Masters of the Sabar: Wolof Griot Percussionists of Senegal (review)

Masters of the Sabar: Wolof Griot Percussionists of Senegal is an exploration of traditional and hereditary sabar drummers in Senegal, their cultural roles, and the contexts in which sabar ensembles perform. Based on two years of fieldwork (spread over a seven-year period) and centered primarily on the urban area of Dakar, this volume provides a thorough examination of the subject, weaving substantial oral history sources with accounts from other primary documents.

In an effort to "[demystify]" her role as a researcher, Patricia Tang begins with a thoughtful, autoethnographic description of her fieldwork experience and methodology, specifically considering how gender, race, and associations with particular families in Dakar impacted the research process and results (13). She then provides an organological study of the sabar, the membranophone at the heart of her ethnography, detailing its history, origins, construction, and adornment, as well as tuning and aesthetics favored by sabar percussionists. This, combined with discussion of the caste system in Senegal and Tang's own model for moving beyond the location of géwël (griot) in a strict hierarchy to a more fluid notion "encompassing lineage, family, ethnicity, and even community," provides a rich backdrop against which she presents the life histories of three generations of sabar drummers (53). Utilizing lengthy interview excerpts that foreground her consultants' voices, she demonstrates how the role of the griot (praise singer) has shifted through time, as well as the critical role that family and kinship play in the transmission and recreation of the griots' specialized body of knowledge. Tang then turns to an examination of the traditional repertoire of sabar ensembles, the differences between rythme (short dance rhythm) and bàkk (longer musical phrase), and family-specific repertoires. Her description of a variety of contexts in which sabar ensembles perform demonstrates the gendered nature of some events (e.g., women's dances and men's wrestling competitions). Finally, she concludes by tracing the trajectory of sabar from its entry into popular culture in the 1970s to the present and the emergence of the popular genre called mbalax.

One of Tang's primary goals was to challenge current understandings of the griot as "primarily a verbal artist" (56). While this may be true of other griot traditions in West Africa, she suggests that Wolof griots are primarily instrumentalists: "it is his skill as a drummer that maintains and elevates his status" (56). She presents a convincing argument that demonstrates how this drumming tradition, which once rhythmically represented speech, has transformed such that it is valued on the basis of virtuosity. Her reading of the electrified mbalax ensembles (which employ guitar, keyboards, drum kit, and horns) as a "transformation of the traditional sabar ensemble" is an astute observation that further demonstrates the shifting role of the griot in Senegal and the innovations that have emerged in response to global flows. Her ethnography, however, also raises important questions regarding ownership and copyright of traditional musics as they move into the popular realm and are recorded for distribution, about being "born into" a musical family and occupation, and the role of competition between and among sabar drumming groups, mbalax ensembles, and families of griots.

This research is greatly indebted to oral history material, for the written record of historic sabar percussionists and events is limited. Oral history accounts are critical not only to trace the history of the musical instrument, its players, and their roles in society through time but also to understand "generational perspectives" regarding the life and sociocultural function and position of the griot (68). Thus, Tang employed ethnographic methodologies in her research, primarily engaging in interviews and participant observation. She and her assistant conducted the interviews either in Wolof or French, transcribed them verbatim from tape with Tang translating them into English to ensure she retained the original meaning as closely as possible. While she documented some musical events with video and employed these recordings in informal feedback interviews with...