Musical Worship in West Africa

by | July 19, 2011

This post was written by Rob Baker.

Musical worship in West Africa can be described in three words: diverse, vibrant and changing.

Diverse
From Senegal to Cameroon, Christians meet to worship the Lord in a range of styles and accompanied by a huge variety of musical instruments. Some churches are still singing Western-style hymns brought over by early missionaries, others sing more modern Western songs. In both cases, however, the way of singing and accompanying these has been Africanized as local musicians strive to make this foreign music work in their own systems. And so a Guinean rendition of  ‘How Great Thou Art’ will differ not only from the Western original, but also from a Togolese or Ghanaian version.

Many West African churches now worship the Lord with African song styles, using repertoire composed by local musicians and accompanied by indigenous instruments. I know of groups who meet regularly to compose new worship songs, often based directly on Bible verses and using culturally relevant styles. In Benin, an ensemble of large drums, bells and shakers is commonly used in worship. In Mali or Côte d’Ivoire, the balafon (an African version of the xylophone) can be heard. There are also flutes of varying shapes and sizes, stringed instruments, even a ram’s horn, which is, after all, Biblical (cf Psalm 98:5-7).

Vibrant
One clear difference between African worship and that found in at least some Western churches today is the sheer level of energy involved. African music goes together with rhythm and dance as an entire event. Telling an African “do not dance to your music” would be a bit like saying to a Westerner: “sing me your National Anthem, but without the tune” – it ain’t gonna happen! Have a look at these Igo musicians from Togo singing a new indigenous worship song; one of the first ever in their own language. Their joy and vitality displayed is positively infectious! As a Brit, I know how reserved we can be, even in worship; Africans seldom display such reticence! Non-musical prayer times are often carried out with everyone praying out loud simultaneously – an inspiring and moving experience indeed. I tried doing this with a Western congregation once… but only once!!

Changing
Culture is not a static thing, neither is church worship. Whilst West African cultural identity remains strong, church music has changed dramatically over the past half century. Previously, many churches did not use African instruments in church. This was largely due to early missionaries who “initially banned almost all African instruments because they were considered pagan or associated with pagan rituals” (Kidula 2008, 108-109). Because of this, Christians at the time were fearful of using such cultural expressions for Christ. In recent times, however, African believers have begun to re-evaluate their music and culture and are now appropriating local arts for the Lord. One Beninese pastor told me that

… with time, Christians have understood that what God created and the Devil took, can now be taken back to show God’s glory. (Pastor Cheton, MIERS Church, Cotonou, Benin, May 2008)

This is a phenomenon which has been witnessed in many parts of Africa since the 1960s. SIL ethnomusicology ‘guru’ Brian Schrag states that traditional music

… touches the very fiber of existence of a member of that culture – even after generations of interaction with another culture […] it is just too valuable and potentially powerful an asset to leave to the impersonal forces of social change. (EM News, 1993)

Indeed, many churches using local music in worship have experienced significant growth as worshippers from traditional African religions are able to come to Christ and worship Him in a way that makes sense to them.

Another change, seen particularly in the cities, is that of fusion. Here, African styles are blended with Western popular styles to create exciting new musical expressions. This has occurred a lot in West African secular music (cf Amadou et Mariam, Angelique Kidjo or Youssou N’Dour) and also in church. One Tamacheq pastor sang for me the French chorus: Avec des cris de joie, accompanied on the guitar. However, his singing style, choice of scale, language and desert blues accompaniment could in no way be considered purely Western.

To end, here is Beninese artist Mathieu Assogba with a Bible-based anti-corruption song, often played on local television.

Words and photos © Rob Baker

Referrences:
Kidula, Jean N. (2008). “Chapter 6: Making and Managing Music in African Christian Life.” Music in the life of the African Church. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. King, Roberta (ed).

Schrag, Brian (1993). “First Impressions, thoughts on entering a new Language and Music project,” EM News, vol.2 no.4, November 1993, Dallas, Texas.

Rob Baker, though trained as a music and French language teacher, has worked as an ethnomusicologist in West Africa since 2005. In Togo, Benin and Mali, he has carried out extensive research, run numerous song-writing workshops and made many field recordings of new indigenous worship songs. He studied ethnomusicology with SIL in Europe and has recently completed an MPhil thesis with Birmingham University (UK) about the reclamation of so-called ‘pagan’ music styles. He has taught internationally in Nigeria, Burundi, Singapore and the UK and now works as an ethnomusicology/arts consultant with SIL. He also hosts a Facebook ethno-arts forum and blogs regularly about African culture and worship. Rob currently lives in Bamako, Mali with his wife and three children.

You can find more information on Rob’s blog. He also recommends Paul Neeley’s blog, which covers various aspects of global worship.

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Do you incorporate worship practices from other cultures?

by | July 18, 2011

Paul Simon’s album Graceland won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1988. Despite the record’s wild popularity, Simon was criticized for his heavy use of indigenous, South African rhythms, instrumentation and harmonies. Some believed that his reliance on African music was gimmicky. Despite the fact that Simon went to South Africa himself, collaborated with native musicians, paid them triple the American pay scale, and gave them full credit on his album, he was accused of exploiting the African musicians from whom he’d learned this new sound.

Since the Simon-South Africa dilemma, globalization has blossomed and zoomed into hyper-drive. The music of nearly every culture you can imagine is now available at the flick of the radio dial. One does not need to travel to hear music from South Africa or anywhere else. If not accessible through some analog recording, one can download or stream the digitized version from the Internet. Beyond music, we’ve reached seemingly limitless access to information about all other types of foreign cultural artifacts. What does all of this mean for those of us who curate worship?

This week, we are taking a peek at a couple of different African cultures. Specifically, we’re going to hear from two different church leaders – one in West Africa and one in South Africa – about the kinds of worship forms that are used in these places and how these may differ from what others outside of Africa experience.

Why engage this exercise? First, as we’ve said, globalism has made the world our doorstep. Nevertheless, most of us haven’t as much as cracked open the door or even put our ear to it to explore how the world’s rich diversity might enliven and enhance our own local worship practices.

Second, as with Paul Simon, when incorporating cultural practices that are not our own, we run the risk of perceived (or actual) exploitation. We must be thoughtful and respectful of the other cultures from whom we decide to beg, steal, and borrow. We’ll do some thinking about this important question this week, too.

Here’s a question to get the ball rolling. Ask yourself: How am I incorporating practices from other cultures into my worship context?

Do you use prayers that have originated in another culture and have been translated for the hearers? Are there songs in your repertoire that were written in a region of the world much different than your own? Have you ever used a symbol or ritual from Christians on another continent in order that you might feel united with sisters and brothers who are culturally very different than you?

As the week goes on, you might even ask yourself: Are there some specific forms from Africa that would give my congregation a larger vision of the universal God we serve and adore?

Share some of your own cross-cultural worship practices with us in the comments section of this post. (Or, share with us your struggle to incorporate the worship practices of others.) Take this week’s poll, too, while you’re at it!

The last time my church sang a song for worship that originated in a different part of the world was... (let's not count European hymns!)

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Image © Ian Alexander Martin

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Tony Jones, Prayer, and Being Evangelical @ The Goose

by | June 28, 2011

I’m an Evangelical. There. The cat’s out of the bag. Grant you, I feel the need to point out that I’m a “E”vangelical, not an “e”vangelical. I use the word to give one of those labels that make us more comfortable because it aligns us with a particular tribe, a common-unity and makes us at least a bit understandable. You are there and I am here. In this case, it defines my creed and statement of belief but not my culture so much, in case you hadn’t already figured that out. You’re a smart bunch.

This last weekend, I took my little Evangelical self to the Wild Goose Festival in Shakori Hills, North Carolina. Wild Goose… a festival to celebrate art, justice, music and spirituality. Talk about a diverse tribe. One of the most beautiful things about Wild Goose: the demographic spanned every possible life stage and age bracket without any crazy skew towards one group. The grounds were animated by just as many laughing, dirty-faced children and silver heads with wise-lined faces as there were inked up thirty-somethings or youngish hipsters with little square glasses and cowboy shirts. In my mind, that in and of itself is a statement. Hey, there’s something stirring, something afoot, something curious and mysterious at work in the Church.

Nonetheless, my tribe seemed to be in the minority at ye ol’ Wild Goose. This became most evident when I headed over to the geodesic dome for a conversation with my friend and one of my favorite writers-thinkers, Dr. Tony Jones. (I’m throwing the Dr. part in just in case Tony reads this. GOD knows, he earned it and I make fun of him enough to off-set it anyway.) The Geodesic Dome, aside from just being a pretty fantastic physical space, was a forum where a thinker or “expert” would come in and present a question to which they do not have an answer. And then we dialogue. Tony’s question: Why Pray?

My first reaction: Excitement. These topics weren’t overwhelming the line-up at Wild Goose. We were talking about something that had to do – very concretely – with spiritual formation. With Christian tradition and discipline. With something that, honestly, I was curious to know how the other Emergents (yes to Phyllis Tickle, no to Mark Driscoll) would handle it. I’ll let you in on a secret: I sometimes entertain this idea that maybe hip Emergents don’t pray, read the Bible, engage in The Hours or the disciplines because they’re so in tune with the GOD-at-Present that they believe these things to be trite, unenlightened, maybe even a bit superstitious. Here was a chance to hear a group of diverse but unified people converse on this topic.

Heading into the conversation, Tony took about ten minutes to set it up, to lay out his process and thoughts to this point. And then he threw the ball to the group: so if it’s not x or y or z, then we do we pray? The conversation turned existential very, very quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a girl who’s always good for a good turn around the philosophical dance floor; but Tony’s question was an apologetic one, as he kept reminding the group. “What makes prayer a uniquely Christian practice?” Apparently, this was not a concern for the bulk of us gathered since some of the most common responses were “Why does it need to be?”

It was an odd place to be — standing between the enharmonic of why prayer doesn’t seem to matter and the importance of why it should. It’s not making the world a better place in any visibly monumental ways. It’s not theologically inclined to the notion that it forms us into the image of Christ. So, um…

But the other odd place here in this dome was the space created where the teacher was decidedly and purposefully standing in as the student. While Dr. Jones was still present, tossing out the grand process of his thought around this topic and even grander ideologies, every sentence ended with a vibe of “don’t you think?” or “could it be?”

There were a few comments Tony made that flew at me in 3-D given the audience and the context. The first was this: “There’s lots of things [Jesus] didn’t talk about that we have opinions on, but he did talk about prayer… and he did [pray].” Here we were – sitting in the middle of a phenomenal landscape with a radical group of spiritual people, really seeking out the Divine imagination around issues like creation care and sexuality and being ready to carry those flags in the name of Christ (and for that I say, thanks be to GOD) but in that one statement, I felt like Tony captured my fear and struggle with my own faith and with the context in which I must work that faith out.

I don’t fit in with my old tribe, the “e”vangelicals. And I sometimes fear that we progressives and creatives are just creating a new subculture of Christianity – just a little more hip, cynical, and edgy. We have our celebrities, our music, our group think. Wild Goose made me think about it – with her beautiful fluidity of engagement smattered with the occasional moment of spiritual consumerism. It was a vibe definitely not geared to those of a less wide-open persuasion. The dialogue that Tony facilitated intrigued me for that very reason but his summation moved me to a deep inner recognition that seemed to buzz through the whole dome, regardless of ones tradition or cultural persuasion:

I pray to be obedient because Jesus says to pray. This is my prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

Yes. Exhale.

I’ll be honest with you – some days, that’s the reason I worship too. Because Jesus did it. Not because I get it or I’m more enlightened or in touch or spiritually eager. (Sorry, red wine just came out my nose on that one.) I don’t have all the answers and sometimes I feel like this is our own little geodesic dome right here with me throwing out a question and hoping the dialogue will give me something to move forward again. It’s not always popular and certainly not seemingly enlightened to show up at church Sunday after Sunday with the kids in tow and no great argument for why we need to be there, or at least not a good Christian apologetic.

Wild Goose was an extraordinary community experience that I hope you will consider attending next year. In the meantime, I lift you all up in my prayers – some of you by name, some of you by proxy – all of you in spirit.

Image © iStockphoto

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Speaking (Babbling, Really) of Unity and Diversity at Pentecost

by | June 9, 2011

Pentecost. It’s about the Spirit. The one poured out in Joel 2. The one Jesus promised upon his earthly departure. Pentecost. It’s about the birth of the Church, the official initiation of our mission in the world as Christ’s body. Pentecost. It’s about God’s desire and plan for unity through diversity.

Wait… Wha?!

Though not usually the first thing we associate with Acts 2:1-13, the Day of Pentecost can be seen as a fresh revelation of unity, especially when interpreted in light of Genesis 11:1-9.

Genesis 11:1-9 contains the story of the Tower of Babel. Here, a relatively new humanity, possessing only one world-wide language, finds a place in the East to build a city. The people intend the city to deter God’s children from being “scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Central to this story is the construction by the people of a tower that “reaches to the heavens.”

Most often, human hubris is associated with this tower tale. In our bad habit of moralizing the scripture text, we call Babel a warning against pride, the kind of pride that finds humans flirting with god-status. After all, God does seem a little nervous as he says, “If… they have begun to do this… nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (v.6)

But perhaps, as some scholars have suggested, Babel is not primarily about human hubris, but about God’s plan for human unity. From a human perspective, unity and “scattering” are opposites. The divine plan for unity, however, calls not for social similiarity, but for cultural diversification. This is not the first time Yahweh has been seen to act in ways counter to human intuition.

Overlaying Acts 2 and Genesis 11 clarifies even further God’s unique definition of unity. Both stories have to do with communication, confusion, and sending. In Genesis, one language is turned into many, confusion ensues, and God’s plan for humans to ‘fill the earth’ is re-enacted.

In Acts, Galileans who naturally speak a single language, supernaturally speak the languages of “every nation under heaven.” Confusion again ensues, leading to another “scattering” abroad, this time with a redemptive purpose: ‘filling the earth with the kingdom of Jesus.’

In neither story is God pushing for homogeneity. The opposite is true. God is not interested in mono-culture, otherwise, he would have left language alone at Babel. At Jerusalem, he would have displayed the Spirit’s power by teaching all the foreigners to speak Aramaic. Cultural diversity is promoted as the LORD’s personal preference in both Genesis and Acts. Additionally, the granting of the Spirit to the Church – along with the multi-plex of giftings she imparts – further promotes God’s version of unity in diversity.

God, then, is not seeking conformity or uniformity, but affirming variety. Christ functions as the head of a body that breathes and bleeds as one, yet has unique members, each as distinct as toe from tongue and knee from nose.

How would this approach to interpreting Pentecost alter our curation plans? Essentially, we have gained another valid theme for focusing our celebration. This year (or perhaps next, if you aren’t the last-minute type!) you may consider how the theme of ‘unity in diversity’ would take shape in the context of your worshipping community. Consider the following curation ideas a kick-start…

Forget the doves, flames and the color red. What other sorts of visuals will invite the prayerful consideration of multi-cultural validation and spiritual unity? Globes? Multi-colored tapestries? A live, projected kaleidoscope? Maps?

Have a communal meal, a potluck in which each person signs up to bring a dish from a different culture. Talk about the wide variety of tastes and smells. Enjoy the unity that sharing such diverse food brings to those who eat it together.

Emphasize unity through the sharing of ONE loaf and ONE cup, instead of focusing the Eucharist solely on giving thanks for the forgiveness we’ve received through Christ. Use an additional text like: Romans 12:4-8 to connect Christ’s body with both unity and diversity.

Have Acts 2:1-13 read out loud in multiple languages – at literally the same time. In doing so, you illustrate the confusion and chaos that can occur on the surface even when the same “word” is being spoken in agreement.

Offer up prayers for fellow believers throughout the world – including across the street. Pray for cultural validation by missionaries. Pray for unity among believers, especially in locations where persecution is prevalent.

Create some interactive stations based on the Tower of Babel story in Genesis 11:1-9. e.g. Invite people to play Jenga while sharing one personal “tower” he/she regularly builds to delay being “scattered” by God beyond cultural comfort.

What ideas would you add?

Image © iStockphoto

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Categories: Curation 1 Comment

I’ll Flyer Away

by | April 21, 2011

I am proud of the ideas we came up with for Easter holiday services back in the early nineties. As a “creative team” we truly owned our title. And, it was our sincere desire to come up with new – dare I say sensational – concepts for Easter Sunday worship.

For instance, one year we created a full-length dramatic presentation featuring Wayne and Garth (Party on!). Another year, we based the entire service on the Fox TV show called Herman’s Head. Full-length, original scripts. Theater lighting. Elaborate sets and staging. No matter what the theme, we always included six to eight “special musics” performed live by very gifted musicians.

My own unique contributions to our holiday worship brainstorming sessions include such brilliant program titles as: Get Off Your Keister, It’s Time for Easter and Stop Laughing… Easter’s Not Bunny.

(Right now seems like a good time to pause and watch one of my favorite YouTube holiday videos: Incidentally, this is a great example of how the right soundtrack – “Aviva Pastoral” by Nathan Larson – can make or break a video. Contrast to this version.)

In many ways, our creative brainstorming was driven by our goal to reach the “lost.” We knew that mid-Spring every year all the Chreasters* came out of hiding and decided they had better go to church. This reality always seemed one of those blessed examples of divine grace, that God would place in the hearts of so many heathen the notion to attend a local church instead of sleeping in.

It was a no-brainer that if we were going to put so much effort into our Easter programs, we ought to make sure people knew about them. I mean, a lot of local churches were starting to climb on the willow-creek-model-band-wagon and we were all trying our best to create an artistic and effective ‘show’ in order to see lots of true conversions on Resurrection Sunday.

In short, there was a lot of competition.

So, our church did what any other strip-mall chinese food restaurant or small claims insurance lawyer would do: we made flyers.

And, we put them everywhere. On car windshields in parking lots. On cork boards in the local coffee shops. We even did some door-hanging. Of course, occasionally people were home when we came to ‘hang’ in which case we would verbally make an invitation. But generally, the flyers did the job for us.

Now, fast-forward about 15 years. Last week, I came home to find several colorful little pamphlets hanging in plastic weather-proof baggies on the main door to our apartment complex. I assumed at first that it was the newest campaign from Dominoes. (You do know they just changed their recipe, right? Oh yes they did!). In fact, it was a flyer inviting me to a Good Friday worship service at some local church.

I sort of cringed. No wait, I DID cringe. It took some internal reflection to tease out what exactly spawned my visceral reaction. Here’s what I found deep down inside…

It’s simple: I just don’t like being invited to an event by a piece of paper. I REALLY don’t like to be invited to a church service by a piece of paper. Is there a more impersonal way to invite someone to a gathering that, in theory, is supposed to be of the utmost importance? Being invited to church by a flyer is like being invited to your own wedding by a magazine ad. (Actually, that might be kinda cool if you could pull it off).

Come to think of it, this invitation didn’t feel like an invitation because it actually wasn’t an invitation. Though it used words like, “We invite you…” on it, and it included similarly personal and friendly language inside, I am convinced that what was really going on is that I was a consumer being targeted by a seller. Instead of Chinese food or dirt-cheap lawyering, I was being sold religion.

When we call it what it is, we quickly see how wrong it is. Still, somehow we have learned to justify our religious marketing by naming it part of our ‘strategic evangelization plan’. What has caused us to resort to such tactics?

We need to stop and remember that we are the Church. We are the People of God, his manifest presence in the world. We are empowered by the Spirit to be witnesses of the good news through both word and deed. The Trinity has entrusted us as ambassadors of God’s reconciliation mission (2 Cor. 5:17-20). Jesus is making all things new – women, men, children, and all of Creation. The old has gone. The new has come!

Does all this sound like an appropriate topic for a door-hanger flyer?

Undoubtedly, some may think I’m making too big a deal out of this. “So what?” you may say. “It’s just another culturally relevant way to let people know that the Church is there for them.” Some may even reason that a flyer is better than a relationship since it gives people space and an opportunity to avoid a potentially uncomfortable situation and conversation. After all, human contact is often messy.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that the Gospel is not a product for sale. Nor is church simply a building in the neighborhood to which someone can be invited. The Church is people. It’s living, laughing, loving, people. It is humans serving one another in the manner and example of Jesus. Once this reality is fully grasped, the absurdity of mixing worship with marketing flyers becomes painfully obvious.

Maybe it’s too late for you to ‘take back’ all those Easter flyers you put out this year. That’s okay. God is widely known for repeatedly redeeming our poorly chosen actions and methods. So, take heart.

Meanwhile, remember that every day is a “holy-day”. Will you choose each moment to become a real live ambassador of reconciliation and good news (a.k.a. a vital part of the Church in the world)?

Or, will you remain an evangelical marketing executive with a flare for graphic design?

This post originally appeared on Creative Worship Tour, April 1, 2010.

*Chreasters = people who only attend church on Christmas and Easter.

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