Simha Arom is a French-Israeli ethnomusicologist who is recognized as an expert on the music of central Africa, expecially that of Central African Republic. His books include AfricanPolyphony and Polyrhythm: Musical Structure and Methodology (1991) ISBN 052124160X. He also made some historical field recordings of the Aka Pygmy music. A musicologist is someone who studies musicology. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... Africa is a large and diverse continent, consisting of dozens of countries, hundreds of languages and thousands of races, tribes and ethnic groups. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of several independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms. ... The term musical form is used in two related ways: a generic type of composition such as the symphony or concerto the structure of a particular piece, how its parts are put together to make the whole; this too can be generic, such as binary form or sonata form Musical... The Aka are a wandering African pygmy people, with large heads and slender necks, who live by hunting. ...
Other researchers studying Pygmy music: Michelle Kisliuk Susanne Furniss Ethnomusicology (from the Greek ethnos = nation and mousike = music), formerly comparative musicology, is the study of music in its cultural context, cultural musicology. ... The Pygmies are a broad group of people who live in Central Africa, especially in Congo, Central African Republic and Cameroon. ...
Colin Macmillan Turnbull (November 23, 1924 - July 28, 1994) was a prominent British anthropologist who gained fame with his book The Forest People (1962), a detailed study of the Mbuti Pygmies. ... Mauro Campagnoli (born in Turin, 1975), is an Italian anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and composer. ...
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A "conservative" point of view by Simha Arom
Other studying Pygmy music Michelle Kisliuk Susanne Furniss
The present Discussion Forum is the result of a colloquium, organised at the end of 1997 in Paris, focusing on an article by SimhaArom which had been published some weeks previously in our volume 1, number 2 (autumn 1997).
SimhaArom launched the debate which focused from its outset on the five types – or modes – of anhemitonic pentatonic scales and their equivalence within African music.
Taking as his starting point the writings of Constantin Brailoiu and SimhaArom, he raises questions concerning the melodic formulæ typical of pentatonicism, ambitus, modal organisation and the existence of scales based on less than five degrees.
Professor SimhaArom, a distinguished scholar of the French National Centre for Scientific Research and specialist on the music and cultures of sub-Saharan Africa, will visit the University of Alberta on October 21 and 22, 2005 as part of a North American speaking tour.
Arom's landmark book AfricanPolyphony and Polyrhythm, published in French (1986) and English (1991), is an undisputed classic in the field of musical ethnography, and was awarded the prestigious ASCAP Deems Taylor Award in 1992.
Arom received the Silver Medal of the C.N.R.S. in 1984 for his development of methods of analysis of traditional, unwritten polyphonic music.
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