What Reviewers Are Saying About
VIDEOS OF AFRICAN AND AFRICAN-RELATED PERFORMANCE:
AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
From African Music (Roodepoort, South Africa), December 1997. Andrew Tracey, editor.
Videos of African and African-related Performance: An Annotated Bibliography, by Carol Lems-Dworkin. Evanston, IL: Carol Lems-Dworkin Publishers. 1996 xx-331pp. US$ 57, paper.
Reviewed by Erika Bourguignon, The Ohio State University
This wide-ranging, exhaustive directory of videos, splendidly illustrated in black-and-white by Dean Alexander, represents a valuable resource for anyone teaching or conducting research in the very broad area covered. In addition to information on 1,396 items, the volume includes a valuable Introduction providing context for the entries, a User's Guide, several Indexes (Names, Subject, Distributors), Appendixes and Notes.
"Performance" is defined very broadly, beyond music, dance and drama to include religion, carnivals, folklore but also many aspects of daily life deemed performative. On the other hand, "acting," that is theater, Lems-Dworkin writes, "was not the culturally specific kind of performance I was looking for" (p.xiii). The topics and the descriptions suggest the vigorous presence and importance of music throughout African and African-American life. The types of music and the use of music in the videos varies. In general scenes from life as performance, music serves as background, in others the musical performance is center stage.
The volume covers videos (but not films) currently available for rental or purchase. The materials deal with sixty-eight countries of Africa (all of Africa) and the African Diaspora. They come in many different languages and were produced for a range of purposes, and presumably, with a range of skills. Each item is given not only title and description but also information on availability, video format, and distributor.
The entry descriptions are most often based on publishers' catalogues, since it was manifestly not possible for the author to view all of the items; they therefore vary in length, detail and perhaps usefulness. They are clearly distinguished from those written by Lems-Dworkin herself. Here, for example, is part of her entry for Les Blank's 1978 video Always for Pleasure: "Magnificent bouillabaisse of various New Orleans musical traditions. Considerable coverage is given to Mardi Gras celebrations in the Black community, especially `Black Indian' component...Music is everywhere...Superlative photography."
In sum, this is a fine treasure trove of materials that fills an important niche. There is no other compendium of this sort available. Lems-Dworkin is also the author of African Music: A Pan-African Annotated Bibliography (London: Zell, 1991).