West African music taught by a white (British) man

[thehighsandthelows]

Traditional West African drumming taught to some children. I was surprised to see a white man show up. Maybe naively I expected someone West African. Research shows mainly white, British employees. Some African performers featured. A lot of praise for traditional African music and reference to the training they have received in West Africa. It doesn't sit right with me but can't find similar opinions voiced? No one else seemed remotely surprised?! Lots of praise for them and positivity. Bookings for celebrating black history months! With no one black in the photos!! Grateful for any views.

Any class that is titled ‘African’ anything, rather than naming the specific country or region from which the thing originates is, frankly, Bound To Be Shit. So ‘West African’ is considerably less bad. But in the context described, it’s still absolutely the sort of thing I would avoid.

💯

Is it just me or does any other Black mumsnetter get weary of those who think their Black History Month tick box ( see opening post) is nicely sorted with one session on African drumming in October? Followed by sod all else education-wise for the rest of the year to make the curriculum inclusive? It just feeds a certain stereotype in a mainly non black school.

Totally different situation to a music teacher ( of any skin colour) running a session on drumming methods as part of or within the music curriculum. Not reinforcing a stereotype, and a good learning experience for young music students.

@Zilla1

Music is an integrative field in general but if the whole purpose of the offering is a West African drumming experience then I would expect it be delivered by someone deeply in the culture. If a booking is for Black History Month in particular then I'd cancel the booking. If this is a white British teacher then there is a whole body of Western folk and Morris rhythms to teach.

So because he’s white, he should only be teaching “western folk and Morris rhythms.” Wow!

Slightly nervous to comment but here goes and this is a genuine question. Full disclosure, I’m neither black nor whitesplaining. In this particular scenario surely it’s a case of booking what’s out there? If there’s not a West African (and that encompasses a massive area,) teacher available, is a teacher regardless of ethnic background a better option than not having the class at all? Sorry if I’ve worded that clumsily

@PutTheSinkInTheWashingMachine

Although as I'm not black you don't want my opinion...

But you gave it anyway and with the same copy and paste "what if"-type scenarios. Ain't that something...

Anyway, OP, I think "African drumming" for some people has become part of some 'hippy-dippy' experience or lifestyle. I took a look at your links and yep, I'm not surprised it's that type of scene - it's obviously a white-majority activity in the West so that's what you'll see.

Some people would just type "African drumming" and get the quickest and cheapest they can find. If he's the only one available in your area, then what can you do but if not, then I agree it isn't right.

Yep, well it's just an opinion, here's another: Here's some guys from Ghana who play the violin and conduct a youth orchestra. www.accrayouthsinfonietta.org/meet-the-team It doesn't say any of them have been taught in Vienna but I think it's great that they do music.

I guess it it depends who he learned from. If there was a direct lineage of teaching from a West African musician to a white British student, I would class it as authentic, as long as the British musician had direct learning experience.

I lived and worked in Kumasi for a few years, the place was quite a popular destination for overseas students, volunteers, NGOs etc. There were numerous courses one could enrol on from music, fabric printing, art, pottery, gold weights, cooking that obviously reflected the Ashanti culture of the area. About a third of the students on these courses were white. I don’t have an artistic bone in my body but I love cooking and enrolled on a number of cooking classes, more for the social element if anything but I picked up some good skills and certainly expanded by repertoire. Met a few of the overseas musicians who were often teachers back from Europe. They were white and just had a love of the highlife and afrobeat music genres and would return to Ghana for extended periods every few years to continue their education. They loved teaching back home, they loved the Ashanti culture they were immersed in even if they did not hail from that region and they admitted that they had on more then a few occasions been met with criticism from some quarters that they should not be in leadership roles teaching West African music. It some instances it seemed that it was preferable by some that no music was taught at all unless it was from an actual Ghanian, which seemed like more a loss to me. Just my $0.02.

@CountryCousin It’s no more storytelling than any other activity. I think the karate example is telling. Would you learn karate from a white person? If yes, then why is this different?

Would you expect an authentic Japanese experience in your local dojo? Honestly for me, it would feel performative and strange.

And West African drumming is probably no more reductive than Chinese food. It’s a shorthand.

You are right. It shows the UK needs to train up/encourage more music teachers of all backgrounds.

Even music at uni is taught by people who don’t have the background for it.

And West African drumming is probably no more reductive than Chinese food. It’s a shorthand.

Therein lies the problem. China is a country. West Africa isn't. Yes, it's more reductive if we're comparing.

It seems quite straightforward - if it offends you then don't attend.
People who are not offended have a right to attend. Neither should castigate the other for their choice. It's life. We will never all agree.

Yep, well it's just an opinion,

Awesome. Your opinion matters a great deal here as you once again miss the point. But thanks for telling me what I already know exists.

@Newgirls

You are right. It shows the UK needs to train up/encourage more music teachers of all backgrounds.

Even music at uni is taught by people who don’t have the background for it.

But their knowledge might be the same as somebody whose background it does come from? Reading between the lines, because they aren’t from the same culture, they shouldn’t be teaching it? That’s discrimination on all levels.

@Katya213 You've convinced me with your Wow. Much better to have a white person appear during a Black history month to lead a Guinean drumming session to a class of Black children. Thinking about it, would be just as good if it were a class of white children. Excellent messaging to both.

I agree. If it was just advertised as drumming workshop or maybe African inspired drumming workshop then crack on. It's the 'authentic west African' bit that's totally wrong.

You know I probably sound more sure than I am. I have mixed feelings because on one hand I do think authenticity is important on the other hand I don’t like all of the skills the black people have being reduced down to an identity?

I think it traps people in having to sell blackness rather than having the skills and experience they have respected. And then that’s training and black celebrities feel frustrated and exhausted because they have to talk about racial trauma all the time instead of being allowed to be experts in their field.

I don't know if it's at all the same but if it was a (non-medical) man leading a talk about experiencing the menopause, that would piss me off.

If I was attending a West African drumming class, I'd prefer it to be run by someone with West African roots, rather than Camila from Tonbridge.

I wonder if there were any West African music teachers in the local area. Surely that is key information here.

I'm thinking about mine and my own dc's sport/arts experiences and they have largely been taught by white British people. I think the arts/music scene is dominated by white people in the UK and this is the case for university admissions within these faculties. It's probably the case that the registered companies that schools are required to use (rather than phoning up the Nigerian community centre to ask) are again largely owned/run by white British people.
Is it the skin colour that is the predominate issue? Would an unexperienced Black man who had grown up in Somerset with 2 adoptive white parents (ie never been to an African country or had cultural upbringing) be preferable to a white man who had lived in an African country and learned for many years under a famous drummer?
In the OPs case I'd definitely prefer to have a Black man with ties to the culture teaching it than a white man, but I wouldn't want to boycott the activity for this reason alone, especially seeing as the man did not seem to appropriate it and spoke positively about its origins.

It’s the same with dance, white people with absolutely no cultural links teaching Dancehall and Afrobeats for example. This has always enraged me until it was pointed out to me recently that I take Yoga classes from a white person with absolutely no cultural links to India or Hinduism / Jainism / Buddhism and I’m ashamed to say I never actually gave it a second thought.

It would be hypocritical of me to call this out when I’m also part of the problem and financially supporting the cultural appropriation of another ethnicity.

For me it depends. I live in a village that is predominantly white, the non-white people are mostly turkish. The bongo group, the Tai Chi group and the Karate lessons are all done by white people. Otherwise we wouldn't have them at all. I'd rather someone teaches these groups than no-one.

Surely if it's in the middle of London people would automatically choose the group conducted by an ethnic teacher? Or am I being naieve? (I am white by the way, so might be naieve in this).

Yep, well it's just an opinion, here's another:
Here's some guys from Ghana who play the violin and conduct a youth orchestra. www.accrayouthsinfonietta.org/meet-the-team
It doesn't say any of them have been taught in Vienna but I think it's great that they do music.

Do you really not see the difference between a man from Ghana playing violin and a white British group of people teaching ‘authentic west African’ traditional drumming? If not I guess you’re just sort of stupid.

Was this in school? If it was then the music service has been pared to the bone over the years. My DB is a peripatetic piano /keyboard teacher who has just retired. For years he had to apply for his own job after more and more cuts were made. It’s shameful. Music in schools is like an afterthought. Fewer kids have access to lessons of any sort in many areas.

DB specialises in Balkan music and while he is of Balkan heritage many of the musicians he goes on workshops with and is in groups with are not of that heritage. If a white person has a special interest in West African drumming and has bothered to learn it’s history, techniques and experts is that so terrible? Should only people of Celtic heritage only be able to teach bagpipes or Russian heritage only, the Balalaika? A lot of musicians are hugely interested in music from all over the place. If the only person available to teach West African drumming was white then that’s really sad. If Black teachers were excluded than that’s disgraceful and needs challenging. But it maybe that was the only person who was available.

The alternative is probably that it isn't taught at all.

We all understand that maybe the teacher was the one avail - and that’s the point. Surely it means we need to look at who goes into music, the arts etc and improve who can access these opportunities

@Seemslikeagoodidea

Surely it's no different from an English person teaching French or German (or vice versa, on mainland Europe). The quality of teaching is more important than skin colour.

At school I was taught French by a Portuguese person. Her 'French accent' was terrible