Music of Africa

The traditional music of Africa, given the vastness of the continent, is historically
ancient, rich and diverse, with different regions and nations of Africa having many
distinct musical traditions. Music in Africa is very important when it comes to
religion. Songs and music are used in rituals and religious ceremonies, to pass down
stories from generation to generation, as well as to sing and dance to.

Traditional music in most of the continent is passed down orally (or aurally) and is
not written. In sub-Saharan African music traditions, it frequently relies on
percussion instruments of every variety, including xylophones, djembes, drums, and
tone-producing instruments such as thembira or "thumb piano."[1][2]

The music and dance of the African diaspora, formed to varying degrees on African
The lamellophone thumb piano or
musical traditions, include American music and many Caribbean genres, such as
mbira, a popular instrument in the
soca, calypso (see kaiso) and zouk. Latin American music genres such as the rumba, African Great Lakes
conga, bomba, cumbia, salsa and samba were founded on the music of enslaved
Africans, and have in turn influencedAfrican popular music.[1]

Like the music of Asia, India and the Middle East, it is a highly rhythmic music. African music consists of complex rhythmic
patterns, often involving one rhythm played against another to create a polyrhythm. The most common polyrhythm plays three beats
on top of two, like a triplet played against straight notes. Beyond the rhythmic nature of the music, African music differs from
Western music in that the various parts of the music do not necessarily combine in a harmonious fashion. African musicians aim to
express life, in all its aspects, through the medium of sound. Each instrument or part may represent a particular aspect of life, or a
different character; the through-line of each instrument/part matters more than how the different instruments and parts fit together.
African music does not have a written tradition; there is little or no written music to study or analyze. This makes it almost
impossible to notate the music – especially the melodies and harmonies – using the Western staff. There are subtle differences in
pitch and intonation that do not easily translate to Western notation. African music most closely adheres to Western tetratonic (three-
notes), pentatonic (five-note), hexatonic (six-note), and heptatonic (seven-note) scales. Harmonization of the melody is accomplished
by singing in parallel thirds, fourths, or fifths. Another distinguishing form of African music is its call-and-response nature: one voice
or instrument plays a short melodic phrase, and that phrase is echoed by another voice or instrument. The call-and-response nature
extends to the rhythm, where one drum will play a rhythmic pattern, echoed by another drum playing the same pattern. African music
is also highly improvised. A core rhythmic pattern is typically played, with drummers then improvising new patterns over the static
original patterns.

Contents
Music by regions
North Africa and the Horn of Africa
West, Central, Southeast and South Africa
Musical instruments
Relationship to language
Influences on African music
Influence on North American music
Popular music
Music industry
 See also
References
Further reading
External links

Music by regions

North Africa and the Horn of Africa

North Africa is the seat of ancient Egypt and Carthage, civilizations with strong ties to the ancient Near East and which influenced
the ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Eventually, Egypt fell under Persian rule followed by Greek and Roman rule, while Carthage
was later ruled by Romans and Vandals. North Africa was later conquered by the Arabs, who established the region as the Maghreb
of the Arab world.

Like the musical genres of theNile Valley and the Horn of Africa (sky-blue and dark
green region on map),[3] its music has close ties with Middle Eastern music and
utilizes similar melodic modes (maqamat).[4] North African music has a
considerable range, from the music of ancient Egypt to the Berber and the Tuareg
music of the desert nomads. The region's art music has for centuries followed the
outline of Arabic and Andalusian classical music: its popular contemporary genres
include the Algerian Raï.

Aar Maanta performing with his band With these may be grouped the music of Sudan and of the Horn of Africa, including
at Pier Scheveningen Strandweg in the music of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. Somali music is typically
The Hague, Netherlands pentatonic, using five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note)
scale such as the major scale.[3] The music of the Ethiopian highlands uses a
fundamental modal system called qenet, of which there are four main modes: tezeta,
bati, ambassel, and anchihoy.[5] Three additional modes are variations on the above: tezeta minor, bati major, and bati minor.[6]
Some songs take the name of their qenet, such astizita, a song of reminiscence.[5]

West, Central, Southeast and South Africa

The ethnomusicological pioneer Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) observed that the shared rhythmic principles of Sub-Saharan
African music traditionsconstitute one main system.[7] Similarly, master drummer and scholar C. K. Ladzekpo affirms the "profound
[8]
homogeneity" of sub-Saharan African rhythmic principles.

African traditional music is frequently functional in nature. Performances may be long and often involve the participation of the
audience.[9] There are, for example, little different kinds of work songs, songs accompanying childbirth, marriage, hunting and
political activities, music to ward off evil spirits and to pay respects to good spirits, the dead and the ancestors. None of this is
performed outside its intended socialess context and much of it is associated with a particular dance. Some of it, performed by
professional musicians, issacral music or ceremonial and courtly music performed at royal courts.

[7]
Musicologically, Sub-Saharan Africa may be divided into four regions:

The eastern region (light green regions on map)includes the music of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania,
Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe as well as the islands ofMadagascar, the Seychelles, Mauritius and Comor.
Many of these have been influenced byArabic music and also by the music of India, Indonesia and Polynesia,
though the region's indigenous musical traditions are primarily in the mainstream of the sub-Saharan
Niger–Congo-
speaking peoples.
The southern region (brown region on map)includes the music of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana,
Namibia and Angola.
 The central region (dark blue region on map)includes the music of Chad, the Central African Republic, the
Democratic Republic of the Congoand Zambia, including Pygmy music.
West African music (yellow region on map)includes the music of Senegal and the Gambia, of Guinea and Guinea-
Bissau, Sierra Leone and Liberia, of the inland plains ofMali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the coastal nations ofCote
d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of the Congoas well as islands such as
Sao Tome and Principe.
Southern, Central and West Africa are similarly in the broad Sub-Saharan musical tradition. They also have several ancillary
influences, from the Muslim regions of Africa, and in modern times, theAmericas and Western Europe.

West African music has regional variations, with Muslim regions incorporating
0:00 elements of Islamic music and non-Muslim regions more influenced by indigenous
traditions, according to the historian Sylviane Diouf and ethnomusicologist Gerhard
Azande song from the Congo
performed with xylophone. Kubik.[10] According to Diouf, traditional Muslim West African Music incorporates
elements of the Islamic call to prayer (originating from Bilal ibn Rabah, an
Abyssinian African Muslim in the early 7th century), including lyrics praising God,
melody, note changes, "words that seem to quiver and shake" in the vocal chords, dramatic changes in musical scales, and nasal
intonation. According to Kubik, the vocal style of Muslim West African singers "using melisma, wavy intonation, and so forth is a
heritage of that large region of West Africa that had been in contact with the Arabic-Islamic world of the Maghreb since the seventh
and eighth centuries." In terms of instrumentation, Kubik notes that stringed instruments (including ancestors of the banjo) were
est Africans.[10]
traditionally favored by Muslim West Africans, while drumming was traditionally favored by non-Muslim W

Musical instruments
Besides vocalisation, which uses various techniques such as complex hard melisma
and yodel, a wide array of musical instruments are used. African musical
instruments include a wide range of drums, slit gongs, rattles and double bells,
different types of harps, and harp-like instruments such as the Kora and the ngoni, as
well as fiddles, many kinds of xylophone and lamellophone such as the mbira, and
different types of wind instrument like flutes and trumpets. Additionally, string
instruments are also used, with the lute-like oud and Ngoni serving as musical
accompaniment in some areas.

There are five groups of sub-Saharan African musical instruments:

membranophones, chordophones, aerophones, idiophones, and percussion.
Membranophones are the drums, including kettles, clay pots, and barrels.
Chordophones are stringed instruments like harps and fiddles. Aerophones are
another name for wind instruments.These can include flutes and trumpets, similar to
the instruments you hear in American music. Idiophones are rattles and shakers,
while percussion can be sounds like foot-stomping and hand-clapping.[11] Many of
the wooden instruments have shapes or pictures carved out into them to represent
ancestry. Some are decorated with feathers or beads.[12] Algerian musician Abderrahmane
Abdelli playing the oud
Drums used in African traditional music include talking drums, bougarabou and
djembe in West Africa, water drums in Central and West Africa, and the different
types of ngoma drums (or engoma) in Central and Southern Africa. Other percussion instruments include many rattles and shakers,
such as the kosika (kashaka), rain stick, bells and wood sticks. Also, Africa has lots of other types of drums, and lots of flutes, and
lots of stringed and wind instruments.

The playing of polyrhythms is one of the most universal characteristics of Sub-Sarahan music, in contrast to polyphony in Western
music. Several uniquely designed instruments have evolved there over time to facilitate the playing of simultaneous contrasting
rhythms. The mbira, kalimba, Kora, Ngoni and dousn'gouni are examples of these instruments which organize notes not in the usual
single linear order from bass to treble, but in two separated rank arrays which allows additional ease in playing cross rhythms. The
continuing influence of this principle can be seen in the 20th century American instruments the gravi-kora and gravikord which are
new modern examples.

Relationship to language
Many languages spoken in Africa are tonal languages, leading to a close connection between music and language in some local
cultures. These particular communities use vocal sounds and movements with their music as well. 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).[13]

Influences on African music

Historically, several factors have influenced the traditional music of Africa. The
music has been influenced by language, the environment, a variety of cultures,
politics, and population movement, all of which are intermingled. Each African
group evolved in a different area of the continent, which means that they ate
different foods, faced different weather conditions, and came in contact with
different groups than other societies did. Each group moved at different rates and to
different places than others, and thus each was influenced by different people and
circumstances. Furthermore, each society did not necessarily operate under the same
[14] Traditional drummers inGhana
government, which also significantly influenced their music styles.

Influence on North American music

Although African American music is widely known and loved, and much popular North American music emerged from it, White
American music also has strong African roots. The musical traditions of the Irish and Scottish settlers merged with African-American
musical elements to becomeold-time and bluegrass, among other genres.

African music has been a major factor in the shaping of what we know today as Dixieland, the blues and jazz. These styles have all
borrowed from African rhythms and sounds, brought over the Atlantic Ocean by slaves. African music in Sub-Saharan Africa is
mostly upbeat polyrhythmic and joyful, whereas the blues should be viewed as an aesthetic development resulting from the
conditions of slavery in the new world.

On his album Graceland, the American folk musician Paul Simon employs African
bands, rhythms and melodies as a musical backdrop for his own lyrics; especially
Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In the early 1970s, Remi Kabaka, an Afro-rock avant-
garde drummer, laid the initial drum patterns that created the Afro-rock sounds in
bands such as Ginger Baker's Airforce, The Rolling Stones, and Steve Winwood's
Traffic. He continued to work with Winwood, Paul McCartney, and Mick Jagger
throughout the decade.[15]

Certain Sub-Saharan African musical traditions also had a significant influence on Steve Winwood's progressive
such works as Disney's The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, which rock/jazz rock band Traffic often used
blend traditional music with Western music. Songs such as "Circle of Life" and "He West African rhythms

Lives in You" combine of Zulu and English lyrics, as well as traditional African
styles of music with more modern western styles. Additionally, the Disney film
incorporates numerous words from the Bantu Swahili language. The phrase hakuna matata, for example, is an actual Swahili phrase
that does in fact mean "no worries". Characters such as Simba, Kovu, and Zira are also Swahili words, meaning "lion", "scar", and
"hate", respectively.[16][17]
Babatunde Olatunji, Miriam Makeba, and Hugh Masakela were among the earliest African performing artists to develop sizable fan
bases in the United States. Non-commercial African American radio stations promoted African music as part of their cultural and
political missions in the 1960s and 1970s. African music also found eager audiences at Historically Black colleges and universities
[18]
(HBCUs) and appealed particularly to activists in the civil rights and Black Power movements.

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, including blues, jazz and
rumba, derive to varying degrees from musical traditions from Africa, taken to the
Americas by enslaved Africans. These rhythms and sounds have subsequently been
adapted by newer genres like rock and rhythm and blues. Similarly, African popular
music has adopted elements, particularly the musical instruments and recording
studio techniques of western music.
Miriam Makeba during a
One of the most important 20th century singers of South African popular music was performance
Miriam Makeba, who played a key-role, in the 60s, in drawing global audience's
attention to African music and its meaning. Zenzile Miriam Makeba was said to
have been one of the most influential and popular musicians of Africa, beginning in the 1950s. She was a part of three bands,
including one all-woman band and two others. She performed all types of jazz music, traditional African music, and music that was
popular in western Africa at the time. Miriam played a majority of her music in the form of "mbube", which was "a style of vocal
harmony which drew on American jazz, ragtime, and Anglican church hymns, as well as indigenous styles of music." After she
moved to the U.S., problems with Makeba's passport occurred and she had to stay in America, it was said that she put an American
twist on most of her African music. She had a very diverse scale of her vocal range and could hit almost any note.[19] "The Empress
of African Music" died at the age of 76.[20]

The Afro-Euro hybrid style, the Cubanson, has had an influence on certain popular music in Africa. Some of the first guitar bands on
the continent played covers of Cuban songs.[21] The early guitar-based bands from the Congo called their music rumba (although it
was son rather than rumba-based). The Congolese style eventually evolved into what became known as
soukous.

Music industry
For African artists concerts were the one of the fews ways to earn in the industry. Piracy and changing consumer behavior are behind
declining sales of records. Enforcement of copyright law remains weak in Africa. MusikBi is the first legal music download website
of Africa. It does not offer streaming and is limited by internet speeds in Africa.[22] African countries (Kenya, Gambia and South
Africa) have seen protest over airtime given to American music. In Zimbabwe 75% of airtime has to be given to local music.
Protective actions have seen the growth of new genres likeUrban Grooves emerge in Zimbabwe.[23] In 2016 Sony Music launched in
Africa by opening an office in Nigeria, traditionally services of western major international studios have not been available in Africa,
.[24]
the local demand for their music being met through piracy

See also
African heavy metal
African popular music
Victor Kofi Agawu
Paul Berliner
Ian Brennan (music producer)
Clave (rhythm)
Gravikord
International Library of African Music
 Arthur Morris Jones
Ashenafi Kebede
Gerhard Kubik
List of African guitarists
Mine bengidzakiwe
Polyrhythm
Hugh Tracey
Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony
World music

References
1. "Definitions of Styles and Genres: Traditional and Contemporary African Music"(http://www.colum.edu/cbmr/Resourc
es/style-genre-definitions.html). CBMR. Columbia University. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
2. Estrella, Espie. "African music" (http://musiced.about.com/od/historyofmusic/a/africanmusic.htm)
. Music Education.
about.com. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
3. Abdullahi, Mohamed Diriye (2001).Culture and customs of Somalia. Greenwood. pp. 170–171.ISBN 978-0-313-
31333-2.
4. Hoppenstand, Gary (2007).The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Popular Culture, o
Vlume 4. Greenwood Press.
p. 205. ISBN 978-0-313-33255-5.
5. Shelemay, Kay Kaufman (2001).Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John (eds.). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians. viii (2 ed.). London: Macmillan. p. 356.
6. Abatte Barihun, liner notes of the albumRas Deshen, 200.
7. Jones, A. M. (1959). Studies in African Music. London: Oxford University Press. 1978 edition:ISBN 0-19-713512-9.
8. Ladzekpo, C. K. (1996)."Cultural Understanding of Polyrhythm"(http://www.richardhodges.com/ladzekpo/Developm
ental.html). Foundation Course in African Music.
9. GCSE Music – Edexcel Areas of Study, Coordination Group Publications, UK, 2006, p. 36.
10. Curiel, Jonathan (15 August 2004). "Muslim Roots of the Blues"(https://web.archive.org/web/20050905161734/htt
p://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2004%2F08%2F15%2FINGMC85SSK1.DTL) .
SFGate. San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/arch
ive/2004/08/15/INGMC85SSK1.DTL)on 5 September 2005. Retrieved 24 August 2005.
11. http://www.contemporary-african-art.com/african-musical-instruments.html
12. http://www.contemporary-african-art.com/african-musical-instruments.html
13. GCSE Music – Edexcel Areas of Study, Coordination Group Publications, UK, 2006, p. 35, quoting examination
board syllabus.
14. Nketia, J. H. Kwabena.The Music of Africa. New York: Norton and Company, 1974. Print.
15. Azam, O. A. (1993), "The recent influence of African Music on the American music scene and music market".
(http://
azam.org/archives/geocities/www.geocities.com/omarazam/papers/afrMusic.htm)
16. "The Characters." Lion King Pride. 2008. Disney, 1997–2008. Web. 1 February 2010.
17. "The Lion King Pride: The Characters"(http://www.lionking.org/characters/TLK_Character_List.html). Lionking.org.
Retrieved 3 March 2016.
18. "African Sounds in the American South: Community Radio, Historically Black Colleges, and Musical Pan Africanism,"
(https://www.academia.edu/19649475/African_Sounds_in_the_American_South_Community_Radio_Historically_Bla
ck_Colleges_and_Musical_Pan-Africanism)The Journal of Popular Music Studies, December 2015
19. Miriam Makeba#Musical style and themes
20. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/11/miriam-makeba-obituary
21. Roberts, John Storm (1986: cassette)Afro-Cuban Comes Home: The Birth and Growth of Congo Music
, Original
Music.
22. France-Presse, Agence (24 February 2016)."Africa's first music download service launches in Senegal"(https://ww
w.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/24/africas-first-music-download-service-launches-in-senegal)
. The Guardian.
ISSN 0261-3077 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 1 March 2016.
23. "South African artists fume over lack of radio airplay"(http://musicinafrica.net/south-african-artists-fume-over-lack-ra
dio-airplay). musicinafrica.net. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
24. "Sony Music's New Office in Africa Signals aPromising Near-Future for the Continent"(http://www.billboard.com/arti
cles/business/6890795/sony-music-lagos-nigeria-office). Billboard. Retrieved 1 March 2016.

Further reading
Joshua Clark Davis, "African Sounds in the American South: Community Radio, Historically Black Colleges, and
Musical Pan Africanism,"The Journal of Popular Music Studies, December 2015
Graeme Ewens. Africa O-Yé: a Celebration of African Music. 1992, cop. 1991. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-
306-80461-1
Ruth M. Stone, ed. The Garland handbook of African Music2nd ed., 2008. NY & Oxford: Routledge.ISBN 978-0-
415-96102-8 (Abridged paperback edition of vol."Africa", vol. 1 ofThe Garland Encyclopedia of World Musicwith
additional articles)
Rhythms of the Continentfrom the BBC
International Library of African Musicat Rhodes University
Recordings of African music from the British Library's collections

External links
Glossary of African music styles
Historical Notes on African Melodies
Music of Africa at Curlie
Lecture on music and politics in contemporary Mali

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