Skip to main content
Log in

Using Diverse Sources of Evidence for Reconstructing the Past History of Musical Exchanges in the Indian Ocean

  • Original Article
  • Published:
African Archaeological Review Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although the Indian Ocean has long been recognised as a fertile zone for cultural exchange, reflecting both trade routes and colonisation, it is only now coming into prominence in terms of its significance for the past history of the continents around its rim. It is now accepted that economic plants, animals, diseases, trade goods, languages, religion and cultural elements all moved around and across the Indian Ocean, often transforming the societies and environments into which they were introduced. The paper explores one specific aspect of cultural exchange, music and musical practice in the Indian Ocean. Case studies are used to assess the value and significance of different categories of evidence for the reconstruction of musical history and the resultant chronostratigraphy. These include the history of two types of zither which occur on both sides of the Indian Ocean and which attest to the significance of geographical distributions of material culture. A related issue is the vexed question of the similarities of the xylophone in Southeast Asia and Africa and the role of morphology in resolving the historical direction of transfer. Slavery and the African diaspora in the Indian Ocean have only recently been the subject of in-depth scholarly examination, and the paper summarises current literature and begins the process of categorising the exchange of musical subcultures. This throws into focus an important aspect of maritime transfers in the Indian Ocean: the low profile of some of the great trading nations, such as the Sassanians and the Chinese, in terms of cultural influence, despite their importance in overall trade. The paper suggests that disease and a focus on trade to the exclusion of other activities may account for this disparity.

Résumé

Néanmoins que l’Océane Indien a été longtemps reconnues comme zone fertile pour les échanges culturelles, réfléchissant les routes du commerce et colonisation, ce n’est que maintenant qu’il commence a devenir plus connu pour son signifiance pour l’histoire des continents autour de sa bassin. C’est reçu que les plantes utiles, les animaux, les maladies, les religions et des éléments culturaux ont étés transferts autour et au travers l’Océan Indien, souvent transformant les sociétés et environnements dans laquelle ils sont introduites. L’exposé est une exploration d’un élément spécifique de ces échanges culturaux, la musique et la pratique musicale dans l’Océan Indien. Les études de cas sont fouilles pour les évidences pour la reconstruction le l’histoire de la musique et le chronostratigraphie qu’on peut déceler. Ces études incluent l’histoire de deux espèces ce cithare qu’on observe sur les deux rives de l’Océan Indien et qui attestent à la signifiance des distributions géographiques la culture matérielle. Une sujet étroitement lie est la question épineuse des les similarités entre les xylophones de l’Asie sud-est et l’Afrique, et le rôle de la morphologie en résoudront la direction historiques de ces transferts. Ce n’est que récemment que l’esclavage et la diaspora Africaine dans l’Océan Indien sont devenus le sujet d’analyse des chercheurs et l’exposé synthétise les recherches récents et commence le processus de catégoriser les échanges dans les cultures musicales. L’analyse met la lumière sur un aspect signifiant dans les transferts maritimes dans l’Océan Indien, le profil réduit de quelques grand nations de commerce, comme les Chinois et les Sassanides, de la point de vue des influences culturelles. L’exposé propose que les maladies et un intérêt très fixé sur la commerce a l’exclusion des autres activités peut expliquer cette disparité.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Photo 1
Map 1
Map 2
Photo 2
Map 3
Map 4
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5
Map 5
Photo 6
Map 6
Fig. 1
Photo 7
Photo 8
Map 7
Map 8
Photo 9
Photo 10
Photo 11
Map 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

BCE:

Before Common Era

BP:

Before Present

Kya:

‘000 years ago

ISEA:

Island Southeast Asia

MSEA:

Mainland Southeast Asia

References

  • Adelaar, S. (n.d.). Origin of the name valiha. Electronic ms.

  • Allibert, C., & Verin, P. (1996). The early pre-Islamic history of the Comores Islands: Links with Madagascar and Africa. In J. E. Reade (Ed.), The Indian Ocean in antiquity (pp. 461–470). London & New York: Keegan Paul International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, L. A. (1967). The African xylophone. African Arts, 1(1), 46–49. 66–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, L. A. (2001). Xylophone §4(iii). In New Grove dictionary of music and musicians, Vol. 27. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ankermann, B. (1899). Die afrikanischen musikinstrumente. Berlin: A. Haack.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armas Lara, M. (1970). Origen de la marimba, su desenvolvimiento otros instrumentos músicos. Guatemala City: Tipografía Nacional.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arsenio, N. (2009). Gongs, bells, and cymbals: The archaeological record in Maritime Asia from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 41, 62–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Badalkhan, S. (2006). On the presence of African musical culture in coastal Balochistan. In H. Basu (Ed.), Journeys and dwellings: Indian Ocean themes in South Asia (pp. 276–287). New Delhi: Orient Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakewell, A. (1985). Music. In F. Stone (Ed.), Studies in the Tihamah: The report of the Tihamah Expedition 1982 and related papers. Burnt Mill: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldaeus, P. (1672). Beschrijving der Oost Indische Kusten Malabar en Choromandel der Zelver aangrenzende Ryken en het machtige Eyland Ceylon Nevens een onstandige en grondigh doorzochte ontdekking en wederlegginge van de Afgoderye den Ooost-Indische Heydenen. Amsterdam: Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge en Johannes van Someren.

  • Baptiste, F. A. (1998). The African presence in India—I and II. African Quarterly, 38(2), 76–90, 91–126.

  • Basu, H. (1993). The Sidi and the cult of Bava Gor in Gujarat. Journal of the Indian Anthropological Society, 28, 289–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basu, H. (2008a). History on the line: Music and the formation of Sidi identity in Western India. History Workshop Journal, 65, 161–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basu, H. (2008b). Drumming and praying: Sidi at the interface between spirit possession and Islam. In E. Simpson & K. Kresse (Eds.), Struggling with history: Islam and cosmopolitanism in the Western Indian Ocean (pp. 291–322). New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basu, H. (2008c). Journeys and dwellings. Hyderabad: Orient Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basu, H., von Schwerin, K., & Minda, A. (2008). Daff music of Yemeni-Habshi in Hyderabad. In H. Basu (Ed.), Journeys and dwellings (pp. 288–303). Hyderabad: Orient Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaujard, P. (2003). Les arrivées austronésiennes à Madagascar: Vagues ou continuum? (Partie 1, 2). Études Océan Indien, 35–36, 59–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaujard, P. (2012). Les mondes de l’océan indien. Paris: Armand Colin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharya, D. (1999). Musical instruments of tribal India. New Delhi: Menas Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (1982). Evidence for the Indonesian origins of certain elements of African culture: A review, with special reference to the arguments of A. M. Jones. African Music, 6, 81–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (1984). The morphology and distribution of sub-Saharan musical instruments of North-African, Middle Eastern, and Asian origin. Musica Asiatica, 4, 155–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (1996). The ethnographic evidence for long-distance contacts between Oceania and East Africa. In J. Reade (Ed.), The Indian Ocean in antiquity (pp. 417–438). London and New York: Kegan Paul/British Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2003). The movement of cultivated plants between Africa and India in prehistory. In K. Neumann, A. Butler, & S. Kahlhaber (Eds.), Food, fuel and fields: Progress in African archaeobotany (pp. 273–292). Köln: Heinrich-Barth-Institut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2006). From Vietnamese lithophones to Balinese gamelans: A history of tuned percussion in the Indo-Pacific region. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 26, 48–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2007). New palaezoogeographical evidence for the settlement of Madagascar. Azania, 42, 69–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2008). Musical instruments of South Asian origin depicted on the reliefs at Angkor, Cambodia. In J.-P. Pautreau, A.-S. Coupey, V. Zeitoun, & E. Rambault (Eds.), From Homo erectus to the living traditions (pp. 239–244). Chiang Mai: Siam Ratana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2009). Remapping the Austronesian expansion. In B. Evans (Ed.), Discovering history through language. Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross (pp. 35–59). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2010). New evidence for the Austronesian impact on the East African coast. In A. Anderson, J. H. Barrett, & K. V. Boyle (Eds.), Global origins and the development of seafaring (pp. 239–248). Cambridge: Macdonald Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2011). The present in the past: How narratives of the slave-raiding era inform current politics in Northern and Central Nigeria. In P. Lane & K. MacDonald (Eds.), Comparative dimensions of slavery in Africa: Archaeology and memory (pp. 361–391). London: British Academy for Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (2013). Methods and results in the reconstruction of music history in Africa and a case study of instrumental polyphony. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 48(1), 31–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blench, R. M. (in press). Tracking the origins of African slaves in the Indian Ocean through personal names: The evidence of Sumatra records. In T. Vernet & P. Beaujard (Eds.), Thematic issue of Afriques on East Africa and the Indian Ocean.

  • Boone, O. (1936). Les xylophones du Congo Belge. Annales du Ethnographie, Séries 3. Tervuren: Musée du Congo Belge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brohier, P. (trans.) (1960). A true and exact description of the great island of Ceylon: By Phillipus Baldaeus, being the section relating to Ceylon of the "Beschrijving der Oost Indische Kusten Malabar en Choromandel der Zelver aangrenzende Ryken en het machtige Eyland Ceylon Nevens een onstandige en grondigh doorzochte ontdekking en wederlegginge van de Afgoderye den Oost-indische Heydenen" by… Phillipus Baldaeus published in Dutch in Amsterdam, 1672. Maharagama: Saman Press.

  • Burney, D. A. (1987). Late Quaternary stratigraphic charcoal records from Madagascar. Quaternary Research, 28(2), 274–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Casson, L. (1989). The Periplus Maris Erythraei: Text with introduction, translation and commentary. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catlin-Jairazbhoy, A. (2007). From Sufi shrines to the world stage: Sidi African Indian music, intervention and the quest for 'authenticity'. Musike, 2, 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catlin-Jairazbhoy, A., & Alpers, E. A. (Eds.). (2004). Sidis and scholars: Essays on African Indians. Trenton: Red Sea Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chenoweth, V. (1964). The marimbas of Guatemala. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chonpairot, J. (1981). The diffusion of the Vina in Southeast Asia. In T. Temple Tuttle (Ed.), Proceedings of the Saint Thyagaraja Music Festivals, Cleveland, Ohio 1978–81 (pp. 98–108). Cleveland: Greater Cleveland Ethnographical Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen, D., & el-Shawan Castelo-Branco, S. (2009). Traditional arts in Southern Arabia: Music and society in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman. Berlin: Verlag für Wissenschaft und Bildung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collaer, P. (1979). Südostasien. Musikgeschichte in Bildern, i/3. Leipzig: VEB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, R. O. (2006). The African slave trade to Asia and the Indian Ocean Islands. African and Asian Studies, 5(3–4), 325–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coomaraswamy, A. K. (1926). Frescoes at Elura. Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, Neue Folge, 3, 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coomaraswamy, A. K. (1931). The old Indian Vina. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 51, 47–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Ferranti, H. (2000). Japanese musical instruments. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Hen, F. J. (1960). Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Musikinstrumente aus Belgisch Kongo und Ruanda-Urundi. Tervuren: Tervuren Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Des Rosiers, B. (1992). Ile de la Réunion: Musiques et identité. Canadian Journal for Traditional Music, 20 [unpaginated]. URL http://cjtm.icaap.org/content/20/v20art7.html.

  • Dick-Read, R. N. (2005). The phantom voyagers: Evidence of Indonesian settlement in Africa in ancient times. Winchester: Thurlton Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Domenichini, M. (1984). Valiha. In S. Sadie (Ed.), New Grove dictionary of musical instruments (Vol. 3, pp. 705–706). London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Filesi, T. (1972). China and Africa in the Middle Ages. (David Morison trans.) London: Frank Cass.

  • Hamilton, A. (1727). A new account of the East Indies. 2 vols. Edinburgh: J. Mosman.

  • Harpole, P. W. (1986). Debussy and the Javanese Gamelan. American Music Teacher, 35(3), 8–9, 41.

  • Harris, J. E. (1971). The African presence in Asia: Consequences of the East African slave trade. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, J. C. (Ed.). (2008). India in Africa, Africa in India: Indian Ocean cosmopolitanisms. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heins, E. L. (1966). Indonesian colonization of West- and Central Africa? Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 122, 274–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hornell, J. (1934). Indonesian influence on East African culture. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 64, 305–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horton, M. C. (1996). Early maritime trade and settlement along the coasts of eastern Africa. In J. E. Reade (Ed.), The Indian Ocean in antiquity (pp. 439–459). London & New York: Keegan Paul International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hourani, G. F. (1995). Arab seafaring in the Indian Ocean in ancient and early medieval times. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsing-Lang, C. (1930). The importation of Negro slaves to China under the Tang dynasty. Bulletin of the Catholic University of Peking, 7, 37–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hutton, J. H. (1946). West Africa and Indonesia: A problem in distribution. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 76, 5–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izikowitz, K. G. (1934). Musical and other sound producing instruments of the South American Indians: A comparative ethnographical study. Goteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jayasuriya, S. S. (2008). Indian Oceanic crossings: Music of the Afro-Asian Diaspora. African Diaspora, 1, 135–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jayasuriya, S. S., & Angenot, J.-P. (Eds.). (2008). Uncovering the history of Africans in Asia. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jayasuriya, S. S., & Pankhurst, R. (Eds.). (2003). The African Diaspora in the Indian Ocean. Trenton: Africa World Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, A. M. (1964, rev. ed. 1971). Africa and Indonesia: The evidence of the xylophone and other musical factors. Leiden: Brill.

  • Kaudern, W. (1927). Musical instruments in the Celebes. Goteborg: Elanders boktryckeri aktiebolag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufmann, W. (1981). Altindien. Musikgeschichte in Bildern. Part 11, vol. 8. Leipzig: VEB Deutsche Verlag für Musik.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keeler, W. (1998). Burma. In Southeast Asia: The Garland encyclopaedia of world music, vol. 4 (pp. 363–400). New York and London: Garland Publishing.

  • Kessel, I. V. (2007). Belanda Hitam: The Indo-African communities of Java. African and Asian Studies, 6(3), 243–279.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khalifa, A. B. (2006). African influences on culture and music in Dubai. International Social Science Journal, 58(188), 227–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koechlin, B. (2002). Seychelles: Musiques oubliées des iles. OCORA C582055. CD.

  • Kunst, J. (1936). Musicological argument for a relationship between Indonesia-probably Java-and Central Africa. Proceedings of the Musical Association of Leeds. Session LX11 1935/36.

  • Kunst, J. [2nd ed.] (1968). Hindu-Javanese musical instruments. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.

  • Kunst, J. [3rd ed.] (1973). Music in Java: Its history, its theory and its technique. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.

  • La Borde, J.-B. (1780). Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne. Paris: Pierres.

  • La Sèive, J. P. (1984). Musiques traditionnelles de la Réunion. Aix-en-Provence: Fondation pour la recherche et le développement dans l’Océan Indien, Institut de linguistique et d’anthropologie de la Réunion.

  • Lagercrantz, S. (1950). Contribution to the ethnography of Africa. Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensia, I. Lund: Håkan Ohlssons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurenty, J. S. (1960). Les Chordophones du Congo Beige et du Ruanda Urundi. Tervuren: Tervuren Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Bomin, S. (2001). Raison morphologique et langage musical. Musiques de xylophone en Afrique centrale. Cahiers de Musiques Traditionnelles, 14, 203–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maceda, J. (1998). Gongs and bamboo: A panorama of Philippine musical instruments. Manila: University of the Philippines Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcel-Dubois, C. (1941). Les instruments de musique de l’Inde ancienne. [illustrations by Jeannine Auboyer]. Paris: Presses universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, T. E., & Chonpairot, J. (1981). The ranat and the bong-lang: The question of the origin of Thai xylophones. Journal of the Siam Society, 69, 145–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, T. E., & Chonpairot, J. (1994). A history of Siamese music reconstructed from Western documents, 1505–1932. Special issue of Crossroads, 8(2), 1–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohamed, N. (2006). Essays on early Maldives. Male: National Centre for Linguistic and Historical Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton, D. (1976). The traditional music of Thailand. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: UC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mundy, P. (1919). The travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia 1608–1667. [3 vols.] London: Hakluyt Society.

  • Obeng, P. (2007). Shaping membership, defining nation: The cultural politics of African Indians in South Asia. Lanham: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olsen, P. R. (2002). Music in Bahrain. Bahrain: Aarhus University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ottenheimer, H. J. (1970). Culture contact and musical style: Ethnomusicology in the Comoro Islands. Ethnomusicology, 14(3), 458–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker Pearson, M., & Godden, K. (2010). Pastoralists, warriors and colonists: The archaeology of Southern Madagascar. Oxford: Archaeopress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pistone, G. (1969). I manoscritti ‘Araldi’ di Padre Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccolo. Atti e Memorie, Accademia Nazionale di Scienze, Lettere e Arti di Modena, 9, 152–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Possehl, G. L. (1995). Seafaring merchants of Meluhha. South Asian Archaeology, 1, 87–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Précourt, F. et al. (2010). Ile de Mayotte. Takamba 16. Ile de la Réunion. CD & DVD.

  • Racy, A. J. (2006). In the path of the lyre: The tanburah of the Gulf Region. Musike, 1(2), 97–122.

  • Rameau, J.-P. (1760). Code de musique pratique ou méthodes pour apprendre la musique..avec de nouvelles réflexions sur le principe sonore. Paris: Imprimerie Royale.

  • Rands, R., & Riley, C. (1958). Diffusion and discontinuous distribution. American Anthropologist, 60, 274–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rashidi, R., & Van Sertima, I. (Eds.). (1987). African presence in early Asia. Piscataway: Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, H. P., & Alpers, E. A. (2007). Cross currents and community networks: The history of the Indian Ocean World. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Razafindrakoto-Montoya, Jobonina (1997). La valiha de Madagascar: Tradition et modernité en Imerina de 1820 à 1995 (Etudes organologique, acoustique et socio-historique). Thèse de doctorat de l’Université Paris IV-Sorbonne.

  • Razafindrakoto-Montoya, J. (2006). L’évolution organologique du valiha, cithare tubulaire de Madagascar. Etudes Océan Indien, 37, 13–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, C. (1915). Die Musikinstrumente Indiens und Indonesiens. Berlin: Königlichen Museen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, C. (1928). Geist und Werden der Musikinstrumente. Berlin: Reimer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, C. (1938). Les Instruments de Musique de Madagascar. Paris: Institut d’Ethnologie.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sam-Ang, S., Roongrüang, P., & Nguyen, P. T. (1998). The Khmer people. In T. E. Miller & S. Williams (Eds.), Southeast Asia: The Garland encyclopaedia of world music (Vol. 4, pp. 151–217). New York and London: Garland Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlick, A. (1511). Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten. Mainz [?]: Peter Schöffer [?]. [Facsimile with English translation by E.B. Barber. Buren: Fritz Knuf. 1980].

  • Segal, R. (2001). Islam’s black slaves: The other black diaspora. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, T. (2006). The formation of Chinese maritime networks to Southern Asia, 1200–1450. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 49(4), 421–453.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, R. L. (Ed.). (1977). Debussy on music. New York: Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spriggs, M. (2011). Archaeology and the Austronesian expansion: Where are we now? Antiquity, 85, 10–528.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steward, J. (1929). Diffusion and independent invention: A critique of logic. American Anthropologist, 31, 491–495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, G. (1989). History of navigation in Ancient China. Beijing: Ocean Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrasher, A. (2000). Chinese musical instruments. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verin, P., & Wright, H. (1999). Madagascar and Indonesia: New evidence from archaeology and linguistics. Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, 18, 35–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vincent, W. (1807). The commerce and navigation of the ancients of the Indian Ocean. London: Thomas Cadell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogt, B. (1996). Bronze Age maritime trade in the Indian Ocean: Harappan traits on the Oman peninsula. In J. E. Reade (Ed.), The Indian Ocean in antiquity (pp. 107–132). London & New York: Keegan Paul International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitehouse, D., & Williamson, A. (1973). Sassanian maritime trade. Iran, 11, 29–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wrazen, L. (1986). The early history of the Vīnā and Bīn in South and Southeast Asia. Asian Music, 18(1), 35–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyatt, D. J. (2009). The blacks of premodern China. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

  • Zerries, O. (1942). Das Schwirrholz: Untersuchung über die Verbreitung und Bedeutung der Schwirren im Kult (Vol. 7). Stuttgart: Strecker und Schröder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, X. (1990). Cream of Yunnan national instrument music. Kunming: Yunnan People’s Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

A first version of parts of this paper was presented at a special workshop on Madagascar, held in the Musée Royale de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren in 2009. I would like to thank the organisers for inviting me and for the audience discussion. Thanks also to Philippe Beaujard and Sander Adelaar for the exchange of ideas over many years. Thanks also to the Kay Williamson Educational Foundation for supporting fieldwork. It is intended to complement a related review of the prehistory of music on the African mainland (Blench 2013).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roger Blench.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Blench, R. Using Diverse Sources of Evidence for Reconstructing the Past History of Musical Exchanges in the Indian Ocean. Afr Archaeol Rev 31, 675–703 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-014-9178-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10437-014-9178-z

Keywords

Navigation