In a brief reflection (6-8 sentences), answer one or more of the following sets of questions:
What aspect of the history of Mande music seemed most interesting, surprising, and/or significant to you?
What performance from the playlist did you enjoy the most? What did you learn about the instruments, style/genre, or artists in the performance?
Did you learn about other African empires and their music? If so, how did they seem to compare to our case study (music of the Mande empire)? Did it seem similar or different in significant ways?
The djembe drum (also known as jembe, etc) is arguably the most iconic African musical instrument, and the playlist offers two very different (but intimately related) examples of djembe drumming. What did you learn about the instrument, style/genre, or artists in the performance?
What did you think of the performances in the playlist which seemed to combine “traditional” and “modern” or “international” musical features? For example: the kora and cello duet by Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal? Or the balafon duet Bassidi and Khalifa Kone?
Sample Solution