Elements of cross-cultural music composition : the creation of Esidialo – a Samia marriage suite

Abstract

Cross – cultural composition has been defined as the creation of a cultural synthesis of the old and new, traditional and foreign into philosophical, artistic, stylistic and aesthetic product that communicates to various audiences. The study adopted a mode of creativity / dynamic approach through the synthesis of traditional Samia marriage music and Western compositional techniques and approaches. To ground the study in the rich cultural traditions of the Samia people of Funyula Division in Western Province of Kenya, an anthropological documentation formed an important part of the study. \nThe study adopted Absolute Formalism theory by Reimer (1989) based on component relationships in which different parts like harmony, melody, and text rhythm relate to one another to create unity. The study also incorporated Aesthetic Functionalism theory by Akuno (1997) on social functions in which; the contextual meaning of the composition was based. The study used the Accommodation theory on Convergence, Giles and Smith (Giles & St Clair, 1979) to unify the analogous aspects in the two stated theories. \nIn the study, descriptive and creative designs were used to cater for the music and social context. In the descriptive phase, Samia marriage folk songs were collected from traditional performers, who were also, interviewed using a questionnaire. Purposeful and snowball sampling techniques were used to select twenty folk songs. They were recorded, transcribed and analysed for dominant traditional musical features and compositional promise. In the creative phase, lyrics were identified and reorganised, the prevalent features isolated and used. The result was a compositional inspiration on which the Marriage Suite was based. \nThe ultimate product of the study was an artistic model framework that could guide the creation of art music using Kenyan traditional music idioms; accomplished through the Marriage Suite. \nTo safeguard contextual and music fidelity, member checking was consistently maintained during data collection and creative phase. Rhythmic and melodic accuracy of the transcribed songs was ascertained by play backs using FINALE music notation. \nSocial identity in the composition was taken into account through use of Samia music characteristics that included intervals, solo-responsorial aspects, overlapping entries, parallelism and common rhythmic patterns.

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