African music

Some musical genres of Northern Africa, Northeast Africa and the islands off the East African coast share both traditional African and Middle Eastern features.

Distinguishing features

Rhythmic complexity

Sub-Saharan music has as its special feature a rhythmic music that has spread to other regions, especially to the Americans. The unique way of African polyrhythm is the distinguishing coherence of the African rhythmic pattern.

Musical instruments

Besides using the voice, a wide array of musical instruments are used. African musical instruments include a wide array of drums, slit gongs, rattles, double bells as well as melodic instruments like string instruments (musical bows, different types of harps and harp-like instruments like the Kora as well as fiddles), many types of xylophone and lamellophone such as the mbira and different types of wind instrument like flutes and trumpets (spelling of instruments may vary due to literal translation).

Drums used in African traditional music include tama talking drums, bougarabou and djembe in West Africa, water drums in Central and West Africa, and different types of drums are often called engoma or ngoma in Central and Southern Africa.

During colonial times, European instruments such as saxophones, trumpets, and guitars were adopted by many African musicians; their sounds were integrated into the traditional patterns and are widely used in African popular music.

Relationship to language

Many African Languages are tonal languages. In many African cultures, this leads to a close connection between music and language. In singing, the tonal pattern or the text puts some constraints on the melodic patterns. On the other hand, in instrumental music, a native speaker of a language can often perceive a text or texts in the music. This effect also forms the basis of drum languages (talking drums).

Relationship to dance

An African woman, wearing native garments, performs during a visit from participants in the West Africa Training Cruise 1983.

The treatment of "music" and "dance" as separate art forms is a European idea. In many African languages there is no concept corresponding exactly to these terms. For example, in many Bantu languages, there is one concept that might be translated as "song" and another that covers both the semantic fields of the European concepts of "music" and "dance." So there is one word for both music and dance (the exact meaning of the concepts may differ from culture to culture).

For example, in Kiswahili, the word "ngoma" may be translated as "drum," "dance," "dance event," "dance celebration" or "music," depending on the context. Each of these translations is incomplete.

Therefore, from an intra-cultural point of view, African music and African dance must be viewed in very close connection. The classification of the phenomena of this area of culture into "music" and "dance" is foreign to many African cultures.

Traditional music

A lot of African traditional music is or was performed by professional musicians. Some of it is courtly music or sacral music. Therefore, the term "folk" music is not always appropriate. Nevertheless, both the terms "folk music" and "traditional music" can be found in the literature.

African folk music and traditional music is mostly functional in nature. There are, for example, many different kinds of work songs, ceremonial or religious music and courtly music performed at royal courts, but none of these are performed outside of their intended social context.

Music is highly functional in African ethnic life, accompanying birth, marriage, hunting, and even political activities. Similarities with other cultures, particularly Indian and Middle Eastern, can be ascribed primarily to the spread of Islam.

Popular music

African popular music, like African traditional music, is vast and varied. Most contemporary genres of African popular music build on cross-pollination with western popular music. Many genres of popular music like blues, jazz, salsa and rumba derive to varying degrees on musical traditions from Africa, taken to the Americas by African slaves. These rhythms and sounds that have subsequently been adapted by newer genres like rock and rhythm and blues. Likewise, African popular music has adopted elements, particularly the musical instruments and recording studio techniques of western music.

Afropop

Afropop or Afro Pop is a term sometimes used to refer to contemporary African pop music. The term does not refer to a specific style or sound, but is used as a general term to describe African popular music.

Genres

Genres of popular African Music include:

Afrobeat Apala Benga Bikutsi Cape Jazz Fuji music Highlife Isicathamiya

Jit Jùjú Kwaito Kwela Makossa Mbalax Mbaqanga Mbube

Morna Palm-wine Raï Rumba Sakara Soukous/Congo/Lingala Taarab

Influence in American music

African music has been a major factor in the shaping of what we know today as blues and jazz. These styles have all, to some extent, borrowed from African rhythms and sounds, brought over the Atlantic ocean by slaves. Paul Simon, on his album "Graceland" has used African bands and music along with his own lyrics.

See also

• Paul Berliner
• Gerhard Kubik
• International Library of African Music
• Ashenafi Kebede
• Robert Ayitee

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Tracey, Hugh. (1961). The evolution of African music and its function in the present day. Johannesburg: Institute for the Study of Man in Africa.
• Lomax, Alan: Folk song style and culture. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Publication No. 88, Washingthon 1968.
• Lomax, Alan, Bertenieff, Irmgaard, Paulay, Forrestine: Choreometrics: a method for the study or cross-cultural pattern in film. Research Film, Vol 6, No. 6, Göttingen 1969.
• Koetting, James T (1992). "Africa/Ghana", Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples, Second edition, New York: Schirmer Books, 67-104. ISBN 0-02-872602-2. 

External links

All links retrieved September 19, 2007.

• AfricanMusic.org
• Diagram of African Music
• Afropop.org - African music radio program on public radio
• A glossary of African music styles
• International Library of African Music at Rhodes University Department of Music And Musicology
• Rhythms of the Continent (BBC)
• African Drumming Festivals and Ceremonies
• Some African musical instruments
• Rwandan Musician Docta Gasaro

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