first artists to find fault in their treatment of African sources in contemporary Western art. Cuban artist Wifredo Lam, for example, was inspired by African culture, but tried to show it differently from many of his European contemporaries. He sought through his work to convey the complexity and complexity of early African art. According to author Brendan Sainsbury, "For Lam, primitivism meant something more profound. Africa was in his legacy.... He even went so far as to align himself with the afrocubanismo movement he fought for... To give greater legitimacy to black culture by using art to integrate it more deeply into the... society". European modernists weren't the only artists to find inspiration in African art. African-American artists were also deeply moved by this art, with its rich heritage of masks and sculptures, and built on it during the development of the Harlem Renaissance art movement. Artists such as Charles Henry Alston, Roam Bearden, Aaron Douglas, and Jacob Lawrence were all influenced by African art and wanted to build on its heritage by creating artworks that elevated the Black experience in America. As author Shira Wolfe explains, "Douglas combined images from African-American history with scenes from modern life... Douglas was influenced by modernist movements such as Cubism, and he and other artists also found a great source of inspiration in West Africa, particularly stylized sculptures and masks from Benin, Congo, and Senegal. They saw this art as a link to their African heritage." (‘Traditional African Art Movement Overview’).

Music

Given the vastness of the African continent, its music is diverse, with regions and nations having distinct musical traditions. Like the music of Asia, such as Indian and Western Asian, African music is extremely rhythmic. Complex rhythmic patterns often create polyrhythms. The most common polyrhythm consists of three beats. The musical traditions of sub-Saharan Africa are often based on a wide variety of percussion instruments,  such as the (mbira) or piano thumb. Another feature of African music is the nature of calling and responding: in other words, a voice or instrument plays a short melodic phrase, and this phrase is repeated by another voice or instrument. This characteristic extends to rhythm, where one percussionist plays a rhythmic pattern which is repeated by another percussionist. African music is also extremely improvisational. Usually a basic rhythmic pattern is played,  with the percussionists then improvising new patterns on top of the original static motifs.  African music includes amapiano  (amapiano), (Jùjú), (Fuji), (Afrobeat), (Highlife), (Makossa), (Kizomba), and others. The music and dance of the African diaspora includes jazz, blues, and many Caribbean genres, such as calypso, kaiso, and soca. Many Latin American music genres such as cumbia, salsa, son cubano, rumba, conga, bomba, samba and zouk were based on African music and in turn influenced African folk music (‘Music of Africa’).

The music of Africa can be divided into two major regions. North African music and Western, Central, Southeastern and South African music. The seat of North Africa is ancient Egypt and Carthage whose culture is connected to Western Asia and who influenced ancient Greek and Roman cultures. The music of North Africa has a huge range, from the music of ancient Egypt to the music (Berber) and music (Tuareg) of nomads. The art music of the region for centuries follows the rules of Arabic and Andalusian classical music. Popular modern species include Algerian (Raï). Somali music is usually pentatonic, that is, it uses five tones per octave as opposed to heptatonic music. The music of the Ethiopian highlands uses a fundamental modal system called (dog), of which there are four main modes: (tezeta), (bati), (ambassel), and (anchihoy). Some songs are named after him (qenet) on them. The musical traditions of Western, Central, Southeastern and Southern Africa, according to Arthur Morris Jones (1889-1980), form a main system. African traditional music is often highly functional. Performances are usually large and often involve audience participation. There are, for example, specialized work songs, songs accompanying childbirth, marriage, hunting and political activities, and others.  Muscologically, sub-Saharan Africa can be divided into four regions: 1) the eastern region, 2) the southern region, 3) the central region, and 4) the western region. 1) The eastern region includes the music of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as well as the islands of Madagascar, Seychelles, Mauritius and the Comoros. Many of these music were influenced by Arabic music and the music of India, Indonesia and Polynesia, although the indigenous musical traditions of the region belong mainly to the mainstream of the Bantu/Niger-Congo peoples. 2) The southern region includes the music of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. 3) The central region includes the music of Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, including the music of the Pygmies. 4) The music of West Africa includes the music of Senegal and Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the inland plains of Mali, Niger and Burkin Faso, the coastal nations of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of Congo;  as well as islands such as São Tomé and Príncipe. Southern, Central and West Africa are also part of the broad musical tradition of sub-Saharan Africa. They have several influences, from the Muslim regions of Africa, and in modern times, from America and Western Europe. West African music has regional variations, with Muslim regions incorporating elements of Islamic music and non-Muslim regions more influenced by indigenous traditions. (‘Music of Africa’).

Notable Compositions

Aronke Macaulay - Tunde King & His Group (Nigeria)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eTISSYI5sA 

Tude King (1910–1980) was a Nigerian musician credited as the founder of Jùjú music. He had a great influence on Nigerian folk music (‘Tunde King’). Jùjú is a style of Yoruba folk music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name juju from the Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "to throw" or "something thrown". Juju music is not named after juju, which is a form of magic and the use of magical objects, common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations. It evolved in 1900 into urban clubs in all countries and is believed to have been created by Ababababaa Babatunde King, popularly known as the Tunde King. The first jùjú recordings were by King and Ojoge Daniel in the 1920s, when King pioneered ('Jùju Music'). The main ancestor of juju was palm oil music, a syncretic genre that emerged in the liquor stores of culturally diverse port cities of West Africa in the early decades of the 20th century. In the port of Lagos, Nigeria, palm oil music was primarily a singing tradition. Roughly, it was a coupling of the melodic and rhythmic contours of the European anthem he sang with the textual aesthetics of Yoruba's proverb and praise, all accompanied by a banjo or guitar (or similar stringed instrument) and a pumpkin shaker. As the music grew in popularity, so did its celebrities, most notably Tunde King and Ayinde Bakare. King is credited not only with coining the term juju — in reference to the sound of a small, Brazilian tambourine-like drum used in its entirety — but also with the first recording of juju music in 1936. A year later, Bakare went a step further by signing a recording contract with British record label His Master's Voice (Juju | Music | Britannica).

Aiye Nreti Eleya - Aropin Ni T'enia" – General Prince Adekunle & his Supersonic Sounds (1975, 10:00)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upiR84dK4C0 

General Prince Adekunle was a Nigerian musician Jùjú. He was important and innovative in the jùjú music scene, with his characteristic Afrobate driving style. Although he toured England in the early 1970s, he did not make a name for himself outside Nigeria (‘Prince Adekunle’).

Mango Vert - Lovey's String Band

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBC_tNuPZ-o 

The Lovey's String Band was a band from Trinidad. They are known mainly because they were the oldest known calypso group on record. They were originally formed sometime in the 1890s and continued to play until the early 1920s (‘Lovey’s String Band’). Calypso is a Caribbean style of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early to mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles in the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to Kaiso in West Africa and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century. It is characterized by excellent rhythmic and harmonic vocals and historically sung most often in French Creole and led by a griot. As Calypso developed, the role of the griot became known as chantuelle and eventually, calypsonios. As English replaced "patois" (Creole language of the Antilles) as the dominant language, calypso migrated to English and thereby attracted more attention from the government. It allowed the masses to challenge the actions of the unelected Governor and the Legislative Council, as well as the elected city councils of Port of Spain and San Fernando. Calypso continued to play an important role in political expression. Calypso in the Caribbean includes a number of species, including benna in Antigua and Barbuda. Mento, a style of Jamaican folk music that greatly influenced ska and reggae. SKA, the forerunner of rockteady, and reggae. spouge, a style of Barbadian folk music. Dominica's rhythm-solve, mixing Calypso with the rhythm of Haiti. and soca music, a kaiso/calypso style, with influences from chutney, soul, funk, Latin and rhythm-lypsum (‘Calypso Music’).

Love Will Find a Way", a song by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle from the Broadway musical Shuffle Along

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuxnsfAXsuo  

James Hubert "Eubie" Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American rug, jazz, and folk music pianist and composer. Blake's compositions included hits such as "Bandana Days," "Charleston Rag," "Love Will Find a Way," "Memories of You," and "I'm Just Wild for Harry." The 1978 Broadway eubie musical! presented his works. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan awarded Blake the Presidential Medal of Freedom ('Eubie Blake').  Shuffle Along is a musical composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle and a book written by comedy duo Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. One of Broadway's most notable all-Black hits, it was a landmark in African-American musical theater, credited with inspiring the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and '30s (‘Shuffle Along’). Jazz is a musical genre that evolved popular American music in the 19th century, with African origins. It includes several musical genres based on a common construction concept, partial or total improvisation. It experienced significant growth and international recognition during the 1920s ('Jazz').

Dallas Blues - Hart Wand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtRGqXsjaYA 

Hart Anker Budd (March 3, 1887 – August 9, 1960) was an American violinist and band leader from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was of German descent. In the musical world he is best known for his release of "Dallas Blues" in March 1912 ('Heart Wand'). "Dallas Blues" has been called the first true blues tune ever published. However, two other blues had been published earlier: Anthony Maggio's "I Got the Blues" in 1908 and "Oh, You Beautiful Doll", a song by Tin Pan Alley whose first verse is twelve blues bars, in 1911. Also, two other songs with "Blues" in their titles were published in 1912: "Baby Seals Blues" (August 1912), a vaudeville tune written by Franklin "Baby" Seals, and "The Memphis Blues", written by W.C. Handy (September 1912). Nor were they genuine blues songs. The song, although written in typical blues tempo, is often performed in ragtime or Dixieland style ('Dallas Blues'). Blues is a type of musical and musical form that originated in the South of the United States around the 1860s. The blues incorporated spiritual, work songs, voices, chants and rhymes with simple narrative ballads from African American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by its call and response pattern, blues scale, and specific chord progressions, of which twelve bar blues are the most common. Blue notes (or "restless notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in tone, are also an essential part of the sound. Blue shuffles or walking bass enhance the ecstasy-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as a groove. Blues as a genre is also characterized by lyrics, bass lines and orchestration. Early traditional blues lyrics consisted of a single line repeated four times. Only in the first decades of the 20th century did the most common current structure become standard: the AAB motif, consisting of a line sung over the first four bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer end line over the last bars. Early blues often took the form of a loose narrative, often relating racial discrimination and other challenges experienced by African Americans (‘Blues’). 

La tarde - Sindo Garay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZOh9bM-RCI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSlc6WC3lPE  

Shinto Garaj (April 12, 1867 – July 17, 1968, Havana) was a Cuban trova musician. He was taught by Pepe Sanchez. Garay was one of the four greats of trova (‘Sindo Garay’). Son cubano is a type of music and dance that originated in the highlands of eastern Cuba in the late 19th century. It is a syncretic genre that combines elements of Spanish and African origin. Among its fundamental Spanish-speaking components are vocal style, lyrical meter, and the primacy of tres, derived from the Spanish guitar. On the other hand, the characteristic clave rhythm, call and response structure, and percussion section (bongo, maracas, etc.) are all rooted in Bantu origin traditions ('Son Cubano').

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