THE NEED FOR A REGULATORY AGENCY

A peer review is a concept that is applied to articles written and published in a scholarly journal of academia. In academic institutions parties working in these colleges and universities are usually in a “publish or perish” situation. Some fields of concentration in academia are relatively new and are without peers. This is a dilemma that the field of African music and dance is straining to overcome.

When the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 one of the mandates was that courses on Black and Minority studies be included in the curriculum of the nation with all deliberate speed. Those institutions that failed to comply would lose federal funding. One of the more popular courses introduced at that time was African dance. The subject of African dance had no secure foundation as it was taught in schools separated from its music. In Africa, no traditional African dance is performed without some kind of musical accompaniment. Another factor that was disastrous was African dance entered the curriculum as an oral tradition without the capacity of written documentation. Therefore, it could not be assessed through normal testing channels. As an oral tradition, it was not considered a valid course in academia as valid courses are subject to testing. This had strong implications that meant no valid thesis or dissertations could be written about African dance and respect its intrinsic value therein, merely because it was an oral tradition.

Another factor was the shortage of teachers, or instructors who were knowledgeable about the area of concentration. This established a steady stream of people who were not qualified in the field gaining entrance into this new area of concentration. Naturally the Africans who were musicians and dancers were the most qualified people to teach African music or dance, but the majority of them lived in Africa. There was another hindrance to Africans as teachers because the US institutions had no way to assess their knowledge or talents and did not hire them.. As the creator of Greenotation, an innovative system for writing music of percussion instruments and aligning it with the accompanying dance movements, I was thrust into academia and became the first person to teach African music and dance on the Brooklyn College campus. Because of my experience and talents in the field, I was sought after to help correct this situation, by serving on Faculty search teams. When attempts failed to locate comparable faculty members, I was personally asked to inform my cultural informants in Africa of a teaching position that was to become available in 1972. I was able to secure a personality from Ghana to teach the newly course offering at New York University.

The field of African dance was in high demand throughout the nation and its needs could not be satisfied through the limited channels and resources. Given my position, I strongly believe that the concept of Peer Review should be applied, not only to articles written in academic journals, but to the entire field that includes qualifications of faculty, courses taught, and writings produced. I say this because a student or faculty member may not directly publish in a scholarly journal, but can easily write term papers, thesis or dissertation or even books on the subject of African dance when their qualifications are not acceptable to Africans who hold the expertise in the field. A contributing factor was that department chairs, through their lack of knowledge of the field, took shortcuts, and did only enough to be in compliance. Also there was a lack of qualified Blacks who possessed a doctorate at that time so there were few Blacks who could chair a Department of Black or African Studies. Therefore colleges and universities hastily created Institutions of Black or African Studies, Institutions could not offer courses on their own, but had to ask other departments to offer courses on their behalf, which would have devastating effects in the long run. These outside departments would put their spin on Black Studies and teach it as a sub-set of their department. When Department of African studies came into being, they never retrieved these courses from the outside departments.

Another disconcerting factor is that Africans who possess this knowledge may not have gone to "schools' as we know them and do not possess the credentials that are acceptable to western institutions, but these Africans know their work. I experienced this in several countries wherein percussionists would ask to study Greenotation with me so they could obtain a certification of study, which they told me that European institutions requested as verification of their knowledge. I cannot be in more than one place at a time and look forward to technology that will allow me to offer my teaching in an “ on-line “ facility.

There is another factor about Africans who possess this knowledge. They learn their craft in the same manner that they learn to speak. In essence their craft is handed down to them from their elders. This type of learning does not have the same foundation that is found in western education. For example a western musician usually goes to school, public or private where they are taught the elements of music. This education includes identifying notes and counting their values. Africans musicians (drummers) are trained in their craft from the spoken language of the ethnic group. and do not count the strokes. Therefore the average African musician does not have the classroom experience that westerns have and are essentially performers NOT teachers. When an African drums. he is showing us how well he performs. Their performance does not present an auditory analyzation to the listeners. Whereas analyzation is an essential tool in western teaching. it is not the same in African education. The African musician is first a performer and teaching is a distant second. I have gleaned this from my experiences with African musicians from Tanzania to Senegal. At times I questioned what the relationship was between one instrument and another only to be told that the African musician could not tell me if the other musician was not playing with him. Essentially the musician knew his part and not the part of the other musician and could only relate if the other musician was actually playing. In essence I am saying that the average African drummer does not have experience in drumming for a classroom situation as that is NOT part of his training.

As I stated previously I was a founding member who helped to pour the cement for the edifice of African music and dance. But technology necessary to fully erect the edifice that would house the courses of study, a standard curriculum for African dance, the reconnection of the music to the dance; to train and hire qualified personnel as well as create a standard text for the subject matter, did not exist at that time. Musicians, dancers, choreographers and theater directors from Tanzania to Senegal have endorsed my expertise in the field of African music and dance. My work has been approved by the OAU, now the African Union for use in schools throughout Africa. I served as a Fulbright Scholar to Ivory Coast, and the Gambia; as well as serving as a US State Department Cultural Specialist to Ghana wherein I taught members of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble, students, and performers from the Ghana State theater how to write dance on the computer. The selection TOKOE, a puberty dance of the GA people of Ghana was notated as an effort to construct a living archive of notated music and dances of Ghana. A sample of TOKOE can be heard as well as viewed using this link to take you to the site http://www.tntworldculture.com/toa2/ and using this link to view and hear TOKOE. -http://www.tntworldculture.com/toa2/2012/02/why-is-it-difficult-to-earn-a-doctoral-degree-in-an-oral-tradition.

I am sure you will enjoy the music of TOKOE. As I cannot be in more than one place at a time, the technology that exist today, will make the study of African music and dance possible through the use of on-line facilities.

After examining this situation for more than forty-five years, I conclude a Peer Review has a limited focus that is directed towards articles published in a scholarly journal. Therefore I fervently believe that there needs to be a large regulatory agency established that will oversee all facets of academia in regards to oral traditions, whether it is in publications, classroom lectures, books, term papers, thesis or dissertations, and performance. We simply cannot have a nonchalant attitude and allow the cultures of Africa to be decimated and desecrated. This was the dreaded fear of Professor Albert Mawere Opoku, head of the dance division at the University of Ghana Legon Campus. He was a visionary and voiced that once these dances were displayed outside their place of origin, they would be attractive and outsiders would try to replicate them leading to chaos as these outsiders did not know the language, or music of the dance. Professor Opoku was not reluctant to use technology to preserve and advance dance. This is the reason he brought Labanotation, a system for writing movement, to the campus in the sixties. Unfortunately when the teacher of Labanotation left, there was no follow through and there were no examples of these studies to be found on the campus in 2002. There is a dire need to bring technology back to the campus to preserve and advance these oral traditions. As the creator of Greenotation, a system for writing African music and aligning it with the dance movements, my work will play a major role in the permanent documentation of African music and dance. I look forward to the on-line facility.

I stress this because African music and dance entered academia at an extreme disadvantage as an oral tradition. Technology at that time was not available to circumvent this situation, but technology exists today and should be applied therein to regulate these oral traditions even from the machinations of Africans who trespass on the culture of other Africans and adulterate it to the extent that the only thing recognizable is the name of the selection. The music is fabricated, and the dance is unrecognizable. Such was the case with the group Adzido, a group of Ghanaians who formed the group in England. They seized a certain dance from Tanzania and claimed that they did original research on this dance. They returned to Ghana during a celebration of Panafest and boasted about this dance. I was seated at the next table and began to question their facts. All of a sudden one of the people elbowed the boaster and cautioned him to “be quiet”. He said take a look at her face, a little more mature now, but she was the one who taught that dance at the Arts Council in the seventies. Silence fell over the boaster. The room became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. I am positive that the cultural representative of Tanzania would have frowned on their knowledge and performance of this dance. If there was a regulatory organization or document, in place, this group could have been brought up on charges of copyright infringement, and desecration of culture. Africans need to respect the culture of other Africans.

The field of African dance and music came into focus in 1969 and has endured despite the numerous stumbling blocks tossed in its path. There is still much work to be done. I reiterate the field of African dance and music is still straining to overcome these obstacles. We must not let the upcoming generations be caught “napping”. Therefore, there is a dire need for a regulatory agency that will encompass all aspects of African culture in Africa and wherever African culture is taught or otherwise addressed.