MUSIC Q2 LT1: African Music


  • Spiritual Music

    • Definition: A kind of church singing combining elements of hymn, jazz, and black American religious folk songs.

    • Characteristics: Warmth, emotion, gospel choirs, audience involvement (stomping, clapping, dancing).

  • Gospel Music

    • Time Period: Twentieth century.

    • Roots: True folk songs reflecting happiness and sadness.

    • Emotions: Mirrors deep emotions of the American Negro. Simple, repetitive rhythms.

  • Blues Music

    • Types:

      • Country Blues: Quiet and meditatively sung.

      • City Blues: Harsher and more noisily sung.

    • Roots: Twentieth century, rooted in true folk songs.

  • Balafon (Idiophones)

    • Definition: West African xylophone.

    • Structure: Pitched percussion instrument with bars made from logs or bamboo.

  • Rattles (Idiophones)

    • Definition: Vessels made of various materials creating sounds when they hit each other.

    • Materials: Seashells, tin, basketry, animal hoofs, horn, wood, metal, cocoons, palm kernel, or tortoise shells.

  • Agogo (Idiophones)

    • Definition: Single or multiple bells originating in Traditional Yoruba music and Samba Bateria ensembles.

  • Atingting Kon (Idiophones)

    • Definition: Slit gongs used for communication between villages. Carved to resemble ancestors with a slit opening at the bottom.

  • Slit Drum (Idiophones)

    • Definition: Hollow percussion instrument carved or constructed from bamboo or wood with one or more slits in the top.

  • Djembe (Idiophones)

    • Description: One of the best-known African drums. Shaped like a large goblet and played with bare hands.

  • Shekere (Idiophones)

    • Definition: Type of gourd and shell megaphone from West Africa, consisting of a dried gourd with beads woven into a net covering.

  • Rasp (Idiophones)

    • Definition: Hand percussion instrument producing sound by scraping notches on a piece of wood with a stick.

  • Body Percussion (Membranophones)

    • Usage: Africans use their bodies as musical instruments (clapping, slapping of thighs, pounding of upper arms or chest, shuffle, and stamp of feet).

  • Talking Drums (Membranophones)

    • Usage: Used to send messages for various occasions, including births, deaths, marriages, events, dances, invitations, or war.

  • Mbira (Lamellaphones)

    • Description: Thumb piano or finger xylophone originating from Zimbabwe, used in ceremonial functions, weddings, funerals, and religious purposes.

  • Musical Bow (Chordophones)

    • Description: Ancestor of all string instruments. Types include mouth bow, resonator bow, and earth bow.

  • Lute (Chordophones)

    • Origin: From the Arabic states, shaped like the modern guitar and played similarly.

  • Kora (Chordophones)

    • Description: Africa's most sophisticated harp, featuring a body made from a gourd or calabash, held upright and played with fingers.

  • Zither (Chordophones)

    • Definition: Stringed instrument with varying sizes and shapes, with strings stretched along its body.

  • Zeze (Chordophones)

    • Description: Fiddle from Sub-Saharan Africa played with a bow, a small wooden stick, or plucked with the fingers.

  • Flutes (Aerophones)

    • Various types and origins: Anteben (bamboo flute from Ghana), Fulani (traditional flute of the Fulani people, Guinea), Panpipes (found throughout Africa).

  • Horns (Aerophones)

    • Materials: Commonly made from elephant tusks and animal horns.

  • Kudu Horn (Aerophones)

    • Sound: Releases a mellow and warm sound, adding a unique African accent to the music.

  • Reed Pipes (Aerophones)

    • Example: Rhaita or Ghaita, an oboe-like double reed instrument from Northwest Africa.

  • Whistles (Aerophones)

    • Construction: Made of wood, metal, or animal horns. Short pieces of horn serve as whistles, often used ceremonially.

  • Trumpets (Aerophones)

    • Usage: Ceremonial in nature, used to announce the arrival or departure of important guests.