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,[1][2] 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
Introduction
Play-Songs and Fishing Songs
The Instruments of the Orchestra
The Nyayito Dance
Yeve Cult Music
Club Dances - The Adzida Dance
The Social Dance - Agbadza
A Comparison of Drumming
The Homogeneity of African Music
Tone and Tune
The Neo-Folk-Music
Volume II Contents
Play-Songs and Fishing Songs
The Nyayito Dance
Yeve Cult Music: (a) The Husago Dance, (b) The Sovu Dance, (c) The Sogba Dance
The Adzida Dance
The Agbadza Dance
The Icila Dance
Influence
Steve Reich has listed this work as an influence on his music, particularly his "fooling around with tape loops, which [he] began to envision as little mechanized Africans [laughs]."[3] It is also cited extensively in Volume I of Gunther Schuller's (who introduced Reich to the work) History of Jazz.[4]
References
^Jones, A.M. Studies in African Music: Volume I. London: Oxford University Press. 1959
^Jones, A.M. Studies in African Music: Volume II. London: Oxford University Press. 1959
^Strickland, Edward. American Composers: Dialogues on Contemporary Music (p. 40). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 1991.
