Africa

Africa is a very large and

diverse continent with
many musical styles and
cultures across its different
countries and regions.
African Music
 Part of everyday activities- everyone joins in
clapping, singing and dancing to the music.
 Part of rites and ceremonies where it is
performed by specialist master drummers
and court musicians
 Not normally written down but passed on
through oral tradition
 Traditional African music has influenced
contemporary styles such as blues, gospel
and jazz.
African Drums

 The bigger the drum the lower the note

 Played at using hands or sticks or both
 Djembe
 Pronouced ‘Zhem-bay’.
 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.
 It dates back to the 12th
century Mali Empire of West
Africa.
 Talking Drums

 Imitate the rhythms and

intonations of speech
 The drums can be used to
imitate speech patterns or
as signals to make
announcements or
warnings.
 The pitch of the note is
changed by squeezing or
releasing the drum’s
strings with the arm.
 Sakara
 Sakara is a hand held drum played with
a light stick
 Doumbek
 Played with the fingers.
 Dum is the bass tone
played with your right
hand in the middle of
the drum
 Tek is a high ringing
sound played with your
right hand
 Ka is the same sound as
tek, but played with
your left hand
 Gonkogui

 Like an agogo bell. Played with a stick.

Yenca, Shekere, Toke
 Yenca and Shekere is like a maraca shaker.
 Yenca has a sponge plug which can be removed to
change the seeds for different sizes, to give a different
sound.
 Shekere can be hit at the top of the ball to create a deeper
tone.
 Toke or a banana bell is played by striking it with a metal
rod.
 Kora

 A 12-stringed harp-lute
 Xalam
 A plucked lute, very much like the banjo
Non- Percussion
 Flute, Whistles, Oboes and trumpets
 Materials from bamboo, reed, wood, clay,
bones, animal horns or wood.
 Categories

 Drumming
 Choral song (tribal music)
 Instrumental music (xylophone, mbira
and kora)
 Drumming
 Oral tradition- no music notation
 The master drummer stands in the centre of the ensemble
and is responsible for directing the whole performance.
 He will be surrounded by other drummers and percussion
instruments.
 The master drummer will signal to the other players when he
is ready to start, often with a vocal cry followed by a short
rhythmic solo to set the mood or tempo of the music.
 This is called a cue and the other players will then come in
together to play the response.
 the response could be an exact copy or even a different
rhythm entirely.
Structures in Drumming
 Cueing will happen throughout the music and
creates a structure of contrasted sections.
 The music is essentially a series of variations on
rhythmic patterns.
 Master drummer can signal individual players
for a solo. This again will be a variation or
development of the original rhythmic pattern.
 A steady continuous beat, called the ‘timeline’,
is often played by the master drummer.
 The music will usually increase in tension as
the piece progresses, and the tempo and
dynamics will vary from section to section
to provide interest and variety in the music.
It is the responsibility of the master drummer
to control the changes and make sure that
the music never becomes monotonous or
dull.
 Choral
 Music serves as a link to the spirit world.
 Call and response
 Melodies are usually short and simple, repeated XX
 Melodies are usually in a scale of 4-7 tones
 These melodies can be changed at will by other singers-
format into theme and variations
 Polyphony- performers improvise new melodies while
others continue the original melody.
 Texture- singers coming in a different points in a
continuous cycle.
 Harmony- in unison or parallel 4th, 5th, or 8ve. Others
harmonize in 3rds or 4ths
 Features of African
Instrumental Music
 Repetition
 Ostinato/repeated rhythm, melody or chord
pattern
 Improvisation
 Cyclic structures
 Polyphonic textures
 Intertwining melodies
Listening-Induna Indaba,
Chopi people of
Mozambique
 What other instruments, apart from the
xylophones, can you hear?
 What is the main musical features in the
music played by the xylophones?
 Describe the tempo and mood of this music
 How many different sizes of xylophone are in
the ensemble?