Creative transformation in African art music: a case study

Abstract

The study examines and analyses the significance of the style of music composition employing traditional and contemporary models noted in the solo voice and piano works of Nketia. It argues that an imaginative African contemporary composer can elect to work within the limitations of selected traditional instruments and create new African music that not only blends their sonorities, but also makes use of appropriate tunes and other materials from traditional or contemporary repertoire. What is of particular interest to us in this paper is the use of new models by the composer to transform the African traditional modes of expression, using techniques that may be foreign or not frequently used in African traditions. The study hopes to contribute to the discourses on African art music as a synthesis of elements of traditional and European resources. It argues that a genuine feeling of African style does not come merely from the use of folk songs and dances. A piece will sound African— Akan, Ewe, Hausa, Yoruba, etc., when the basic characteristics of the source materials feature in the body of the composition. The study is based on analysis and interpretation of three selected solo works of J. H. Kwabena Nketia and on interviews between the author and the composer