Music 10

African
Traditional
Music

Q1 W1
Music has always been an important part in
the daily life of the Africans, whether for work,
religion, ceremonies, or even communication.
Singing, dancing, hand clapping and the
beating of drums are essential to many African
ceremonies, including those for birth, death,
initiation, marriage, and funerals. Music and
dance are also important to religious
expression and political events.
Traditional Music of Africa
1. Afrobeat - Afrobeat is a term used to describe the
fusion of West African with black American music

2. Apala (Akpala) - Apala is a musical genre from

Nigeria in the Yoruba tribal style to wake up the
worshippers after fasting during the Muslim holy feast of
Ramadan.

3. Axe - is a popular musical genre from Salvador,

Bahia, and Brazil. It fuses the AfroCaribbean styles of
the marcha, reggae, and calypso.
4. Jit - is a hard and fast percussive Zimbabwean dance
music played on drums with guitar accompaniment,
influenced by mbira-based guitar styles.

5. Jive - is a popular form of South African music

featuring a lively and uninhibited variation of the
jitterbug, a form of swing dance.

6. Kwassa Kwassa - is a dance style begun in Zaire in

the late 1980‟s, popularized by Kanda Bongo Man. In
this dance style, the hips move back and forth while the
arms move following the hips.
Latin-American Music Influenced by African Music
1. Reggae - is a Jamaican sound dominated by bass
guitar and drums. It refers to a particular music style that
was strongly influenced by traditional mento and calypso
music, as well as American jazz, and rhythm and blues.
2. Salsa - music is Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Colombian
dance music. It comprises various musical genres
including the Cuban son montuno, guaracha, chachacha,
mambo and bolero.
3. Samba - It is a lively and rhythmical dance and music
with three steps to every bar, making the Samba feel like
a timed dance.
4. Soca - is a modern Trinidadian and Tobago
pop music combining “soul” and “calypso” music.
5. Were - This is Muslim music performed often
as a wake-up call for early breakfast and prayers
during Ramadan celebrations.
6. Zouk - is fast, carnival-like rhythmic music,
from the Creole slang word for „party,‟
originating in the Carribean Islands of
Guadaloupe and Martinique and popularized in
the 1980‟s.
Vocal Forms of African Music
1. Maracatu - first surfaced in the African state of Pernambuco, combining the strong rhythms of African
percussion instruments with Portuguese melodies.

2. Blues - is a musical form of the late 19th century that has had deep roots in African- American
communities. The notes of the blues create an expressive and soulful sound.

3. Soul - is a popular music genre of the 1950‟s and 1960‟s. It combines elements of African-American
gospel music, rhythm and blues, and often jazz.

4. Spiritual - the term spiritual, normally associated with a deeply religious person, refers here to a
Negro-spiritual, a song form by African migrants to America who became enslaved by its white
communities. This musical form became their outlet to vent their loneliness and anger, and is a result of
the interaction of music and religion from Africa with that of America.

5. Call and Response - the call and response method is a succession of two distinct musical phrases
usually rendered by different musicians, where the second phrase acts as a direct commentary on or
response to the first.
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music
A. Idiophones - these are percussion instruments that are either struck with a
mallet or against one another.
Balafon - the balafon is a West African
xylophone. It is a pitched percussion instrument
with bars made from logs or bamboo

Agogo - the agogo is a single bell or multiple

bells that had its origins in traditional Yoruba
music and also in the samba baterias
(percussion) ensembles.
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music

Rattles - are made of seashells, tin,

basketry, animal hoofs, horn, wood,
metal bells, cocoons, palm kernels,
or tortoise shells.

Slit drum - is a hollow percussion

instrument. It is usually carved or
constructed from bamboo or wood into
a box with one or more slits in the top.
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music

Atingting Kon - are slit gongs used to

communicate between villages. They were
carved out of wood to resemble
ancestors and had a “slit opening” at the
bottom.

Djembe - is one of the best-known African

drums is. It is shaped like a large goblet and
played with bare hands. The body is carved
from a hollowed trunk and is covered in
goat skin.
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music

Optional Listening Examples:

Balafon : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXXhp_bZvck
Agogo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ78wSm9SUs
Rattles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnE50Ho7RYM
Djembe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMs3LTtgwY8
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music
B. Membranophones - are instruments which have vibrating animal membranes used in drums.
Their shapes may be conical, cylindrical, barrel, hour-glass, globular, or kettle, and are played with
sticks, hands, or a combination of both.
Body percussion - Africans frequently use their bodies
as musical instruments. Aside from their voices, where
many of them are superb singers, the body also serves
as a drum as people clap their hands, slap their
thighs, pound their upper arms or chests, or shuffle
their feet.

Talking drum - The talking drum is used to send

messages to announce births, deaths, marriages,
sporting events, dances, initiation, or war.
Sometimes it may also contain gossip or jokes.
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music
C. Lamellaphones - are set of plucked tongues or keys mounted on a
sound board.

Mbira - It consists of a wooden board

with attached staggered metal tines (a
series of wooden, metal, or rattan
tongues), plus an additional resonator to
increase its volume.
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music
D. Chordophones - are instruments which produce sounds from the vibration
of strings. These include bows, harps, lutes, zithers, and lyres of various sizes.
Musical Bow - It consists of a single string
attached to each end of a curved stick, similar to
a bow and arrow. The string is either plucked or
struck with another stick, producing a
percussive yet delicate sound.

The Lute, originating from the Arabic states, is

shaped like the modern guitar and played in
similar fashion. It has a resonating body, a neck,
and one or more strings which stretch across
the length of its body and neck.
Classification of Traditional African Instrumental Music

Kora - is Africa's most sophisticated harp, while

also having features similar to a lute. Its body is
made from a gourd or calabash. A support for
the bridge is set across the opening
and 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.
E. Aerophones - are instruments which are produced initially by trapped
vibrating air columns or which enclose a body of vibrating air.

Flutes - Flutes are widely used throughout

Africa and either vertical or side-blown. They
are usually fashioned from a single tube closed
at one end and blown like a bottle.

Horns - Horns and trumpets, found almost everywhere in

Africa, are commonly made from elephant tusks and animal
horns. With their varied attractive shapes, these instruments
are end-blown or side-blown and range in size from the
small signal whistle of the southern cattle herders to the
large ivory horns of the tribal chiefs of the interior.