Musical Links Investigation between

Vocal music from Africa and the

Solomon Islands
A discovery has been made linking two different traditional songs
one by a Rope female chorus originating in Solomon Islands; and the other
by a group of pygmy tribe members originating in Cameroon. Through this
investigation we will analyze the works of Ratsi Rope, by a female chorus in
track 17 from the first disc of World Sound Matters; and Hut Song, by the
tribe members in the second track of the album entitled Cameroon: Baka
Pygmy Music. We hope to find elements linking the two a cappella songs
from two different continents, connecting them within their musical
contexts. We begin by first analyzing the historical context of the general
musical features of the two songs. We then will discuss the links found
through the investigation and how they help convey the messages the
respective artists wish to depict.

African Musical Features:

Rhythm and percussive sounds are vigorously

emphasized in African music, which reflects the
relationship between music and dance in African
culture.
African music tends to have complex polyrhythms.
Usually different rhythmic patterns are played
simultaneously and repeated over and over.
African singers use a wide variety of vocal sounds.
Singers sometimes whisper, hum, grunt, shout, and imitate animal noises.
African music is characterized by a performance style call and response
the phrases by a soloist are repeatedly answered by those of a chorus.
African music is often homophonic or polyphonic in texture. Several parts
may sing the same melody at different pitch levels, occasionally producing a
series of parallel chords.

Solomon Islands Vocal Musical Features:

In many cultures, instruments are used primary to accompany the voice, or

yearn to imitate the voice, but in Solomon Islands, sometimes voices are
used to imitate the effects played from instrumental ensembles.
Vocal music often imitates sound and textures from instrumental pieces.

There usually are no songs texts, therefore the listeners concentrate on the
sound of the voices consisting their pitch,
articulation, tone colour, texture, etc., not the
meaning of the words.
Singers remain facially submissive, and there is
little use of vibrato or dynamic contrast.
Vocal music from the Solomon Islands has the
usual instrumental texture of drone and two
melodic parts.

Ratsi Rope1
The Rope Female Chorus singing Ratsi Rope consists of two respective female
soloists singing their parts simultaneously, and the rest of the females act as the
chorus. The tempo in Ratsi Rope is approximately 38 crotchets per bar, and the
notes used are of a hexatonic scale approximately equivalent to G, A, B, C, E, and
F#.
It begins with the voice in anacrusis, and the second soloists following two beats
later. The two soloists, despite being independent in the aspects of rhythm and

melodic character, consist at the fundamental level of a single, four-beat pattern

which is repeated over and over in varied form throughout the song. The first soloist
revolves around the pitch E, while the second soloist centers on G. The chorus then
1 Retrieved from World Music Matters (Teachers Edition)
3

Hut Song
The Tribe Members singing the Hut Song consists of several women (singing the
main melody) and children (singing as the chorus). The speed of the Hut Song is
approximately 135 quarter notes per minute, and the whole thing uses the notes of
a Db minor scale. At 0:00, one female singer sings the following phrase that
becomes ostinato in the womens role:

Later onwards, more women are being added in to sing the main melody at the
same volume. From the fourth phrase onwards, the children sing their
accompaniment role phrase, and become aligned with the womens singing phrase:

At 0:38, both the roles of the women and the children gradually raise their voice to
a crescendo, thus proportionately making the atmosphere heavier and dense.
Throughout the piece, because there is seemingly more number of children than the
number of women, the accompaniment would be a bit more dominant and heavier
than the women in terms of their respective singing roles. From 1:40 to 1:57, one of
the female singers in the group imitates the womens role by applying the phrase
techniques from the accompaniment in it:

From 2:28 onwards, that particular

female singer sings louder than the other
women, making the particular womans
voice more noticeable. From 2:45 to
3:01, the female singer imitates again,
as mentioned previously, and from 3:01
onwards, the female singer began
improvising with the use of replicating
both roles singing phrases, while
occasionally sing along with the other
children, thus separating her from other
roles and become a voice role itself. At
4:38, the female singer stopped her role,
and resumed following along the
womens role, but remained in the soft
volume instead of staying louder than
the other women. . From 4:47 onwards, the atmosphere begins to become lighter,
while diminuendo takes place, and concluded at 4:51.

So what are the links?

A CAPELLA
These ensembles from both different cultures use the A Capella music genre. The A
Capella style could be the only option for the ensembles due to their financial and/or
economical struggles and difficulties; they could have limited to no resources to produce
and manufacture musical instruments to act as musical accompaniment to their cultural
songs.
SINGING ROLE
The singers from the two songs have very specific, detailed independent role, differing to
general Western music, where the choir (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) are more organized
melodically. Moreover, they harmonically use the intervals of 3 rd, 4th and 5th.
STRUCTURE
Based on the structure, both songs contain the repetition on the melody and the musical
idea. It is extremely problematic to tell on the Ratsi Rope without looking at the score,
due to the singers singing in one continuous motion, whereas the Hut Song is sung with a
repeated melodic idea, with rests in between them.
INTERVAL
The interval range from these two songs is relatively short. As seen from the respective
scores above, the interval in Hut Song is a range of 5 th, while in Rope Chorus, it is a range
of 10th, despite having a wider range than the African song.
TEXTURE
By looking at the texture, both songs are polyphonic through counterpoint, as evidenced
from the two main singers in Rope Chorus throughout, and Hut Songs women and
children. However in Hut Song, at 3:11, one of the women sang the melody with different
variations, such as minor thirds on the tonic at every end of the theme, thus showing
heterophony. Moreover, with the two voices in Ratsi Rope, and the women and children
in Hut Song singing respectively in, to an extent, very independent roles, thus creating
counterpoint.
TEMPO
The tempo on both of these songs is continuously stable. While the tempo on Ratsi Rope
is at 38 beats per minute, the tempo on Hut Song is at 130 beats per minute. Despite the
differences on the speed, there are no sudden changes or speed, nor are there signs of
accelerando or rallentando.
ORNAMENTATION
Both songs have signs of ornamentation. Looking at Ratsi Rope, the second voice on the
second beat in the first bar after anacrusis sang in ascension of pitch bending, similar to
ascending glissando. In Hut Song, the children that accompany the women, while
musically distance themselves to become independent, sang in lower mordent every first
6

bar of the repeated melodic

theme:
SCALE
Looking at the melodic keys from
both songs, on Ratsi Rope,
despite the transcription being
the
key of G major/E minor, there is a
seemingly clash between the notes C and G, with C being emphasized more. Thus it
creates a Lydian scale throughout the piece. Hut Song on the other hand, has singers,
particularly the women, singing in Db Mixolydian scale, meaning it contains a flat 7 th in a
major scale, which as we are aware of, is the main component in Twelve Bar Blues in Jazz
that was rooted from the African Diaspora.
RHYTHM
Hut Song is being sung in 4 beats per bar, and has a stronger emphasis on the pace,
particular on the first and third beats; while in Ratsi Rope, although the transcript is said
in 4 beats per bar, the strong counterpoint between the 2 voices, and the drone
accompaniment, easily make the listener lose track on its rhythmic pace.

CONCLUSION
After detailed analysis between these two songs from two different cultures, it can be
seen that they both have stable rhythms with different densities; there are use of unique
melodic modal scales; there is a balance between the voices in both respective songs, to
which makes their melodic roles independent. Overall the structures of the songs are vital
alongside the singers roles, the rhythm, counterpoint, and texture.

Bibliography
Kamien, Roger (2011). Music: An Appreciation. McGraw-Hill Companies, New York, USA
Stock, Jonathan (2004). World Music Matters. Schott Musik Intl Mainz. Teachers Edition
Stock, jonathan (2004). World Music Matters. Schott Music Intl Mainz. Transcriptions
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Solomon_Islands_on_the_globe_
%28Oceania_centered%29.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Location_Cameroon_AU_Africa.svg

Discography
Baka Pygmies (1977). Cameroon: Baka Pygmy Music. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Jonathan Stock (2004). World Music Matters (Disc 1)