Missionary Education and Musical Communities in Sub-Saharan Colonial Africa

Abstract

This article explores the effects of music education carried out by Protestant missionaries on local forms of sociability in sub-Saharan Africa during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Based on a methodological framework of ideal types of musical communities, the examination focuses on examples of musical encounters between missionaries and the Yoruba in West Africa, the Lobedu in South Africa, and the Nyakyusa in East Africa. A closer look at the kinds of sociability facilitated by missionary music will reveal a colonial dialectic emerging from the contrasting forces of cultural hierarchy and belonging.

Effects of Appropriating Luhyia Musical Styles to the Authenticity of Anglican Hymns of Butere Diocese, Western Kenya

“…The study focused on the structural alterations and performance of ACK hymns through the active interaction between the Luhyia musical practices and the Anglican hymns as appropriated in the day to day liturgical singing. Scholars such as Kidula (1995) and Torp (2017) have discussed appropriation of derived musical styles into another musical culture to form hybrid musical product. Indeed, hybrid music is a common phenomenon, both within and without religious places due to globalization.…”

“…As observed by Mkallyah (2016), liturgical musicand by extension Anglican Church of Kenya's (ACK) hymnody -has been greatly influenced by the global trend of hybridization. The growth of church music in Africa has been an area of concern for ethnomusicologists such as Machlis (1955), Kidula (1995), Omolo-Ongati (2005), Sithole ( 2015) Bays (2017), Ross and Lohk (2017), Terpenning (2017), Torp (2017) and Biggs (2018).…”

“…Ross and Lohk (2017), Terpenning (2017) and Biggs (2018) directed their focus on the general Africanization of Western systems of music, including hymns by looking at the use of indigenous African folk song materials to yield a hybrid musical product. On the other hand, Torp (2017) and Kidula (1995) focused on the influence of Western derived musical traditions on the performance of African music. However, despite the growing concern of ACK clergy in Western region over lost authenticity in Anglican hymnody, no study has been done to determine the effect of appropriating Luhyia musical styles into the singing of Anglican hymns.…”