Compare and contrast the social systems of the hierarchical Mande of West Africa and the egalitarian BaMbuti pygmies of the Congo region. How are these different social systems reflected in the musical traditions of the Mande and BaMbuti?

Answer

The Mande of West Africa and  Bambuti pygmies of Congo are similar because they live in a typical tropical rainforest which has a high amount of rainfall annually ranging from  127cm to 178cm. Also, they engage in agriculture with the BaMbuti pygmies credited with agricultural revolution like the Shongai farming techniques. Lastly, they share similar religion.

On the other hand, Mande of West Africa are early producer of stone civilization. There achievements in such are still acknowledged with the various archeological site pointing towards that. Also, the Mande are caste system based society unlike the BaMbuti which exist in bands.

These various social systems reflect on their musical traditions in the sense that the Mbuti pygmy music are in various form such as been vocable, sipiritual and could be played with various instrument like bow harp. The Mbuti beleives that music arespiritual and comes from the spirit of the forest. On the other hand, the Mande of West Africa musical traditions is carried out inorder to preserve the culture, history and traditions of the society and are mostly done orally.

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