Agawu begins by establishing the common conceptions about African rhythmn, and then goes to point out some flaws in these ideas, namely, that rhythm is not pan-African and that many African cultures don't even have a word for rhythm. In these sections, he succeeds in identifying areas where researchers came up short.
In others however, he poses arguments that are problematic. He opposes the creation of new notation systems for African rhythm, saying that doing so is an attempt to reduce the size of the "supplement." What he's not addressing is the balancing act that is musical notation. Notation and supplement must be in balance. In Western music, staff notation comes up short, but it represents enough of the material to be worthwhile. The problem that I think ethnomusicologists were running into with African rhythms was that, using Western staff notation was not capturing enough; too much was being left as supplement and not enough was being represented in the notation to be worthwhile.
He gets into an even pettier argument about the terminology that researchers have used to represent their subjects, but acknowledges that they serve a "nominal identifying funtion." This, to me, is obnoxious. With some words, we use them because we have to, there aren't any other options. Language is never enough; it is always imperfect. Just accept it and do the best you can.
He eventually makes a good point that ethnographers should go into the field on the premise of sameness, which will bring out the differences naturally rather than forcing them artificially. And I can see how arguing for Western representation of African rhythm is a power issue, although I would also contend that representation that leaves too much missing is just as powerless.
Like most ethnomusicology articles, after complaining about problems with other people's work for 90% of the paper, this one closes with some vague, idealistic, half-hearted suggestions about ways to fix those problems.
On a personal note, reading these articles is making me seriously bitter. I guess I can understand why ethnomusicologists just seem to want to lash out at one another. I guess I'm doing it myself? My head exploded.
Discussion Question: Author after author is hung up on colonialism and Otherness. How can these things be dealt with, in concrete terms? Is it enough to just acknowledge that they are influences, and then move on?
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