The history of African lamellophones can be reconstructed by comparative studies of the instruments, the tunings, the music played on them and specifically by studying and comparing the words and technical terms used in different languages for the instruments, their parts, for techniques of playing and tuning them, aspects of […]
Creativity and Tradition
Last year, in my article A view on innovation and preservation I wrote about the tension between musical innovation and preservation of music. Today, I want to take up that topic again, but from a slightly more abstract and philosophical angle of view. These considerations might be applied to Mbira music, […]
Proprioceptive Art
A View on Innovation and Preservation in African Music
An opinion piece by Andreas Keller (Nannus) This article was originally a comment to an article by Ignatius Mabasa on this post Zimbabwe: Artistes Must Try New Things. The question raised in Mabasa’s article is whether musicians should innovate or just preserve the old music. I think both must be done. I […]