Mande Music

1. Mande Music
Dafne

2. Origins
 Mande: ethnic group (Mandinka, Maninka and
Bamana)
 Mali
 Jeli (griot)
 Performed on TV, radio or life-cycle events

4. Variations
 Hunters
 Commonly 2 voices
 Improv
 ABA
 Call and response
 Ternary to binary rhythm shift
 Short melodies repeated
 Stories and epics

5.  Jeliya
 Speaking voice or singing voice
 Improv
 Loose form
 Call and response (only with more than one jeli)
 Compound meter
 Scales (ascending/descending)
 Repertoire piece texts

6.  Drumming
 Improv voices (chant)
 Improv
 Circle music
 Lead drummer (usually djembe)
 Call and response on drums (leaders calls)
 Compound meter (few in duple meter)
 Tuning of drums create interweaved melodies
 No text
 http://www.jessenolan.com/mandemusic.pdf

7.  Modern Mande
 Some improv
 Strict form
 Call and response (ballet: drums and dancers)
 Triple meter more often used than duple
 No text for ballets
 French, Bamana, English, Spanish, Portuguese

8. Jeli
 Class of artisans
 Hereditary
 Preserve the history and culture
 Girls tend to specialize as singers
 Boys tend to specialize in the instruments of the
jelis

9. Instruments
 Kora : played in the Eastern tradition (more vocally
dominated)
 Ngoni
 Balafon
 Tamani (talking drum)
 Djembe
 Dunun
 Vocals are the dominant instrument

11. Dance
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_kHhkvw0jI

12. Noticeable Musicians
 Toumani Diabaté
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hVZ96W61Eo
 Bassekou Kouyate
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw5ZjwexcTc

13. Example
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS704uFn_kE

14. Works Cited
 "Growing into Music." Mande music in Mali and
Guinea. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
<http://growingintomusic.co.uk/mali-and-guinea-music-
of/mali-and-guinea-the-mande/>.
 "Mande Music." Mande Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 16
Oct. 2014.
<http://www.jessenolan.com/mandemusic.pdf>.
 "Music of Mali." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation,
13 Oct. 2014. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Mali>.