African oral tradition literacy

phrases of rhythmic onomatopoeia mean something to the average African musician, be he an ayan, jaly, or griot. Consequently if one writes them in western notation, they would look like this: Western notation is an arithmetic accounting of sounds heard, but it lacks the nuances of how the sound was produced and its significance; thus it is meaningless to the average African musician. The African musician learns to play music through a system of oral tradition that is handed down from one generation to the next. These morceaus of onomatopoetic AUTHOR’S NOTE: A special thanks to Jane Marriett for her assistance with the dance notations of Gahu and Nokohwa