Events
Talk-ip | When the drum has a voice. The sounds and language of the Yoruba drums of Nigeria
Mariano Gonzaléz (University of Utrecht, Netherlands)
When the drum has a voice. The sounds and language of the Yoruba drums of Nigeria
31.10.2022 | 16:00 | Aveiro | DeCA UA | Room 21.2.1
In Yoruba culture, present in Southwestern Nigeria and neighbouring regions, drums of the dùndún and bàtá families are used as means of communication capable of reproducing, through their sounds, the phonological structure of the Yoruba language. This artifice is used by drum sets in contexts ranging from public announcements and communication between neighbouring villages, to celebrations and rites of passage, or even cults dedicated to orixás and venerable figures from Yoruba mythology. However, being very distinct instruments, differing in size, form of tuning, type and quantity of membranes, as well as in the techniques in which they are played, each one of the drums in question has its own system of speech surrogacy.
Biographical Note
Mariano González is a musician and musicologist, born in São Paulo (Brazil) and graduated from the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar, Germany. He is currently a doctoral student in musicology and linguistics at the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands.
