In Africa, there is a marked emphasis placed on the common good of all which is strongly reflected in its art forms. In the music, this is reflected in the emphasis placed on making the occasion sweet for all present. This criterion of excellence depends, in fact, on the pervasive notion of coolness. Robert Farris Thompson, in his article “An Aesthetic of the Cool,” observes that “the cooler a person becomes, the more ancestral he becomes.” (Thompson 1) He goes on to elaborate, writing that “self-mastery allows a person to transcend time and evade worry. He can concentrate or she can concentrate on truly important issues of social balance and aesthetic substance…” (Thompson 1) The African master musician, therefore, cannot make the occasion sweet unless he has a certain degree of detachment from it that allows it to better understand the social forces at play within it, nor can it change and balance those forces to shape the occasion and make it successful. In African societies, the role of coolness is not limited exclusively to musical and artistic contexts, but is a component of a successful society, for just as the master musician must detach himself to understand the social forces at play in a music scene, so Africans must detach themselves from individual roles in daily life to contribute and work for the common good of all in their social life