Musical Worship in West Africa

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.

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.