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Written by one of the best-known academic writers on African music,
On African Music is a collection of seven essays offering a wide-ranging discussion of the animating structures of African music while reflecting on the scholarship they have elicited.
List of contents
- Introduction
- 1. The minimalist impulse
- 2. Iconicity in musical thought and expression
- 3. Tonality as a colonizing force
- 4. African pianism and the challenge of art music
- 5. Rethinking music theory, with African aid
- 6. Against ethno-theory
- 7. African rhythm studies: A sketch and a critique
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Kofi Agawu is Distinguished Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and previously taught at Princeton University, Yale University, Cornell University, and King's College London. His books include Playing with Signs (1991), African Rhythm (1996), Music as Discourse (2008) and The African Imagination in Music (2016). He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1991), the Dent Medal (1992), and the Harrison Medal (2009). He was Music Theorist in Residence for the Dutch-Flemish Music Theory Society in 2008-09 and George Eastman Visiting Professor at Oxford University in 2012-13. A Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is also Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and Honorary Member of the Royal Musical Association.
Summary
Written by one of the best-known academic writers on African music, On African Music is a collection of seven essays offering a wide-ranging discussion of the animating structures of African music while reflecting on the scholarship they have elicited.
