AFRO-LATIN AND
POPULAR MUSIC
Music of Africa

Historical and Cultural Background of African Music

Singing, dancing, hand clapping, and the beating of
drums are essential to many ceremonies : birth, death,
initiation, marriage and funerals.

Important to religious expression and political events.

It has great influences on global music ( contemporary
American, Latin American, and European styles)

..\Videos\Free YouTube Downloader\Tshwane Traditional Dancers.mp4

..\Videos\Free YouTube Downloader\The Polyphonic Singing of the Aka Pygmies
of Central Africa (1).mp4
Traditional Music of Africa
 Apala
 Musical
genre from Nigeria in the
Yoruba tribal style to wake up the
worshippers after fasting during the
Muslim holy feast of Ramadan.
Instrumentation includes the
rattle(sekere), thumb piano (agidigbo),
bell ( agogo) and two or three talking
drums.
Traditional Music of Africa
 Axe
 Popular
musical genre from Salvador, Bahia
and Brazil. It fuses the Afro-Carribean styles of
the marcha, reggae and calypso.
 Jit
 Hard
and fast Zimbabwean dance music played
on drums with guitar accompaniment.
Traditional Music of Africa
 Jive-
Lively and uninhibited variation of
jitterbug
 Juju
 Popular style from Nigeria that relies on the
traditional Yoruba rhythms.
 Kwassa Kwassa
 Shake your booty dance style begun in Zaire in
the late 80’s.
Music of Africa

Marabi

Characterized by simple chords in varying
vamping patterns and repetitive harmony over an
extended period of time to allow the dances more
time on the dance floor.

Reggae- Jamaican sound dominated by bass and
guitar chops associated with Rastsafarian religion.
Music of Africa
 Salsa-
Afro-Cuban music.
 Samba-
 Soca-
Typifies most Brazilian music
Modern Trinidadian and Tobago pop
music combining “soul” and “calypso”
music.
Music of Africa
 Were-
Muslim music performed often as a
wake-up call for early breakfast and
prayers during Ramadan celebration.
 Zouk-
Fast, carnival-like rhythmic music
from the Creole slang word for “party”
Originating in the Carribean Islands of
Guadalupe and Martinique.
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..\Music\Free YouTube Downloader\Harry Belafonte Day-O ( Banana Boat ).mp3
Vocal Forms of African Music
 1.
Maracatu
Surfaced in the African state of
Pernambuco, combining the strong
rhythms of African percussion
instruments with Portugese melodies. It
uses mostly percussion instruments such
as the alfaia, tarol, and caixa-deGuerra, gongue, agbe, and miniero.
Vocal Forms of African Music
2. Blues
Musical
form of the late 19th century that
has had deep roots in African-American
communities ( “Deep South” of the
United States). Slaves used to sing as
they worked in the cotton and vegetable
fields.
Vocal Forms of African Music
The
form of the blues is characterized by
specific chord progression. The twelvebar blues is the most common form. The
notes of the blues are normally flattened
or gradually bent.
Vocal Forms of African Music
 3.
Soul
It
combines elements of African-American
gospel music, rhythm and blues, and
often jazz. The catchy rhythms are
accompanied by handclaps and
extemporaneous body moves which are
among its important features.
Vocal Forms of African Music
Other
characteristics include call and
response between soloist and the chorus,
and an especially tense and powerful
vocal sound.
Musical Instruments of Africa
 IDIOPHONES
1. Xylophone: Balafon
2. Rattles( made of shells, tin, animal
hoofs, horn, wood, metal, bells, cocoons,
palm kernels, or tortoise shells)
3. Agogo(bell)- has the highest pitch of any
of the bacteria instruments.
Musical Instruments of Africa
4. Rasps- a hand percussion
instrument whose sound is produced
by scraping a group of notched sticks
with another stick, creating a series of
rattling effects.
Musical Instruments of Africa
5. Drums ( slit or log)

Slit drum- hollow percussion instrument,
although known as a drum, it is not a true
drum.
 Long
drum- best known is the West African
djembe, log drum.
Musical Instruments of Africa
6. Atingting Kon (Slit gong)- They were used
to communicate between villages.
Musical Instruments of Africa

B. MEMBRANOPHONES

Examples of these are found in the different
localities:

Entenga ( Ganda)

Dundun (Yoruba)

Atumpan (Akan)

Ngoma (Shona)
Musical Instruments of Africa
B.1 Body Percussion
B.2 Talking Drum
C. LAMELLAPHONE- a set of plucked keys
mounted on a sound board, known by
different names according to the regions such
as mbira, karimba, kisaanj, likembe.
Musical Instruments of Africa
 D.
CHORDOPHONES D1. Musical bow- Earth bow, mouth bow
and the resonator-bow are the principle
types of musical bows.
 D2. Harp
 D3. Lute ( konting, khalam, and the nkoni)
 D4. Zither
Musical Instruments of Africa
 AEROPHONES-
Flutes in various sizes and
shapes ( Fulani flutes ). Panpipes and
Horns( Kudo horns)
Slit drum
Shekere
Agogo
Djembe
Mbira ( Hand piano or Thumb piano )