The globalisation of African musical instruments: A case of the Adeudeu of Teso Community in Kenya

Abstract

There are various insights into the discourse of musical culture from a global context. Some of these insights include the impact of  globalisation on the music industry and African musicmaking at large. African musical instruments continue to be cultural artefacts and  productions of immaterial culture and music. African instruments have not remained static but have responded to intercultural  reciprocity. This study stems from an ambit that has discussed African traditional musical instruments such as the Mbira, Kora, Djembe,  and Endara of West and South Africa but needs to pay more attention to those from East Africa and Kenya in particular. This paper is a  case study of the Adeudeu (a chordophone), a principal instrument of the Teso community in Western Kenya and a symbol of their  cultural identity. The purpose is to highlight the extent to which traditional musical performances have been appropriated and retained  in the contemporary setting creating their popular music. The study engaged eight musical groups drawn from each of Teso district’s  divisions, selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Qualitative data analysis was used. The paper analyses music performed on the traditional Adeudeu vis a vis that performed on the contemporary Adeudeu to elucidate similarities and differences in music  making. The argument is that a change in one element of the musical ensemble has ramifications on the music producing a different  ‘musical colour’. The paper culminates in highlighting changes that have taken place on the instrument and the overall musical rendition  of the Teso.