It has been thought and said that Africans are born with musical talent. Because music is so important in the lives of many Africans and because so much music is performed in Africa, we are inclined to think that Africans are musicians. The impression is strengthened when we look at ourselves and find that we have become largely a society of musical spectators. Music is important to us, but most of us can be considered consumers rather than producers of music. We have records, television, concerts, and radio to fulfill many of our musical needs. In most situations where music is performed in our culture it is not difficult to distinguish the audience from the performers, but such is often not the case in Africa. Alban Ayipaga, a Kasena semiprofessional musician from northern Ghana, says that when his flute and drum ensemble is performing. “Anybody can take part”. This is true, but Kasena musicians recognize that not all people are equally capable of taking part in the music. Some can sing along with the drummers, but relatively few can drum and even fewer can play the flute along with the ensemble. It is fairly common in Africa for there to be an ensemble of expert musicians surrounded by others who join in by clapping, singing, or somehow adding to the totality of musical sound. Performances often take place in an open area (that is, not on a stage) and so the lines between the performing nucleus and the additional performers, active spectators, and passive spectators may be difficult to draw from our point of view.
人们一直认为非洲人天生就有音乐天赋。因为音乐在许多非洲人的生活中非常重要，因为有这么多音乐在非洲表演，我们倾向于认为非洲人就是音乐家。当我们审视自己，发现我们在很大程度上已经成为一个音乐旁观者的社会时，这种印象会得到加强。音乐对我们来说很重要，但我们大多数人都可以被视为消费者，而不是音乐制作人。我们有唱片、电视、音乐会和广播来满足我们的许多音乐需求。在我们文化中表演音乐的大多数情况下，不难区分观众和表演者，但在非洲往往不是这样。来自加纳北部的Kasena半专业音乐家Alban Ayipaga在长笛和歌舞团表演时说：“任何人都可以参加”。这是真的，但Kasena的音乐家们认识到，并不是所有人都有同样的能力参与音乐。有些人可以和鼓手一起唱歌，但很少有人会打鼓，甚至很少有人能和合奏团一起吹笛子。在非洲，有一个由专业音乐家组成的合奏团，周围环绕着其他人，他们通过鼓掌、唱歌或以某种方式增加整个音乐声音，这是很常见的。表演通常在开放区域进行（也就是说，不是在舞台上），因此从我们的角度来看，表演核心与其他表演者、主动观众和被动观众之间的界限可能很难划分。
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