Cool Stuff: Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

 #1: Black Panther

    Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE superhero movies, especially Marvel, and ESPECIALLY Black Panther, so I thought it was so interesting to learn about the talking drum and how it was used in the Black Panther score. Something I loved about Black Panther the first time I watched it was how rich in culture it was, and how different it was to every other superhero film I've seen. The costumes, the characters, and especially the music were so immersed in African culture, but there was also evidence of western influence (especially in soundtrack), because it still was a movie about a superhero, which is a very western idea. ANYWAYS, I found this pretty cool clip of a documentary about the composer, Ludwig Göransson, on how he went about scoring the film, what his influences and inspirations were, and how he decided what instruments would be used. 

#2: Baaba Maal

    If you watched the above clip, then you know that one of Göransson's biggest inspirations was Baaba Maal, a Senegalese musician. I decided to do a little more research about him and thought he needed his own section of the blog! Maal is a very famous and grammy nominated musician, who has been active since 1989. He is from the river valley region of northern Senegal, and belongs to the Fulani people, who are somewhat nomadic. He says that this has influenced his music greatly and inspired him to travel the world, saying that"travel and music are inextricable. “It’s part of my culture. The songs travel from village to village, from country to country. It’s something natural to my tribe and this part of Africa.” He is known for blending traditional African music with funk, reggae, and rock. He credits his love of music and travel partly to his mother, who encouraged him to become a musician. You can read more about Baaba Maal on his website, and here is a video of the opening track from his newest album "The Traveller". I will also leave you with this quote, which I really liked: "Most of the problems we have are because people don’t travel enough and discover other people and enjoy their company. By traveling you discover that humanity is so beautiful: different faces, different cultures, different colours, different sounds. To live in one place is very boring. When you travel you realise that humanity and the planet is a very big gift, in spite of some of the man-made horrors. This is what I want to celebrate." 

#3: Female Artists in South Africa

    I felt as though we talked about and watched a lot of men, not only in this unit, but in all of the units we've covered so far, so I decided to do some research into some popular South African female Artists and share that with all of you. I found an article that lists the top 10 most streamed South African women, complete with playlists with lots of their songs. Number one on this list is Shekhinah, a singer-songwriter from Durban, South Africa. Her first album, Rose Gold, is certified platinum, and is REALLY good! A quote I really like from her is "Music is my first language, no matter where in the world I am. I chose these songs to represent all the places I've been and favourite moments I have lived, each one holds a special place down memory lane and each artist is a Queen in their own way and space, these are must know hard hits on my playlist."