Music of Africa

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Comment by lola on February 14th, 2013 at 12:23 pm

this was a very good website it helps alot and itis so much better than wikipidia

Comment by Audrey Frykenberg on October 28th, 2015 at 3:47 pm

This website is inaccurate. The picture shown is a pedal organ not a piano. It has pedals for the bellows and stops to change the sounds.

Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on October 28th, 2015 at 5:31 pm

Thank you, Audrey, for your feedback. It does appear that the caption on that image is inaccurate. The image has been removed.

Comment by Heather on November 25th, 2021 at 2:56 am

Under the section ‘Musical Instruments’ you have said “African percussion instruments can be divided into two broad categories: Instruments with rhythmic functions and instruments with melodic functions”. The article then goes on to categorise the kora, a string instrument, as a melodic percussive instrument. Your definition of percussion instruments under your article on musical instruments states that a percussion instrument “create[s] sound by being struck” You then go on to define “two basic groupings: instruments of indefinite pitch (snare drum, cymbals, tambourine) and instruments of definite pitch (timpani, chimes, xylophone, marimba, glockenspiel)”. Under the same article a string instrument is defined as an instrument that generates sound “when the string is plucked, strummed, slapped, etc.” How is that a harp instrument such as the kora, that is plucked and strummed when played, is being defined as a percussion instrument? Defining melodic African instruments as percussive, when they are not, plays into the idea that all African instruments are percussion based, which is not true. Yes the musical bow is struck and could therefore be defined as a percussion instrument, but fiddles are often bowed, how is that then categorised under something that is defined as being ‘struck’?

Comment by Jennifer Tanabe on November 26th, 2021 at 11:52 am

Thank you, Heather, for your comment.
I checked the article, and indeed the text is confusing. Not all African instruments are percussion instruments. The text will be revised to clarify that the two types of instruments are those with with rhythmic functions and those with melodic functions.
Thank you again for taking the time to help make NWE a valuable information resource.