Re-centering African Analytical Languages: Beyond the Myth-Complex of Polymeter

Re-centering African Analytical Languages: Beyond the Myth-Complex of Polymeter Aduragbemi Afe | Mountain Top University Abstract: This seminar looks again at Kofi Agawu’s work, in Representing African Music. The seminar looks at how African music's still seen through the old analysis methods that focus on difference. Those methods put much focus on rhythm, many meters and unusual structures.Those features do appear in African music traditions. Using those features again and again as the main explanation creates what I call a "myth-complex". The myth-complex often hides the musicians’ ideas and ways of knowing. The study looks at Agawu’s review of knowledge control, the habits in writing music down, making scores and talking about music theory. The study asks how these habits shape what scholars hear, value and call music. The study proposes that the intellectual agency should be put back at the center. The study emphasizes that musicians, community members and local words are sources of theory, not just data. The study proposes a two‑part and dialogue based approach, to analysis. That is, a concept that holds African conceptual systems and scholarly discourse in productive tension. The study therefore outlines pathways toward more plural, ethical, and historically grounded modes of musical interpretation. It is submitted that in a changing global order, such reorientation is essential for decolonizing African music studies and reshaping how African musics are taught, analyzed, and theorized today. Key Words: African music, myth-complex, dialogue based approach, African conceptual system Dr. Oladele Ayorinde (Project/Symposium's Convener) Video and audio production: The Organ House and Concert and Seminar Series Team The Organ House Technology Unit /Crew Michael Adeyemi michaeladeyemi6@gmail.com