Off on a Musical Safari

Perhaps the most prevalent stereotype regarding African music is that it is predominantly percussion-based.

Yes, percussion instruments play a vital role in African music. But wind and string instruments are important and often under-recognized components of this continent’s rich and varied musical tradition.

“Most people aren’t aware of the range, quality and beauty of African instruments,” says Jane Burrell, chief of education at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Shedding new light on African instruments and music in Africa and the Western Hemisphere is a primary goal of a collaborative project involving LACMA, the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History and the California African-American Museum. All three museums are currently presenting exhibitions under the umbrella heading, “The Heritage of African American Music.”

Some Instruments Are Hard to Categorize

At LACMA, “Music for the Eyes: The Fine Art of African Musical Instruments” showcases more than 140 African instruments. The Fowler exhibition, titled “Music in the Life of Africa,” deals with the cultural and sociological significance of African music and instruments. “Rhythms of the Soul: African Instruments in the Diaspora,” at the California African-American Museum, focuses on the evolution of African music and instruments in North America, the Caribbean and South America. All three shows were launched last fall.

In addition to the exhibitions, each museum is offering special programs such as lectures, classes, performances and family-oriented workshops involving African music or instruments. Both the Fowler and LACMA have instrument-making workshops, storytelling programs and numerous other events scheduled in the coming weeks. On Saturday, the California African-American Museum will present performances by Albert “Tootie” Heath, drummer for the Modern Jazz Quartet, and story-teller Sybil Desta, who will spin tales about the history of jazz and its African roots.

The African instruments at LACMA are divided into four display categories: skins (percussion instruments on which stretched membranes are used to create sound), winds, strings and a miscellaneous section that includes hard-to-categorize instruments such as rattles, thumb pianos and xylophones.

Many of the instruments in the LACMA show, housed in the museum’s Boone Children’s Gallery, are striking pieces of fine art as well. A 20th century harp made by the Mangbetu people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo features a base made from the body of a scaly anteater and a neck carved in the shape of a woman, probably representing Queen Nenzima, who was a chief advisor of four kings between 1875 and 1926.

“We really want to get across that many of these instruments are works of sculpture,” explains Elizabeth Caffry, LACMA’s assistant museum educator. “They’re not just instruments. I think there is a more decorative element to African instruments [compared with many Western musical instruments].”

A highlight of the LACMA exhibition (which ends May 14) is a drum made by the Asante artist Nana Osei Bonsu in Ghana in the early 1930s. It’s one of more than 70 items on loan from the Fowler’s extensive permanent collection of African musical instruments. The drum--which features a beautiful, elephant-shaped base--is covered with colorful carvings of animals and symbols of royalty.

Visitors can read laminated cards that interpret the meanings of the many symbols decorating the drums on display. They can also play African instruments. The museum has created interactive drum and string areas, which also feature videotaped instruction on how to play the instruments.

Life, Music Intertwined in African Cultures

Caffry says the talking drums are particularly popular because visitors can change the tone of the instrument by tightening or loosening the drum’s strings. “Since African languages are tonal, you can imitate speech through [the talking drums]. They communicate information this way,” she says.

“Music in the Life of Africa” at the Fowler delves into five areas of musical experience: political life, religion, family and community, work, and recreation.

The exhibition, which runs through July 16, encompasses everything from Swahili love ballads performed at weddings, to the revolutionary songs of the South African anti-apartheid movements of the 1970s and ‘80s, to Tanzanian work songs using fiddles.

“I would say that the music of Africa is more thoroughly integrated into the lives of the people than it is in our own culture,” says Doran H. Ross, Fowler Museum director. “People in this country play music as a kind of a background to work. But we don’t usually actively sing at our work [like they do in Africa]. Music is certainly an integral part of our religious experiences here in the United States. But in Africa, that is heightened. There is a certain musical education that takes place in most African cultures, albeit an informal one.”

“Music in the Life of Africa” includes many of the Fowler’s impressive collection of African instruments. In addition, an interactive area features more than 100 different instruments for visits to play and nine video presentations.

Changing Forms in the New World

The Fowler show also illustrates how some African music has been influenced by music from other cultures. For example, Swahili love ballads are heavily influenced by Arab music, Egyptian and Indian film music and Cuban recordings.

Although the “Rhythms of the Soul” show at the California African-American Museum includes a display of traditional African musical instruments, its main purpose is to explain the evolution of African music in the New World.

African music and instruments were allowed much greater leeway in the Caribbean and South America than in the United States, notes Rick Moss, history program manager at the California African-American Museum.

“The British were also much less accepting of African religions, religious ceremony, the playing of drums [and traditional African music],” Moss says. “The Spanish and Portuguese were less apprehensive about what the Africans did in their own quarters during their own time. So there were opportunities to play the music [in countries like Cuba and Brazil], to practice religions and to engage in ceremonies that had some resemblance to those that had been practiced in various societies in Africa.”

A section of the exhibition titled “Developments in the Diaspora” contains numerous Afro-Cuban, Haitian and Jamaican instruments. Many of these instruments are distinctly African in appearance. In contrast, African American musicians had to express themselves largely through European-based instruments.

Listening Stations With Variety of Music

Another section, “Post-Emancipation in the United States,” illustrates the emergence of gospel, minstrel, blues, ragtime and jazz in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition concludes with “Urban Traditions: 1920s to the Present,” a largely sound-driven section devoted to various pioneering African American artists in genres such as blues, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, hip-hop and funk.

The entire exhibition (which ends June 11) includes 15 listening stations offering everything from the sound of Trinidad steel drums to Sly & the Family Stone’s 1969 soul hit “Everyday People.”

Moss says the “Rhythms of the Soul” show contains strong cross-generational appeal.

“Some of the parents are so eager to tell their children about certain artists [featured in the exhibition],” Moss enthuses. “They’ll say, ‘Oh yeah, this is Bo Diddley.’ Well, kids don’t know Bo Diddley from Diddley Pooh! But the parents are listening and telling them about Bo Diddley being one of the earliest rappers. There’s a song [that’s offered at a listening station] where he’s actually doing a rap. Well, that display is not far from the section on today’s rap. So the kids can compare the two.”

BE THERE

“Music for the Eyes: The Fine Art of African Musical Instruments” continues through May 14 at the Boone Children’s Gallery, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, (323) 857-4718. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Friday, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. $7; ages 62 and older and students 18 and older with ID, $5; children and students 6 to 17, $1; ages 5 and younger, free.

“Music in the Life of Africa” continues through July 16 at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, Westwood Plaza entrance off Sunset Boulevard, Westwood, (310) 825-4361. Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Wednesday, Friday-Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Free. Parking, $5.

“Rhythms of the Soul: African Instruments in the Diaspora” continues through June 11 at the California African-American Museum, Exposition Park, 600 State Drive, Los Angeles, (213) 744-7432. Tuesday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free. Parking, $5.