MUSIC OF AFRICA sources of influence have produced such varied styles and genres as

the following:
Music has always been an important part of the daily life of the African
people, whether for work, religion, ceremonies, or even communication,
Singing, dancing, hand clapping and the beating of drums are essential to Traditional Music of Africa
many African ceremonies, including those for birth, death, initiation
marriage, and funerals. Music and dance are also important to religious Afrobeat - Afrobeat is a term used to describe the fusion of West
expression and political events African with black American music

Because of the wide influence of African music on global music having Apala (Akpala) - Apala is a musical genre from Nigeria in the Yoruba
permeated contemporary American, Latin American, and European styles tribal style, used to wake up the worshippers after fasting during the
there has been a growing interest in its own cultural heritage and musical Muslim holy feast of Ramadan. Percussion instrumentation includes
sources. Particular subjects of research are its rhythmic structures and the rattle (sekere), thumb piano (agidigbo), bell (agogo), and two or
spiritual characteristics that have led to the birth of jazz forms three talking drums

African music is a collective result of the cultural and musical diversity of the Axe - Axe is a popular musical genre from Salvador, Bahia, and
more than 50 ethnic divisions of the continent. The organization of this vast Brazil. It fuses the Afro-Caribbean styles of the marcha, reggae, and
continent is a colonial legacy from European rule of the different nations up calypso, and is played by carnival bands.
to the end of the 19th century, enabling it to incorporate its music with
language, environment, political developments, immigration, and cultural
Jit - Jit is a hard and fast percussive Zimbabwean dance music played
diversity. on drums with guitar accompaniment, influenced by mbira-based
guitar styles.
Jive - Jive is a popular form of South African music featuring a lively
TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF AFRICA and uninhibited variation of the jitterbug, a form of swing dance.
African traditional music is largely functional in nature, used primarily in Kwassa kwassa - Kwassa kwassa is a dance style begun in Zaire
ceremonial rites, such as birth, death, marriage, succession, worship, and in the late 1980s, popularized by Kanda Bongo Man. In this dance
spirit invocations. Others are work related or social in nature, while many style, the hips move back and forth while the arms follow the hip
traditional societies view their music as entertainment. movements
Marabi - Marabi is a South African three-chord township music of
African music has a basically interlocking structural format, due mainly to its the 1930s-1960s which evolved into African jazz. It makes use of a
overlapping and dense texture as well as its rhythmic complexity, Its many keyboard style that combines American jazz, ragtime, and blues with
African roots. It is characterized by simple chords in varying vamping
patterns and repetitive harmony over an extended period of time to Zouk - Zouk is fast, carnival-like rhythmic music, from the Creole
allow the dancers more time on the dance floor. slang word for “party.” It originated in the Caribbean Islands of
Guadaloupe and Martinique and was popularized in the 1980s. It has
a pulsating beat supplied by the gwo ka and tambour bele drums, a
Latin American Music Influence By African tibwa rhythmic pattern played on the rim of the snare drum, a rhythm
Music guitar, a horn section, and keyboard synthesizers.
Reggae - Reggae is a Jamaican musical style that was strongly Vocal Forms Of African Music
influenced by the island’s traditional mento music, as well as by
calypso, African music, American jazz, and rhythm and blues. One of Maracatu
reggae’s most distinctive qualities is its offbeat rhythm and staccato Maracatu first surfaced in the African state of Pernambuco.
chords. Combining the strong rhythms of African percussion instruments with
Portuguese melodies. The maracatu groups were called nacoes
Salsa - Salsa music is Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Colombian dance (nations) who paraded with a drumming ensemble numbering up to
music. It comprises various musical genres including the Cuban son 100, accompanied by a singer, a chorus, and a coterie of dancers
montuno, guaracha, chachacha, mambo, and bolero.
The maracatu uses mostly percussion Instruments such as the alfaia,
Samba - Samba is a Brazilian musical genre and dance style. Its tarol, caixa-de-guerra, gongue, agbe, and miniero.
roots can be traced to Africa via the West African slave trade and
African religious traditions particularly in Angola and the Congo. The alfaia is a large wooden drum that is rope-tuned, complemented
Samba is the basic underlying rhythm that typifies most Brazilian by the tarol which is a shallow snare drum, and the caixa-de-guerra
music. It has a lively and rhythmical beat with three steps to every which is a war-like snare. Providing the clanging sound is the gongue,
bar, making the samba feel like a timed dance. There is a set of a metal cowbell. The shakers are represented by the agbe, a gourd
dances rather than a single dance that define the samba dancing shaker covered by beads, and the mintero
scene in Brazil. Thus, no dance can be claimed with certainty as the Blues
“original” samba style. The blues is a musical form of the late 19 th century that had deep
Soca -Soca is also known as the “soul of calypso.” It originated as a roots in African-American communities. These communities were
fusion of calypso with Indian rhythms, thus combining the musical located in the so-called “Deep South” of the United States, where the
traditions of the two major ethnic groups of Trinidad and Tobago. It is slaves and their descendants used to sing as they worked in the
a modern Trinidadian and Tobagonian pop music combining soul and cotton and vegetable fields.
calypso music The notes of the blues create an expressive and soulful sound. The
Were - Were is Muslim music often performed as a wake-up call for feelings that are evoked are normally associated with misfortune, lost
early breakfast and prayers during Ramadan celebrations Relying on love, frustration, or loneliness, From extreme joy to deep sadness, the
pre-arranged music, it fuses the African and European music styles blues can communicate various emotions more effectively than other
musical forms.
Noted performers of the blues genre are Ray Charles, James Brown, passages, while the music utilizes deep bass voices. The vocal
Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, and John Lee Hooker, as well as B.B. inflections, African accents, and dramatic changes in dynamics add to
King, Bo Diddley, Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie the musical interest and effectiveness of the singing Examples of
Musselwhite, Blues Traveler, Jimmie Vaughan, and Jeff Baxter. spiritual music are the following: We are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.
Examples of blues music are the following: Early Mornin’, A House is Rock My Soul, When the Saints Go Marching In, and Peace Be Still
Not a Home, and Billie’s Blues.

Soul
Call and Response
Soul music was a popular music genre of the 1950s and 1960s. It
originated in the United States, and combined elements of African-
American gospel music, rhythm and blues, and often jazz. The catchy
The call and response method is a succession of two distinct musical
rhythms are accompanied by handclaps and extemporaneous body
phrases usually rendered by different musicians, where the second
moves which are among its important features. Other characteristics
phrase acts as a direct commentary on or response to the first. Much
include “call and response” between the soloist and the chorus, and
like the question and answer sequence in human communication, it
an especially intense and powerful vocal sound.
also forms a strong resemblance to the verse-chorus form in many
Some important innovators whose recordings in the 1950s vocal compositions. Examples of call and response songs are the
contributed to the emergence of soul music include Clyde McPhatter, following: Mannish Boy, one of the signature songs by Muddy Waters,
Hank Ballard, and Etta James, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Otis School Day – Ring Ring Goes the Bell by Chuck Berry, and Call Me
Redding. And James Brown were equally influential. Brown is known Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen
as the “Godfather of Soul,” while Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson are
also often acknowledged as “soul forefathers.”
Soul music continued to be popular into the 1970s. Examples of soul
hits from that era are: Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Ben, All I
Could Do Was Cry, Soul to Soul, and Betcha by Golly Wow.

Spiritual
The term spiritual is normally associated with a deeply religious
person. In music however, it refers to a song form, known as the
“Negro spiritual,” sung by African slaves in America who became
enslaved by its white communities. This musical form became their
outlet to express their loneliness and anger, and was a result of the
interaction of music and religion from Africa with that of America. The
texts are mainly religious, sometimes taken from Biblical psalms or
 of wood to resemble ancestors and had a sit opening at the bottom.
In certain cases, their sound could carry for miles through the forest
and across water to neighboring islands. Gong “languages,”
composed of a series of beats and pauses, made it possible to send
highly specific messages.
5. Slit drum - The slit drum is a hollow percussion instrument
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF AFRICA
Although referred to as a drum, it is more of an idiophone.
African music incorporate all the major instrumental genres of Western music,
including A s and percussion, along with a tremendous variety of specific African It is usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box
musical strings, winds. Instruments for solo or ensemble playing with one or more slits in the top. Most slit drums have one slit,
through two and three slits tout into the shape of an “H”) occur If the
Classification of Traditional African Instruments
resultant tongues are different in width or thickness, the drum can
A.Idiophones produce two different pitches
These are percussion instruments that are either struck with a mallet 6. Djembe - The West African djembe (pronounced zhem bay) is one
or against one another. of the best-known African drums. It is shaped like a large goblet and
played with bare hands. The body is carved from a hollowed trunk
1. Balafon - The balafon is a West African xylophone. It is a pitched and is covered with goatskin
percussion instrument with bars made from logs or bamboo
Log drums come in different shapes and sizes as well as tubular
The xylophone is originally an Asian instrument that follows the
drums, bowl-shaped drums, and friction drums. Some lime one head
structure of a piano. From Asia, it went to Africa, then to the
while others have two. The bigger the drum, the lower the tone or
Americas and Europe.
pitch. The more tension in the drum head, the higher the tone
2. Rattles - Rattles are vessels made of seashells, tin. Basketry, animal produced. These drums are played using hands or sticks or both,
hoofs, horn, wood, metal, cocoons, palm kernels, or tortoise shells. while being held under the armpit or with a sling. They sometimes
These may range from single to several objects that are either joined have rattling metal jingles attached to the outside, or seeds and beads
or suspended to create sound as they hit each other placed inside the drum.
3. Agogo - The agogo is a single bell or multiple bells that had its 7. Shekere - The shekere is a type of gourd and shell megaphone from
origins in traditional Yoruba music as well as in the samba bateria West Africa, consisting of a dried gourd with beads woven into a net
(percussion) ensembles. The agogo may be called “the oldest samba covering the gourd. The agbe is another dried gourd with cowrie
instrument based on West African Yoruba single or double bells.” It shells or beads usually strung with white cotton thread. The axatse is
has the highest pitch among the bateria instruments. a small gourd, held by the neck and placed between hand and leg.
4 Atingting kon - The atingting kon are slit gongs used as 8. Rasp - A rasp, or scraper, is a hand percussion instrument whose
communication between villages. Traditionally, they were carved out sound is produced by scraping the notches on a piece of wood
(sometimes elaborately caved) with a stick, creating a series of It is also believed that these drums can carry direct messages to the
rattling effects. spirits after the death of a loved one. However, learning to play
messages on drums is extremely difficult, resulting in its waning
popularity
C.Lamellaphone
B.Membranophones
One of the most popular African percussion instruments is the
Membranophones are instruments, usually drums, which have lamellaphone, which is a set of plucked tongues or keys mounted on a
vibrating animal membranes. Their shapes may be conical, cylindrical, sound board. It is known by different names according to the regions
barrel, hour-glass, globular, or kettle, and are played with sticks, such as mbira, karımba kisaanj, and likembe.
hands, or a combination of both. African drums are usually carved
The mbira (thumb piano or finger xylophone) is from Zimbabwe that
from a single wooden log, and may also be made from ceramics,
is used throughout the continent. It consists of a wooden board with
gourds, tin cans, and oil drums, while some are constructed with
attached metal tines (a series of wooden, metal, or rattan tongues) of
wooden staves and hoops. Examples from different localities are:
graduated sizes. It may also have an added resonator like a calabash
entenga (Ganda), dundun (Yoruba), atumpan (Akan), and ngoma
(gourd) to increase its volume. It is played by holding the instrument
(Shona)
while plucking the tines with the thumbs, producing a soft plucked
sound,

1. Body percussion – African people frequently use their bodies An important feature of mbira music is its chiming, cyclical nature,
as musical instruments. Aside from using their voices since with each new repetition varying slightly from the last. It is used in
many of them are superb singers they also clap their hands, ceremonial functions such as weddings, funerals, and in honor of
slap their thighs, pound their upper arms or chests, or shuffle significant people, as well as for religious purposes, to call on spirits
and stomp their feet. and seek their advice.

This body percussion creates action or movement that combines D. Chordophones

dance and music. Moreover, the wearing of rattles or bells on their
Chordophones are instruments which produce sounds from vibrations
wrists, ankles, arms, and waists enhances the total effect.
of strings. These includes bows, harps, lutes, zithers, and lyres of
1. Talking drum – The talking drum is used to send messages to various sizes.
announce births, deaths, marriages, sporting events, dances,
1. Lute – The lute, originating from the Arabic states, is shaped like
initiation, or war. Sometimes, the messages may even contain
the modern guitar and played in similar fashion. It has a resonating
gossip or jokes. An example of the talking drum is the luna.
body, a neck, and one or more strings which stretch across the length
of its body and neck. The player tunes the strings by tightening or
loosening the pegs at the top of the lute’s neck. West African plucked about two feet away from the wooden strip. The cord, fastened from
lutes include the konting, khalam, and the nkoni. the wooden strip to the gourd, is stretched tightly into the shape of a
bow. The player holds the instrument on the ground by placing one
leg across the log between the gourd and the wooden strip.
2.Musical bow - The musical bow is the ancestor of all string
5. Kora - The kora is Africa’s most sophisticated harp, while also
instruments. It is the oldest and one of the most widely used string
having features similar to a lute. Its body is made from a gourd or
instruments of Africa. The principal types are the mouth bow, the
calabash. A support for the bridge is set across the opening and
resonator bow, and the earth bow.
covered with a skin that is held in place with studs. The leather rings
around the neck are used to tighten the 21 strings that give the
instrument a range of over three octaves. The kora is held upright and
The mouth bow consists of a single string attached to each end of a
played with the fingers.
curved stick, similar to a bow and arrow. The string is held in the
mouth and the string is either plucked or struck with another stick,
producing a percussive yet delicate sound.
4. Zither - The zither is a stringed instrument with varying sizes and
shapes whose strings are stretched along its body. Among the types
of African zither are the raft or / Inanga zither from Burundi, the
The resonator bow is a form of the mouth bow with a calabash
tubular or Valiha zither from Malagası, and the harp Mvet zither from
resonator attached at its mid-point. In different parts of Africa, this
Cameroon.
bow is known by other names. In Rwanda, it is known as munahi, in
Dahomey, tiepore, and in Madagascar, jejolava 5. Zeze – The zeze is a fiddle from Sub-Saharan Africa played with a
bow, a small wooden stick, or plucked with the fingers. It has one or
two strings, made of steel or bicycle brake wire. It is also known by
The earth bow-also called ground bow or pit harp-consists of a the names tzetze or dzendze, izeze and endingidi; and in Madagascar
flexible pole which is planted in the ground. A string is attached to it is called lokanga voatavo.
one end of the pole, while the other end of the string is attached to a
stone, a piece of bark, or a small piece of wood which is then planted
in a hole dug in the ground, thus bending the pole. The hole in the
ground acts as a resonator and the sound comes from under the
D.Aerophones
earth. This type of bow is often used in ceremonies involving magic.
Aerophones are musical instruments that produce sound primarily by
trapping or enclosing a body or column of air and causing it to
A more advanced form of ground bow Is made from a log, half a vibrate. The air vibrates without the use of strings or membranes, and
gourd, a flat piece of wood, and cord. The wooden strip is driven without the vibration of the instrument itself thus adding to the
firmly into one end of the log and the half gourd is fastened to the log quality of sound produced. Flutes in various sizes and shapes,
panpipes, horns, whistles, gourd and shell megaphones, and animal
horn and wooden trumpets fall under this category.

2.Reed pipes – These are single-reed pipes made from hollow guinea
1.Flutes - Flutes are widely used throughout Africa. They are usually corn o sorghum stems, where the reed is a flap partially cut from the
fashioned from a single tube closed at one end and blown, while stem near one end It is the vibration of this reed that causes the air
being held either vertically or side-blown. Atenteben is a bamboo within the hollow instrument to create the sound.
flute from Ghana. It is played vertically like the European recorder.
Fulani is the traditional flute of the Fulani people. It is also known as
fula or tambin which is the traditional Fulani flute of the Fouta Djalon There are also cone-shaped double-reed instruments similar to the
highlands of Guinea. oboe or shawm. The most familiar is the rhaita or ghaita, an oboe-like
double reed instrument from northwest Africa. It is one of the
Panpipes consist of cane pipes of different lengths tied in a row or in a
primary instruments used by traditional music ensembles from
bundle held together by wax or a cord, and generally closed at the
Morocco. The rhaita was likewise featured in the Lord of the Rings
bottom. They are blown across the top, each producing a different
soundtrack, specifically in the Mordor theme.
note.

4. Whistles – Whistles are found throughout the continent and may

2.Horns - Horns and trumpets are found almost everywhere in Africa,
be made of wood or other materials. Short pieces of horn serve as
and are commonly made from elephant tusks and animal horms. With
whistles, often with a short tube inserted into the mouthpiece. Clay
their varied attractive shapes, these instruments may be either end-
can be molded into whistles of many shapes and forms and then
blown or side-blown. They vary in range and size from the small signal
baked. Pottery whistles are sometimes shaped in the form of a head,
whistle of the southern cattle herders to the large ivory horns of the
similar to the Aztec whistles of Central America and Mexico.
tribal chiefs of the interior. The wooden trumpet may be simple or
artistically carved, sometimes resembling a crocodile’s head.
Kudu horn – This is one type of horn made from the horn of the kudu 5. Trumpets-African trumpets are made of wood, metal, animal
antelope. It releases a mellow and warm sound that adds a unique horns, elephant tusks, and gourds, ornamented with snake or
African accent to the music. crocodile skin or the hide of zebras, leopards, and other animals.
This instrument, which comes as a set of horns, reflects the mix of
musical traditions in Africa. Today, the kudu horn is also used in
They are mostly ceremonial in nature, often used to announce the
football matches, where fans blow on to cheer for their favorite
arrival or departure of important guests In religion and witchcraft,
teams.
some tribes believe in the magical powers of trumpets to frighten
away evil spirits, cure diseases, and protect warriors and hunters
from harm.