The music of Central
Africa
By: Katie Cothran and Nick
O’neal
Countries , people
groups and languages....
Countries in Central Africa and languages spoken (countries listed in picture, and
languages spoken are included)
People groups in Central Africa are:
Aka Baka ,Chewa ,Chokwe, Efe, Kongo, Lingala, Luba, Mbdundu, Mongo,
Ovimbundu, Sua and Zande.
Musicians, musical styles and
instruments played in central
Africa.
Musicians:
• Fela Kuti – song : Simbon
• Barthe’lemy Boganda- song: La renaissance (national anthem of
Central Africa)
• Joseph Kabasele (Le Grand Kallé) considered the father of modern
Congolese music- song: independence Cha Cha (independence song,
he wrote and performed for his country, and has performed during
traditional celebrations, or during festive occasions.
Musical Styles:
• Congolese rumba (descendent of the kiKongo dance nkumba)
• Soukous also known as afrobeat
• Rumba (Cuban infused music)
• Jazz (used widely with creation of songs, spreading into many
different musical groups.
• Rwanda Folk music ( used at religious ceremonies/performed in the
court rooms, for kings and queens.)
Central African instruments:
• Hindewhu – instrument from central african republic
•
Nose flute-instrument from congo
•
Umuduri- instrument from Rwanda, and many other countries in
other continents.
Musical Analysis
Music al Style: Folk music (Rwandan)
Music Group: Imena
Song chosen: Sauti za Busara. What makes this song interesting is that it
isn’t only one song, it is many songs put together but Rwandan
musicians who take part in the Sauti za Busara festival which include
other African artists. Due to there not being a specific song title it is
named ‘ Sauti za Busara’, therefore this is the particular title given
for the music throughout the festival. These songs are sung by many
different musical groups, more popularly known groups such as
Imena. During my description of the ‘Sauti za Busara I will be
focusing on the music of the Rwandan musicians/musical group
Imena.
Instrumentation:
Ingoma, ikembe, iningiri, umuduri, inanga. These are all traditional
Rwanda instruments, which are used during this festival by Rwandan
Artists.
Melodies:
Melodies are used throughout this festival as a emotional and creative
addition, engaging the audience, but also putting in symbolic
structure for the lyrics; doing so by creating different melodies ;that
have different rhythms, textures and artists, making the context of
the song simplistic, yet meaningful.
Song and lyrical structure:
The songs sung by the artists need to be intense and emotional, as they
sung about Rwanda’s history, and topics that have a meaning to the
Imena group. These songs structure vary from low melodies to high
melodies, and during chorus's rhythms and tones ranges highly
between the two, this makes the emotion evident in the song.
Drumming is a huge aspect during the Rwandan songs relating back
to Rwandan dances and tradition.
Musical Group: Imena
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The people of the Imena group are Rwandan artists. Know
for taking part in festivals in Africa, Spain, Italy, Germany and
France. The Imena group touch base throughout there songs
with topics that have a significant meaning to them. Imena’s
main focus is on youth; especially orphans and other
marginalized children.
As said previously Imena doesn’t have songs, but shows;
such as taking part in festivals, Imena are purly known for
being a group and creating music, not songs.
There music goes back to the tragedies caused by the
Rwandan Genocide in 1994, during their performances
Imena reaches out about the country's entire population as
suffering deeply from psychological and emotional trauma
as well as a severe crisis of identity.
Imena decided to renew its efforts to strengthen the culture
of dance and song; becoming a group that has a first
therapeutic stage towards development for a confident and
happy youth; youth being a strong element in Imena’s
music.
Lots of educative massages on children's rights are
expressed though the performances of Imena, also making it
a movement/association not just a group.
Imena has gained a strong musical title due to the topics and
historical relations in their music, winning over audience
vote as best group of Sauti za Busara festival in Zanzibar
2005.