Quarter 2 – Module 1: Afro-Latin American and Popular Music

TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF AFRICA

 

 African traditional music is mainly functional in nature which is used primarily in ceremonial rites, such as birth, death, marriage, succession, worship, and spirit invocations. Others are work related or social in nature, while many traditional societies view their music as a form of entertainment. 

 

 

Some Types of African Music

 

  1.     Afrobeat – It is a term used to describe the fusion of West African with Black American music.

  2.      Apala (Akpala) - It 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 - It is a popular musical genre from Salvador, Bahia, and Brazil. It fuses the Afro-Caribbean styles of marcha, reggae, and calypso. 

  4.      Jit - It is a hard and fast percussive Zimbabwean dance music played on drums with guitar accompaniment influenced by mbira-based guitar styles. 

  5.     Jive - It is a popular form of South African music featuring a lively and uninhibited variation of the jitterbug, a form of swing dance.  

  6.     Juju - It is a popular music style from Nigeria that relies on the traditional Yoruba rhythms. A drum kit, keyboard, pedal steel guitar, and accordion are used along with the traditional dun-dun (talking drum or squeeze drum).

  7.      Kwassa Kwassa – It is a music style that begun in Zaire in the late 1980s popularized by Kanda Bongo Man. In this dance style, the hips move back and forth while the arms move following the hips.

  8.      Marabi – It is a South African three-chord township music of the 1930s-1960s which evolved into African Jazz. It is characterized by simple chords in varying vamping patterns and repetitive harmony over an extended period.

VOCAL FORMS OF AFRICAN MUSIC

  1. Maracatu – It is the combination of strong rhythms of African percussion instruments and Portuguese melodies. This form of music is being paraded along the streets by up to 100 participants.

  2.  Blues – It is one of the most widely performed musical forms of the late 19th century. The melodies of blues are expressive and soulful. The slaves and their descendants used to sing these as they work in the fields.

  3. Soul – It is a popular music genre of the 1950s and 1960s which originated in the African-American community throughout the United States. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, and often jazz. 

  4. Spiritual – It originated in the Unites States and created by African-American slaves. It is also known as “Negro Spiritual”. It became a means of imparting Christian values and a way of venting their hardships as slaves.

  5. Call and Response – It is likened to a question and answer sequence in human communication. The slaves used to sing these songs while simultaneously doing all their tasks in a day.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF AFRICA 

 

 African music has a very wide range of genres. It includes all the major instrumental genres of western music including strings, winds, and percussion, along with a tremendous variety of specific African musical instruments for solo or ensemble playing.

 

Classification of Traditional African Instruments

  • Idiophones – Sound is produced by the body of the instrument vibrating.

  1. Agogo - It is a single bell or multiple bells and is considered as the oldest samba instrument based on West African Yoruba single or double bells. It has the highest pitch of any of the bateria instruments. 

  2. Shekere – It is a type of gourd and shell megaphone from West Africa, consisting of a dried gourd with beads woven into a net covering the gourd.

  3. Slit/Log drum – It is a hollow percussion instrument. Although known as a drum, it is not a true drum but is an idiophone. It is usually carved or constructed from bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the top.

  4. Atingting Kon (Slit Gong) – It is a hollowed cylinder of wood with a narrow longitudinal opening or slit whose edges are struck to produce a deep, sonorous tone. They are considered to be portraits of ancestors so that when played, it is the voices of awakened ancestors which resonate from their interior chamber.

  5. Balafon – It is a kind of wooden xylophone or percussion idiophone which plays melodic tunes. It has been played in the region since the 1300s. In the 16th century, it became a real art at the royal court of Sikasso/ Mali and was flourishing under the reign of a generous king.

  • B. Membranophones – Sound is produced by the vibration of a tightly stretched membrane.

  1. Body percussion - It refers to African music using their bodies as instruments. Their body can be used to produce sound by clapping their hands, slapping their thighs, pounding their upper arms or chests, or shuffling their feet. Wearing of rattles or bells on their wrists, ankles, arms, and waists enhances their emotional response.

  2. Talking drum – It is used to send messages to announce births, deaths, marriages, sporting events, dances, initiations or war. It is believed that the drums can carry direct messages to the spirits after the death of a loved one.

  3. Djembe - The West African djembe (pronounced zhem-bay) is one of the best-known African drums. It is shaped like a large goblet and played with bare hands. The body is carved from a hollowed trunk and is covered with goat skin.

  • C. Lamellaphone – Sound is produced by the vibration of tongues of metal, wood or other material.

  1. Mbira (Kalimba/ Thumb Piano) – It is a set of plucked tines or keys mounted on a sound board. It is being played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs. They used this instrument to drive away evil spirits since it is believed that it was a vector of communication with ancestors and spirits.

  2. Array Mbira – It is a hand-crafted instrument with a unique harp or bell-like sound. It is a popular traditional instrument of the Shona people in Zimbabwe. It is a radical redesign of the African Mbira and it consists of up to 150 metal tines attached to a wooden board, comprising up to five octaves.

  • D. Chordophones – Sound is produced by the vibration of a string or strings that are stretched between fixed points.

  1. Musical Bow - The Musical bow is the ancestor of all string instruments. It is the oldest and one of the most widely used string instruments of Africa. It consists of a single string attached to each end of a curved stick, similar to a bow and arrow. 

  1. Zeze - The Zeze is an African fiddle played with a bow, a small wooden stick, or plucked with the fingers. It has one or two strings made of steel or bicycle brake wire. It is from Sub-Saharan Africa.

E. Aerophones – Sound is produced through the vibration of air.

  1.   Fulani – It is a type of flute which is 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.

  2. Kudu Horn – It is made from the horn of the kudu antelope. Its sound releases a mellow and warm sound that adds a unique African accent to their music.