African Culture

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African Culture

When trying to compare and contrast the music-culture and society of the Mbuti and that of the Venda, it becomes difficult to comment on sound when we haven't heard any Venda music. It's easy to recognize that for the Mbuti the music embodies the heart of the forest, and for the Venda the relation to nature is the act of a mother giving birth. Thinking about concept and behavior this makes the music performed by the two cultures separate and distinguishable. This is where culture and environment become important factors. How noticeable is this when listening to the music of both peoples? When given the opportunity to listen, without a trained ear, it would be difficult to find differences in the sound of the music. There are obvious differences in instrumentation between the two cultures. While the Mbuti mainly performs music with their voices, the Venda use drums, flutes, and various other instruments.
There are similarities between the two groups with ‘rights of passage.' The Venda girls perform the Domba, and the Mbuti girls practice and perform the Elima. Clear. Cultural distinctions can be made between the two groups concerning ‘rights of passage.' When it is time for the Mbuti girls to perform the Elima, they go into a hut and are secluded from the rest of the world. The boys of the clan try to push their way into the hut to find the woman of their choice. The Venda girls performing the Domba, are out in the open and visible for the men and everyone around to see. Since the Mbuti is of the forest, and the Venda is a village-based group, there are probably many cultural traditions and practices that are very different. These differences may be difficult to distinguish with the materials available to us as Westerners. Seeing the two cultures perform live would enable a person to find differences and draw upon parallels. In both societies there is a visible comparison between the separation males and females when performing ‘rights of passage.'
In both cultures we see a universal participation in music as a common thread to survival, and an individuality is kept within the music as it's being performed. The Venda believes that all human beings have the capacity to be musical. Blacking solidifies this thought when stating that, The Venda may not consider the possibility of unmusical human beings, but they do recognize that some people perform better than others. (pg.46 Blacking, 1973) The same general concept may hold true with the Mbut...

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