claim ownership of the land- that is: masquerade as a political tool. And what of the music one might ask? This subject is for me also connection with the 'search for hidden truths'. I write this because the most basic impression I am left with after listening to the video tape over four separate mapping session is 1) music in the Jola ritual ceremonial is a kind of sonic-tapestry that serves as a vibrational mechanism that unifies the 'balance' of social, functional and vibrational postulates 2) music as connected to 'disposition'; as in the psychological spectra of 'poetics' 3) music as part of the supernatural strata of the culture 4) music as a context for 'signals' (local and community). The phenomenon that we in the west call music is so totally inter winded into the essence of African culture that it is sometimes hard to isolate a given 'sonic postulation' for two dimensional grounding. To experience the video experience of the Jola initiation ritual is to notice the presence of a super environment space aesthetic that allows for the possibility of spatial location directives as well as three dimensional 'cross conversations'- some of which might not even concern the 'intended target'. There is music in the background, music in the foreground, a given group has isolated itself and started creating a song while working (or something). Songs in video tape number one serves many different functions a) as a source for tribal memory b) as a context for passing signals c) as something to do while working. To understand this aspect of Jola culture is to know that music is totally intertwined into the cultural and vibrational reality of Jola identity- that is to say; everyone in the culture seems to be a musicians of some sort. The video tape shows us a picture of a dynamic environment that contains music in every form, happening all the time ( in a way). Creativity as 'a way of life' describes the kind of images that the tape shows. And...
