Smith College's Moodle

Course Title: Master Musicians of Africa I: West Africa
Course No: MUS 220
Instructor: Bode Omojola, Ph.D.
Meeting Venue: Sage Hall 215
Time: TuTh: 10:30-11:50am
Office Hours: TuTh: 12-1pm (Room TBD)
E-mail: bomojola@smith.edu or: bomojola@mtholyoke.edu

Course Description
This course concentrates on the lives and music of selected West African musicians. Departing from ethnographic approaches that mask the identity of individual musicians and treat African societies as collectives, this course emphasizes the contributions of individual West African musicians whose stature as master musicians is undisputed within their respective communities. It examines the contributions of individual musicians and ensembles to the ever continuous process of negotiating the boundaries and ambience of African musical practice. Individuals and groups covered this semester include Angélique Kidjo (Benin), Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Babatunde Olatunji (Nigeria), and Dzigbordi women (Ghana). The variety of artistic expressions of selected musicians also provides a basis for examining the interrelatedness of different African musical idioms, and the receptivity of African music to non-African styles.