Studies in African Music


Studies in African Music is a 1959 book in two volumes by A.M. Jones. It is an in-depth analysis of the traditional music of the Ewe tribe.

Summary

The work is divided into two volumes, with the first volume being an analysis of the music presented in Volume II, and the second being full-score reproductions of the pieces in question.

Volume I Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Play-Songs and Fishing Songs
  3. The Instruments of the Orchestra
  4. The Nyayito Dance
  5. Yeve Cult Music
  6. Club Dances - The Adzida Dance
  7. The Social Dance - Agbadza
  8. A Comparison of Drumming
  9. The Homogeneity of African Music
  10. Tone and Tune
  11. The Neo-Folk-Music

Volume II Contents

  1. Play-Songs and Fishing Songs
  2. The Nyayito Dance
  3. Yeve Cult Music: The Husago Dance, The Sovu Dance, The Sogba Dance
  4. The Adzida Dance
  5. The Agbadza Dance
  6. The Icila Dance

Influence

has listed this work as an influence on his music, particularly his "fooling around with tape loops, which began to envision as little mechanized Africans ." It is also cited extensively in Volume I of Gunther Schuller's History of Jazz.