Ethnomusicality

Yesterday during my Sociology of Language class we had a guest speaker who is an Ethnomusicologist (studies the use of music in cultures/society) working with SIL (a Christian organization that does translation work). What was most interesting about this class was the variety of music we listened to. The styles were so dynamic, everything from 'talking drums' from Malawi (which literarily speak.....I knew the drum beats gave a message, but to realize that whenever the drums were hit, it wasn’t just an amorphous message like "Come, its time to pray", or 'HELP!' but watched a video which showed that it is actually a detailed surrogate language, where words are differentiated according to the different tones of the drum which are adjusted according to the tightening of some ropes, so one man was drumming and another man was actually translating what the drummist was saying 'crusade style' giving specific instructions and messages like 'Praise God my soul....the Lord reigns from on high'...it was mind-blowing!), to tonal languages in Siberia where we listened to a song that had only one word which was sang at the end of the song, but the song mainly comprised of the sound of water running in a stream and a man making a type of water sound with his voice that fluctuated up and down forming different notes and tones, all this the people from that particular tribe can understand and interpret into the story of the song! Music, is a tool of communication, it speaks for a people, reflecting their culture, their beliefs, their heart, their essence.
Growing up listening to Mother Gooses songs, graduating to Cool and the Gang, Michael Jackson (remember 'Off the wall' ) all the way to being sucked into the Wonderful world of Rock sampling the likes of Aerosmith, through to U2....Music that embodied the culture and expression of my people did not exist for me, the most I heard of Kikuyu music was in matatus or family/community events like weddings and funerals, where in both, the style had a distinct 'western flavor' , such as Kikuyu Hymns which are actually English Hymns translated into Kikuyu, or just didn’t count considering 'werokamu!...wakinya....sitidowni!' ...is....well it has a lot of borrowed words. (..I never heard a Kikuyu traditional song at the Music festivals as a child..which I really didn’t participate in, expect to play the guitar!) Sitting there in class was just absolutely amazing, as I listened to a myriad of expressions of the soul and the hearts of a people, expressions that were different, actually quite weird sometimes, but authentic nonetheless...it just did not fit into my narrow experience. In fact the amazement I had slowly turned to a distinctly saddening feeling ...I found I was startled to discover that even with the advent of vernacular FM stations, the language(s) may be alive, but is the music dead? Though I am African, somehow I suddenly felt I was unethnic! Could this be true? Is that actually a possibility. Yes, I may not speak the language, but I still consider myself a Kikuyu, a Kenyan, an African, but what makes me these things apart from the color of my skin, my kinky hair, my name and the location of my house? Is that enough? Yes, culture is dynamic and changing, and we definitely can't (and don't want to) go back to cow hides and cowrie shells, but if music with its rhythms and tones, melodies and harmonies is a reflection of a part of ourselves, then have we lost a part of us?...do we care? And even if we do....considering many of us grew up in this New Africa, would a rediscovery of our past be a reclamation of our real self or just a neocolonialism of the New African by our education, desiring a connection to the tarnished 'glory' of the past, enslaving us to chasing a wind that can never be captured?