African Music,Culture,Issues,Spirituality,Strengths,Problems, Spread To Other Countries

[Janet Voxel]

17 minutes ago, Luna Bliss said:

Well you know most 'Muricans, if you ask them about Africa they think it's a country         At least I've known it's a continent for a long while, but I'm ashamed to say I don't know much about the various cultures within it..

It’s not really your fault in a lot of ways. Africa is often shown on a World map as 14 times smaller than it actually is, so it’s not just an American thing. There are large sprawling cities all over the continent. Nigeria has the second largest film industry in the world. The music coming out of Africa is actually global. It’s just not information that is pushed out there, but it’s all there if you look for it.

[Luna Bliss]

48 minutes ago, Janet Voxel said:

1 hour ago, Luna Bliss said:

Well you know most 'Muricans, if you ask them about Africa they think it's a country         At least I've known it's a continent for a long while, but I'm ashamed to say I don't know much about the various cultures within it..

It’s not really your fault in a lot of ways. Africa is often shown on a World map as 14 times smaller than it actually is, so it’s not just an American thing. There are large sprawling cities all over the continent. Nigeria has the second largest film industry in the world. The music coming out of Africa is actually global. It’s just not information that is pushed out there, but it’s all there if you look for it.

Why is that, do you think?

[Luna Bliss]

The idiocy of this map controversy is at the same time unbelievable yet it's par for the course.  This Westwing portrayal of the issue is funny:

 

[Luna Bliss]

good documentary on the Kora and its place in various cultures:

https://www.indiflixx.com/videos/the-voice-of-the-kora/

[Luna Bliss]

want!

 

[Lancewae Barrowstone]

Wow.  Thank you for this thread!  I love African music -- from the Cape to the Nile  -- that is our common cradle.  Listening to that Blood Diamond piece is moving as such music is; it gives you the sense of a long forgotten pathway receding far away behind it. 

I'll offer up here my latest that I listen to while doing work.  Like yours, the instruments become definitive as it progresses. 

 

 

[BilliJo Aldrin]

On 9/12/2020 at 11:04 AM, Luna Bliss said:

love the beat...

learned a new word..."bombarder"   lol

Also, did not know French was prominent in so many countries in Africa.. 

Its not because they took it as a second language option in school.

French colonies

[Luna Bliss]

18 hours ago, BilliJo Aldrin said:

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2020 at 10:04 AM, Luna Bliss said:

love the beat...

learned a new word..."bombarder"   lol

Also, did not know French was prominent in so many countries in Africa.. 

Its not because they took it as a second language option in school.

French colonies

I'm actually speaking to issues related to the colonization of Africa. I was under the impression that England colonized more countries in Africa than they did, as most of what I've experienced in my education (South African struggles, the Gold Coast conflicts) were from countries colonized by the English.

[Luna Bliss]

18 hours ago, Lancewae Barrowstone said:

Wow.  Thank you for this thread!  I love African music -- from the Cape to the Nile  -- that is our common cradle.  Listening to that Blood Diamond piece is moving as such music is; it gives you the sense of a long forgotten pathway receding far away behind it. 

I'll offer up here my latest that I listen to while doing work.  Like yours, the instruments become definitive as it progresses.

Nice artist...or group...Makyo...had not heard of them but love their sound.

That's exactly it...the vibe from the Blood Diamond piece...some kind of forgotten pathway we're  traveling....so apropos for Africa in many ways.  I especially like how the Kora riff changes back and forth between overhead riff and melody.

[Luna Bliss]

 

[Pussycat Catnap]

On 9/12/2020 at 9:38 AM, Luna Bliss said:

Why is that, do you think?

Racism

If you want to be 'polite' you could claim it was just Imperialism or Colonialism... but that's really the same thing now isn't it...

 

Wikipedia claims that the corrected Gall-Peters projection map is used in the UK school system. Is this true (I imagine it was not true when most people here went to school - but was it true in 2019 when... school as a concept last existed...)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gall–Peters_projection

In the USA, unless you are currently in the Boston public school system, your chances of having ever seen this truth are slim...

Edited September 15, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Pussycat Catnap]

So... if this is to be a thread that also talks of culture, issues, and spirituality... Imma throw another grenade into the room...

The oldest existing unbroken line of a Jewish community: Ethiopia's Jews.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Israel

Quote

Origins[edit]

Oral traditions[edit]

Many of the Beta Israel accounts of their own origins stress that they stem from the very ancient migration of some portion of the Tribe of Dan to Ethiopia, led it is said by sons of Moses, perhaps even at the time of the Exodus. Alternative timelines include perhaps the later crises in Judea, e. g., at the time of the split of the northern Kingdom of Israel from the southern Kingdom of Judah after the death of King Solomon or at the time of the Babylonian Exile.^[34] Other Beta Israel take as their basis the Christian account of Menelik's return to Ethiopia.^[35] Menelik is considered the first Solomonic Emperor of Ethiopia, and is traditionally believed to be the son of King Solomon of ancient Israel, and Makeda, ancient Queen of Sheba (in modern Ethiopia). Though all the available traditions^[36] correspond to recent interpretations, they reflect ancient convictions. According to Jon Abbink; three different versions are to be distinguished among the traditions which were recorded from the priests of the community.^{[37][6][7][8]}

- some things to note there. Ethiopia was founded during the lifetime of the Biblical King Solomon. It was founded, at that point, as a Jewish Empire ruled by, according to Ethiopians, Solomon's firstborn but out-of-wedlock son.

It was during this time that the 'Ark of the Covenant' vanished, and Jews of Israel claim to parts unknown without a trace. The founding story of Ethiopia however, is that it was stolen by Solomon's own inner circle of Rabbis who fled with it to find Menelik on the road back to Ethiopia after his visit to his father, and give it to him to bring to Ethiopia. Their reasons being that Solomon had abandoned the faith. That last part - is actually agreed upon by Israeli Jews as well - it's even in the old Testament. Solomon is killed by his other song for turning to 'paganism', but the Ark is not found once the second, legitimate son, takes control.

Modern Ethiopia will even tell you where it is. You can see a picture of the building it's in if you google this. The Vatacan agrees with the Ethiopians which might also explain why Italy made two attempts to invade Ethiopia a century ago (almost succeeding the second time - but also creating the reason Rastas wear dreadlocks - in solidarity with Ethiopian Emperor's Selassie's elite guard that kept their hair unkempt so the Italians could find them and behead them - but as such fail to find the Emperor). This is also why the Rasta community tends to be hostile to Catholics, and while Rastas swear to pacifism their "non rasta allies" have murdered Catholics found in Jamaica in a poorly misguided claim of 'solidarity'...

Back to the story as it pertains to Africa:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Ethiopia

From the 4th century to 1632 there was an Ethiopian kingdom that was officially Jewish. If you know Jewish history you will often be told that at this point in history the Jews were a people without a homeland wandering in persecution in Europe - this is because the 'northern Jewish' population was long cut off from the African side, and even in modern times does not fully recognize the African Jews thanks to inheriting the attitudes of the Europeans that were persecuting them with regards to people outside of Europe... At the end of WWII, the Jewish people sought a homeland, failing to realize that one was already there only a few hundred miles south of Israel.

While it is happening that Ethiopian Jews are being recognized now as Jewish by European Jews - it's been a slow process with a lot of tensions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Jews_in_Israel

- But that's a story outside of Africa... so I'll leave that link there to look it up for the curious

 

Though for most of it's history - Ethiopia has been a multi-religious and tolerant nation. Adopting Christianity from the Apostle Simon and later influenced by the Coptic Christians of Egypt, and then accepting Islam when that arrived to become a tri-religious empire from that point forth - though in modern times Christianity is at the 'top' of that arraignment (Selassie came to power when a coup replaced his predecessor because that emperor turned to Islam).

 

This history is key to dispelling a number of myths non-Africans have about the place.

- There's a common perception that Christianity was brought to Africa by Europeans and this is even used to justify Colonialism and slavery both - but Christianity actually held in an African nation before it even arrived in Rome - and spread forth into parts of Africa from there.

- There's a common perception that the 'religions of the book' cannot ever live in peace. And while Ethiopia did have a number of periods where one religion persecuted another - in particular during one period where the Ethiopian Emperor converted away from Ethiopian Orthodox to Catholicism in the 1622; most of the period was of co-existence.

- There's a common perception that African has no 'history' - it was all oral among primitive people - yet in truth even in conquered nations there is a lot of written history. Most of it destroyed - so at best people can find history in old slave ports that trace the names of those sent away - finding a link if they can find a record between themselves and the ancestor that first arrived in the Diaspora... But in Ethiopia written history goes back all the way to biblical times. Granted much of it has the same politicized nature of all history around the world, but it is still a record, and it will tell you something of the nations and people around them as well - albeit from their perspective.

- There's a common perception that Jews wandered the world without any home or power for nearly 2000 years - yet all through that same time period Jewish people where in power in a golden age of Ethiopian influence and prestige.

 

If you want to know African history at a deep level, beyond modern glamourizations - getting access to Ethiopian sources is a solid place to go.

 

If you want another place to study to dispel myths about historic Africa, look up the Songhai Empire. It's basically the historical 'Wakanda'... Its collapse after being conquered by Arabs is where the tale of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade begins.

 

 

[Pussycat Catnap]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songhai_Empire

If you try to study Songhai you will see that because of it's total collapse it's a bit like studying the Maya or Troy. What is known is a mix of myth / legend, propaganda, and archeology.

The 'Wakada-ization' of Songhai will likely erode over time as Archeologist unravel more of the myths to get to the truth inside.

But it's a vital part of Africa's story anyway - because it was the lynchpin that turned a trickle of bandits on the fringes capturing people and selling them abroad as slaves, or minor wars and debts being resolved through indentured servitude just as was the case in Europe, pre-Columbian America, and Asia... turned those things into a massive tide of human suffering unlike anything ever before seen in human history - and matched in horrific nature only by the 'Indian Wars'.

Songhai was the breech in the wall, the crack in the dam - and once it's broke, the flood rushed through.

But it's a lot harder to study it than Ethiopia... and since it's on the other side of the continent a bit harder to use Ethiopia's records, if any exist on this subject; to study it...

Edited September 15, 2020 by Pussycat Catnap

[Luna Bliss]

On ‎9‎/‎15‎/‎2020 at 2:15 PM, Pussycat Catnap said:

But it's a vital part of Africa's story anyway

Thanks for the pointers...

It's like studying history from another planet, as we learn so little in the US about African history. Am starting here, as it looks like something for 3rd grade...lol.

https://www.afrikaiswoke.com/songhai-empire-origins/

There's a general Black history section at this site too.

[Pussycat Catnap]

2 hours ago, Luna Bliss said:

Thanks for the pointers...

It's like studying history from another planet, as we learn so little in the US about African history. Am starting here, as it looks like something for 3rd grade...lol.

My High School had a whole huge African Studies department.

The only class I ever took there was "African Dance" as one semester of P.E.

The school put a lot of 'social pressure' on non-Black students to NOT take classes there. And it put a lot of pressure on Black students to take every class they could through that department. In effect - the end result was the school I went to in an ultra 'left wing liberal Bay Area city' managed to use "African Studies" as a way to create segregation. The only time I saw Black students in the same class was in P.E.

I would have been tracked with them and the other Hispanics, but before moving to that city I'd lived in a more conservative location and they had tried to force downtrack me into 'special ed' but somehow my mother got in there and made them test me - which is how I found out I have a genius IQ, and got to have an education from then on where I usually the only non-white kid in my classes. That's a big part of why I used to carry a knife to school and grew up in so much violence - getting harassed of jumped by white kids.

The 'kids' in the Liberal Bay Area school I went to where the first whites I knew (including teachers - my biggest beatdown as a child happened when the teacher stepped into the hall so he wouldn't "officially" see my white classmates assault me - the day after that is when I got my first knife) that were not violent towards me.

But the school was setup against all of my peers.

 

I note this story because... even when they do teach about Africa - they take pains to keep the white kids from learning it. They don't want them knowing any of the beauty of that place's history or cultures.

 

Think about Netflix for a second...

Not a non-sequitur by the way. If you live in the USA, before Netflix went global you probably rarely if ever saw documentaries or foreign movies. When I grew up even British TV like Dr. Who was hard to find - it was basically 'weekends on PBS' (public broadcasting) only. I never knew that one of the world's richer cinematic histories was just a few miles south of me in Mexico - I actually learned that from Koreans when living in Korea...

All that culture and history from pretty much anywhere in the world was a total mystery.

Netflix went global around 2013 or so (+/- a year. Could look it up but not important to this point).

One of the things they did was start showing a LOT of documentaries. Even American made documentaries were pretty rare before them. Cable channels like "History" just show weird reality TV shows about people that hunt bigfoot... and even when they do show history it's just about WWII.

Netflix brought Americans documentaries on a massive scale... Both domestic and international.

And then it started bringing movies and TV as well.

My friends from Korea now watch a LOT of Netflix here, because it has all the shows from 'back home' and it's subtitled so many of my non-Korean friends watch it as well (I find Korean dramas too repetitive and their comedy doesn't hit with me well - or I would watch it as it's my second language).

Once Netflix did that, other venues have started following. Especially YouTube.

 

Through Netflix and YouTube I learned that the second biggest movie industry in the world... is Nigeria.

- I did watch one Nigerian movie recently. It was kinda weird... Not sure it was my thing. A few years ago I would have had no idea that industry even existed...

 

When I was young they worked to keep us all isolated both from the world's cultures, and each other.

Whatever else I may think about Netflix and YouTube - they've together torn that wall down, which is a great achievement.

 

Look up some documentaries or TV shows from parts of Africa on Netflix or YouTube. The one I saw was really 'corny' (weird and silly). But they're interesting to see too for helping bridge that mental gap where the west has been taught that 'Africa is a different planet'.

 

[Luna Bliss]

On 9/17/2020 at 1:43 PM, Pussycat Catnap said:

Look up some documentaries or TV shows from parts of Africa on Netflix or YouTube. The one I saw was really 'corny' (weird and silly). But they're interesting to see too for helping bridge that mental gap where the west has been taught that 'Africa is a different planet'.

Thanks...I will do that....

Been reading about the Griots in west Africa...interesting social structure so different from structures in the West.  But until now, so like the West with it's prejudice against women.  For example, some guy told a blind woman Kora player it was playing the Kora (traditionally reserved for me) that caused her blindness.