The African drum of Tunde Komolafe: The drum as a textual object - Essay Example

? The African drum of Tunde Komolafe: The drum as a textual object The African drum of Tunde Komolafe: The drum as a textual object Introduction Objects provide texts for the construction of culture as they are used in order to communicate something about the way in which people express their ideological perspectives. The African drum is an object that has the capacity to affect those that can view the drum through all five senses, the instrument creating a connectivity between culture through the universal language of music that it can create. As Tunde Komolafe brought his drum into his new home in Hungary, combining his former heritage into his new heritage, he began a discourse that would lead to a global fusion of his culture and that of the Western world. The drum took on different meanings as it travelled from place to place, his experiences on the streets of Hungary, at a wedding of London and in a park space all creating different responses that, although similar, created new a meaningful experiences. As Tunde Komolafe used his drum to express his culture, the object became a text from which fusion of cultures could be accomplished, a globalised discussion about how human beings can be very different, but still all the same in the way in which they experience celebration and joy. The Object in its Space The nature of an object is given meaning by the way in which it is used to communicate meanings that are relative to the culture in which they are used. Spatiality is the occupancy of a property to a space. This property will in turn have influential impacts on the beings and characters of the given space; be it living or non-living. From this we can ascertain that an item such as the African drum can have an impact on the way in which cultural observations and meanings are developed. Drums do not have the same meanings across cultures, but have universality in the way in which they are used to communicate within entertainment functions and in social functions such as worship or war. This aspect of the drum means that someone like Tunde Komolafe can use the drum to build bridges between cultures by using the Nigerian drum to entertain and to inform others about his culture. The African drum has become embedded in various cultural institutions as it has a connection that relates to the social practices that have developed in relationship to the meanings of the object. In Gibson’s (1977, p. 57) “Theory of Affordances”, he contends that the existence of an object is dependent upon the ability of the culture to be environmentally independent of their objects. In Africa the affordances are relational to the impact of the drums because of their dependence on the meanings that have been cultivated in form and in function. Drums are made of materials that are available and meaning is ascribed through traditions that are wrought from experience that has been converted into traditional meaning. Although Gibson has tried to emphasize perceptual capabilities of objects and in this case the drums, criticism has arisen with consideration to the affordances as are they are perceived properties which exist or do not exist. In observing social relations of African drums, they are often embedded to adapt to social practices of community members and in turn produce positions, relations and relevant effects. Positions from African special drums like the djemba are used on the basis of culture through hierarchical meaning. Some of the positions produced in Africa are sorcerers, prophets and rainmakers. These are the people positioned to conduct relevant practices in respect to special drums. Others include the sacrifice presenters and elders. Meaning, purpose and position then ascribed to the members of the community who pay tribute to the drum culture. Another person undertaking any positional roles apart from the mentioned faculty is severely punished according to the custom laws guarding the special drums. African special drums are interconnected to each other since they all represent similar roles them being cultural and religious roles (Laurence and Stovel 2001). Komolafe in Hungary Tunde Komolafe began his use of the African drum as a symbol of the African culture in Hungary during the communist period of the late 20th century, but by the 1990s as freedom from the oppression of communism eased, he began to introduce his culture to the people with whom he had lived for so long. He began his mission in the streets of Hungary, performing on his drum as well as a street acrobat. This places the drum as a part of the center of many cultural celebrations and events as music is often a part of the public expression of culture. It takes comparative material qualities such as size, decor and color and outward appearance. The visualized picture emanating from these drum portrays its value in culture starting from its design to its size. As Komolafe brought his drum to the people of Hungary, he placed an object that was outside of the traditional culture of Hungary into their space, opening a path towards the discovery of a new cultural experience that involved focus on an object. As Komolafe introduced the drum to the people of Hungary, he gave them a new way of seeing into the culture of his ethnic background. A universality of music as a language became the lubricant that helped the people he was addressing to begin to see into the world that he was presenting to them. Drums have a significant place as an object of culture within many cultures. Many tribal based cultures have utilized drums as part of their celebrations and ceremonies, as well as contemporary organized music such as rock bands, symphony orchestras, and most formalized music groups in modern society (Nzewi and Nzewi 2007). The infusion of the beat into a musical experience is a repetitive supplication to the seduction of sound. The sound motivates the body, provides a structure within which the sound can be translated. The body drives the libido, creates a platform on which to make emotional connections. As Komolafe used the object of a drum to engage his audience, he was using a myriad of stimulations that attached to several senses as the same time. The sight of the drum, the sound, the vibration as it affected touch, and the taste of the adrenaline from the inspired movement of dance. The individuality of culture become universal as the object of the drum is translated into a language that all understand. Komolafe took his sound to the street, a venue in which the rules had some flexibility. The rules of the culture in which the street of Hungary stood were in place, where to stand, how to observe, and how to move on if that was their desire. The street was a place in which the object became a novelty as the flow of pedestrian traffic was interrupted by an experience that was provided by the drum. The place of the experience was not enclosed, a fusion of nature and urban environment. The space is text as much as the object within it, landscapes “read as a social document” in which “illuminate the crucial relationships between landscapes and ideologies” (Czepczyn?ski 2008, p. 38). In the streets of Hungary where Komolafe began to spread the text of his drum as representative of his culture, he engaged the local cultural text and created a contrast between the Hungarian text and his Nigerian heritage through the object of his drum. The Wedding and the Drum One of the settings in which Komolafe brought his drum was a wedding in which the European heritage and traditions were in contrast with the Nigerian experience of his drum. A wedding is one of the more culturally embedded traditions of most any culture. Weddings represent the core of a culture, the way in which unions are made towards procreation create a discourse on the entirety of a culture. The symbols that are involved in a wedding are sexual, often disguised as benign, meaningful in the context of virginity and the creation of a pairing in which procreative efforts will take place. The modern development of marriage has been to disguise it behind the proper and chaste sanctity of love, but the deeper meanings are bound by the primal urge to transform the female from the virgin into the vessel, her body now a part of the continuation of the culture, the social population in which culture is performed. An example of a meaningful moment within the wedding is the cutting of the cake, the pristine exterior penetrated by the knife separating one side from the other and providing a metaphor for the loss of virginity (Charsley 1992). Colours such as white for virginity, define the cultural context of a meaningful celebration, the ways in which the event is celebrated text that reads as a manifesto of the human experience. The insertion of a non-traditional element such as the African drum provides a new discourse. As Komolafe brought his drum to the confines of a private celebration, the drum becomes redefined by a new concept of interpretation. Within the framework of the wedding, the drum is experienced by invited guests, staffing for the reception, and anyone else who is there specifically for this reason. The drum becomes a discourse on the contrasts and similarities of culture and is translated in this context to a finite number of people within a specific social construction. One of the specific setting details of this performance was that it was held outside, thus connecting Komolafe back to the freedom of the outdoor environment. The social setting, however, was far more specific than the urban street where social convention was being played out for multiple reasons. In the wedding environment, Komolafe was inserted into a setting that was occurring for a specific purpose, the traditions of the London wedding being intersected with the presence of Komolafe’s drum. The contrast puts the drum at the centre of part of the cultural text as it creates a diversified interest within the traditions of those attending the wedding. The drum at the reception has context, it is an instrument of celebration and with its use it can be interpreted for heralding in the meaning of the event, even as it is not a part of the culture that has created the event. The meaning once again can be translated at a universal level as the communication of the sound it makes elevates the level of celebration through the joy that is translated in the sound. Joy is expressed by the movement of body in most cultures, thus the inspiration towards movement remains universal even if the instrument belongs to another culture. The wedding is a confined event, the social structures created by a unification of intention that is developed within the context of the meaning of the event. The setting is different than the street in that the participants are all there for a specific purpose, the meaning of which affects the social structure of those who are involved with the people at the centre of the event. A wedding is a transition, a time where the lives of family and friends are changed, the dynamic of those relationships transformed towards the development of new paths and journeys. As Komolafe brings his drum into the space he is connecting the culture of his people to the traditions of those involved in the wedding, emphasizing that the idea of a celebration of life and family is universal as he is a part of the event. In the Park A different but still public space in which Komolafe played his drum is in the park in London. While the street was a place of movement, the crowds intending to be transported from one place to the next through the organisation of roadways, and the wedding was a place of social interaction between people who were specifically connected to a core pair of people celebrating a wedding, the park is a place in which nature and urban life converge in the celebration of nature rather than the urban experience. The park is a place of greater freedom, the majority of people there involved in some form of leisure, thus the atmosphere is different. Where the street provided a more consumerist experience, the park is a place of joy and expression. While there are pathways within the park, the intension is for those within the boundaries of the park, nature confined by modern urbanity, to experience something of the natural world. The identity of an urban space is defined by places within the city that are designated for the engagement of nature. Parks are public spaces that provide context for the paved over nature as it is re-asserted back into the space of the city (Aurigi and De Cindio 2008. As Komolafe brings his drum to the leisurely atmosphere of the park, an instant celebration is created, the space transformed into one of musicality and cultural expression, once again universalised by the presence of music that inspires movement. While permits are required to play both in the street and in the park, and while permission by those throwing the wedding is necessary in order to gain entry, the infusion of this culturally diverse object is seemingly spontaneous as the reactions of the audience become a fusion of cultures. Conclusion Music promotes cultural diversity meaning that people honor the aspect of drum and music in the spread of culture. As Massey (2009) avows, it all depends on how the object is set to deliver its role. The way in which the drum has meaning will be central to the way in which it is used, even if it merely as a decorative object. The role of objectivity and space in relationship to social culture is exampled through the drum and its role in society. The use of the drum illustrates an example of how an object can embody the beliefs and traditions of a culture and can be used to communicate to those outside of the culture in which the drum exists to provide some context to cultural understandings between cultures. Komolafe spreads culture through using the drum in universal ways, as well as in culturally specific ways to communicate cultural meaning through entertainment and knowledge exchange. Indigenous populations learn these meanings from childhood, but because the drum is universal, someone like Komolafe can use it to create a bridge across cultures. The drum is one of the important universal objects that can help to close gaps and create unity throughout the world as it is used to connect cultures to one another through the translations of its meaning. Bibliography Aurigi, Alessandro, and Fiorella De Cindio. 2008. Augmented urban spaces: articulating the physical and electronic city. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate. Charsley, S. R. 1992. Wedding cakes and cultural history. London: Taylor and Francis, Inc. Czepczyn?ski, Mariusz. 2008. Cultural landscapes of post-socialist cities: representation of powers and needs. Aldershot, England: Ashgate. Gibson, J.J. 1977. Perceiving, Acting and Knowing: Towards an Ecological Psychology, New York: Hillsdale. Laurence, Margaret and Noral Foster Stovel. 2001. Long drums & cannons: Nigerian dramatists and novelists 1952-1966. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. Massey, Irving. 2009. The neural imagination: aesthetic and neuroscientific approaches to the arts. Austin: University of Texas Press. Read More