LA MUSICA AFRICANA NELLE IMMAGINI DEI RACCONTI DI VIAGGIO TRA XVI E XVII SECOLO: FILIPPO PIGAFETTA E PIETER DE MAREES

The exploration of the Western coast of Africa, in particular the Gulf of Guinea, started from the mid-15th century, first by the Portuguese explorers and merchants, then by the Dutch and English. The chronicles and reports of these travels were very popular among the Europeans, who for the first time had a chance to become familiar with the different regions of Africa and the culture of their inhabitants. The information reported by travelers also included descriptions of musical instruments and sound objects of the natives, the performance techniques, and the circumstances in which the sound events took place. These descriptions however are rarely illustrated. Among them are Relatione del reame di Congo et delle circumvicine contrade (Roma, 1591) by the Italian mathematician and explorer Filippo Pigafetta (1533–1604) and the Beschryvinge ende historische vant Gout Koninckrijck van Guinea (Amsterdam 1602), translated as Indiæ Orientalis pars VI. veram et historicam descriptionem avriferi regni Gvineæ, Frankfurt, 1604) by the Dutch trader and explorer Pieter de Marees (15th–16th century), which includes also a section devoted to Benin city. Both of these works were republished by Theodore de Bry and his successors (1590–1634) in his collection Les petits voyages: in this edition the text was enriched by high quality engravings that had a strong impact on the readers, allowing the Europeans to see for the first time, albeit in a misleading and fanciful way very far from reality, what the travelers described.