Talk:Call and response

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[edit] Music/General

I'm not sure I understand the difference between this and call and response. Tuf-Kat 18:05, Sep 24, 2004 (UTC)

  • Haven't you seen evangelists lately? "Pray lord!"--"Haleluia!". No music. The notion is wider than music. Mikkalai 18:35, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
  • The article should be rewritten. E.g., in music it was also known to ancient Greeks (antiphony) I guess, in their religin as well. It is a common human cultural phenomenon, not restricted to Afro. Mikkalai 18:35, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Agreeing with Mikkalai, it is a wider phenomenon. Watching a TV special on the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, they were reviewing how the traditional natives of some islands (Andaman or Nicobar ?) were able to escape the tidal waves using old knowledge. A westerner knowledgeable in their language was interviewing a native for the special. Most of what was said was said by the islander. However, after _every_ utterance, the westerner would interject the equivalent of "uhuh". So the exchange was something like:

"So the land and the sea always fight over the line between them" "uhuh" "They fight and the people wait for them to finish" "uhuh" "And so we saw the sea go out" "uhuh" "And so we ran far inland" "uhuh" "And we waited for the land and sea to agree" "uhuh" "this is what our stories told us" "uhuh" "And so we were safe" "uhuh"

This so struck me as call and response. In some cultures to show that you are listening you must punctuate the other person's speech with your own, 'yep', 'yes', 'uhuh', 'gotcha'. It is as natural as breathing between speaking. Can I hear an 'amen'?

Examples of call and resposnse, anyone?

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Removed a couple of links which are just ... not linked. LupusCanis