Yiri - Koko | Mind Map

West African Music
1. Oral tradition
2. Features:
  1. Repetition (ostinatos)
  2. Improvisation
  3. Call and response
  4. Layered textures
3. Burkina Faso
'Yiri'
1. Means 'wood'
  1. Refers to the material that all the instruments are made of
2. Performed from memory
  1. Score is made later - transcription
Instrumentation
1. Balafon - like a xylophone, wooden bars tuned to different pitches, gourds hang beneath
2. Djembe - drum played with hands
3. Talking drum - played with a hooked stick, imitates speech
4. Soloist and chorus
Structure
1. Three sections:
  1. Introduction
    1. Short balafon solo
    2. Tremolo used
  2. Main section
    1. Drums play an ostinato
    2. Strong, clear pulse
    3. Alternates between balafon solos and choruses
    4. Includes vocal solo - call and response used
  3. Coda
    1. Short balafon phrase is played 5 times in slightly varied versions
    2. Drum ostinato is interrupted by rests
    3. Ends with a bell
Melody, Harmony and Tonality
1. G flat major
2. Hexatonic
3. Balafons mostly play short patterns, which often fall from high to low
  1. Balafon solo breaks between choruses - more virtuosic
4. The notes G flat and D flat are often emphasized
  1. This is recognised in the choruses too - they sing in unison
Rhythm, Metre and Tempo
1. Main metre is 4/4
2. Introduction is free tempo, but the rest of the piece is at a steady pulse
3. Frequent syncopation
4. Cross rhythms
5. Vocal soloist uses triplets
6. Drums play a rhythmic ostinato throughout the piece. It consists of a quaver and two semi-quavers played repeatedly
  1. Djembe occasionally fills on top
Texture and Dynamics
1. Mostly layered textures
2. Monophonic balafon solo - introduction
3. Some heterophonic textures, created when balafons play different versions of the same tune at the same time
4. Little dynamic variation

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Yiri - Koko

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	Created by izzykersley01 about 10 years ago