LYRICAL AFRICAN MUSIC

The African continent is characterised by a great diversity of musical features which do not necessarily conform to the distribution of ethnic groups or national borders found on a map. Beyond the regional particularities, one can distinguish widespread styles, like music that has a meditative quality. This music presents instruments of a discrete sonority, often played in a brilliant manner, which overlap and intertwine with the sung voice that they accompany. Starting with examples from different African regions, the lecture will present certain musical repertoires by placing them in perspective with their context.

Curator in the department of ethnomusicology at the Musée d'ethnographie de Genève,  Madeleine Leclair is a specialist of yoruba music from Benin. Until 2012, she was responsible for the ethnomusicology collections at the Musée du quai Branly in Paris.