Comments on: Life, Death, and Music in West Africa http://contexts.org/articles/winter-2008/harper/ Contexts is a quarterly magazine that makes sociology interesting and relevant to anyone interested in how society operates. It is a publication of the American Sociological Association, edited by Doug Hartmann and Chris Uggen at the University of Minnesota. Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:50:28 +0000 hourly 1 By: rear http://contexts.org/articles/winter-2008/harper/comment-page-1/#comment-11 rear Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:40:32 +0000 http://contexts.org/articles/winter-2008/harper/#comment-11 The music clips are a great supplement to the photo article. However I wished the wailing could be heard better. As a child growing up in Ethiopia, many, many times I heard (mostly women) wailing of the dead and it was much more of a painful sound. It would have been helpful to have a comparative comment on music in funerals. I would suggest that the author or others be invited to add that on the web or in future issues. How unique are the Ghana instrumentations and rituals? To the webmaster: the MP3s worked really well! It would be helpful to have the length of the sound clip in the descriptions. The music clips are a great supplement to the photo article. However I wished the wailing could be heard better. As a child growing up in Ethiopia, many, many times I heard (mostly women) wailing of the dead and it was much more of a painful sound.

It would have been helpful to have a comparative comment on music in funerals. I would suggest that the author or others be invited to add that on the web or in future issues. How unique are the Ghana instrumentations and rituals?

To the webmaster: the MP3s worked really well! It would be helpful to have the length of the sound clip in the descriptions.

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