The World
Africa
(physical features)
Language
Groups of
Africa
Bantu languages – Southern Africa
(400 languages, 100 million speakers)
Language
Approx. # of speakers
Main geographic area
Fang
Boulou
Ewondo
Douala
Bamileke
Luva
Tshiluba
Lingala
560 000
Kikongo
6 million
Cameroon, Gabon
Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon
Congo-Kinshasa
Congo-Kinshasa
Central African Republic,
Congo-Brazzaville,
Congo-Kinshasa
Angola, Congo-Brazzaville,
Congo-Kinshasa
Congo (South)
Uganda
Uganda
Rwanda, Burundi
400 000
2 million
6.3 million
6 million
8 million
Kituba
5 million
Luganda
4 million
Makoua
Kinyarwanda-Kirundi 15 million
Bantu languages – Southern Africa
(cont’d)
Language
Approx. # of speakers
Main geographic area
Swahili
30 million
Tanzania, Kenya,
Uganda, Congo DR,
Rwanda, Burundi
Kenya
Tanzania
Zambia
Malawi, Zambia
Angola
Angola
Mozambique, Zambia,
Zimbabwe
South Africa
South Africa, Botswana
South Africa
Zimbabwe, South Africa
South Africa
Comoros
Kikouyou
4.6 million
Sukuma
Bemba
Nyanja (chewa, chinyanja) 3.2 million
Kimbundu
3 million
Umbundu
4 million
Shona
10 million
Sotho
Tswana
Zulu
Ndebele
Xhosa
Comorian languages
3.5 million
3 million
5 million
1 million
4 million
900 000
MAJOR TRIBES OF AFRICA (1)
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Afar
Amhara
Anlo-Ewe
Ashanti
Bakongo
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Bambara
Bemba
Berber
Bobo
Chewa
Dogon
Fon
Fulani
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia
Central highland plateau of Ethiopia
SE corner of Ghana
Central Ghana
Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire,
Republic of Congo to Luanda, Angola
Mali
NE Zambia
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt
W Burkina Faso, Mali
Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi
SE Mali, Burkina Faso
Benin
West Africa
MAJOR TRIBES OF AFRICA (2)
• Ibo
Nigeria
• Kikuyu
Kenya
• Mandinka Senegal, The Gambia, Mali, Guinea-Bissau,
Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire
• Masai
East Africa
• Pygmy
Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon,
Gabon, Central African Republic, Rwanda,
Burundi, Uganda, Republic of Congo
• Samburu Kenya
• San
Kalahari Desert in southern Africa
• Senufo
N Cote d’Ivoire, Mali
• Tuareg
N Mali
• Wolof
Senegal
• Yoruba
SW Nigeria, Benin
• Zulu
South Africa
General African Music Traits
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Emphasis on Rhythm
Use of Percussion
Density of Timbre (“buzzy sound”)
Use of Ostinato
Use of interlocking parts
Call and Response
Controlled Improvisation
Zimbabwe
(formerly Rhodesia)
A Shona Village
Shona Farmlands
Bira
(ceremony for a dead ancestor)
Mbira
• Plucked Idiophone
• Lamellaphone (Lamella = “Tongue”)
• Mbira – common name in Zimbabwe and
most of Sub-Saharan Africa
• Called Kalimba in Kenya, Ikembe in
Rwanda, Likembe in Congo
• Called “thumb piano,” “gourd piano,”
“finger harp,” etc. in West
Mbira
Mbira
Mbira on YouTube
• YouTube - Lessons from the Mbira at Duke University
• YouTube - KarigaMombe Improv Lesson
• YouTube - Mbira Lesson One : KarigaMombe on Gwara
Nyamaropa
Ewe Tribal areas
Drums from
Eastern
Ghana
Gangkogui (timeline)
Axatse (timeline)
Atsimevu
(leader)
Sogo, Kidi, Kaganu
(left to right)
Anlo-Ewe Drum Ensemble
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Gangokui (clapperless double bell) -TIMELINE
Axatse (rattle – external beads on fishnet) - TIME
Atsimevu (largest drum, often on stand) - LEAD
Kaganu (medium small, semi-independent)
Sogo (small, 2-1/2 ft closed, hand, follower)
Kidi (small, 2 ft closed, sticks, follower)
See dancedrummer.com for examples
Also see Virtual Instrument Museum (Region: Africa)
for individual instruments
African Drumming on YouTube
• YouTube - Akrowa Dance Ensemble,
Drumming in Kokrobite Ghana
• YouTube - traditional Ewe drumming and
singing
• YouTube - Ayan Bisi Adeleke - Master talking
drummer - drum talks
• YouTube - Yoruba Bata Ensemble Drums for
Orisa, volume 1
Popular Music in Africa
(mainly Nigeria)
King Sunny Adé (b. 1946)
“Minister of Enjoyment”
“Golden Mercury of Africa”
King Sunny and his African Beats
Jújú
• Yoruba-based music (tribe of SW Nigeria)
• Emerges in 1930s w/ trios
- a leader who sang and played the banjo
- a shekere bottle-gourd rattle player
- a jùjú (tambourine) drummer
• 1948 – addition of Yoruba talking drum
• King Sunny’s Band (large lineup, up to 16+)
5-8 guitars, 2+ Talking drums, synthesizer(s), pedal steel
guitar, miscellaneous percussion, 4 or more backup singers
• “Jújú Music” (Island Records, 1982) -200,000
copies sold [replacement for Bob Marley]
Highlife, JuJu, Afrobeat
(Nigerian Pop)
• YouTube - Taxi Driver - A Highlife Classic
• YouTube - Classic Highlife
• YouTube - West African Highlife Band & Nigerian Brothers
drum & chants
• YouTube - JUJU MUSIC - Performance Documentary Trailer
• YouTube - Dele Abiodun- Juju music -Nigeria Yoruba
• YouTube - Juju Tempo Tola Osumare
• YouTube - I.K. Dairo - Salome (Audio)
• YouTube - I.K. Dairo MBE
• YouTube - King Sunny Ade (KSA@60)
• YouTube - KING SUNNY ADE - JA FUNMI
• YouTube - King Sunny Ade - Sunny Ti de Ariya (Audio)
Fela Kuti (1938-1997)
Fela’s life
• Middle-Class Nigerian family
- Mother – Feminist & Anti-colonialist
- Father – Minister & Teacher (Union Pres.)
• London (1958) to study medicine, then music
• Koola Lobitos (mixes jazz, funk, highlife)
• Nigeria (1963-69) radio producer
• United States (1969) – influenced by Black
Power movement
• Bands: Nigeria ’70, Africa ‘70
Fela’s life
• 1978 – marries 27 women (dancers in band)
• Accra concert in Ghana (riots after “Zombie”)
• 1979 – runs for president of Nigeria
(“Movement of the People” Party)
• Band: Egypt ‘80
• 1980s – tours (US, Europe, etc.)
• 1984 – jailed (currency smuggling)
• 1997 – dies of complications of AIDS
Fela’s Music
• Afro Beat (his term) – jazz, funk, highlife
• Large horn line, African percussion, etc.
• Long (10-minute songs) static dance grooves
- ostinato patterns
- call & response
- improvisation
• Political lyrics (pan-Africanism)
• Sings in Pidgin English (why?)
Fela on YouTube
• YouTube - Lady/Water No Get Enemy by. Fela Kuti
• YouTube - Zombie - The Fela Kuti Tribute Concert
2003 (performed by Fela’s son)
• YouTube - Fela Kuti "Gentleman“
General African Music Traits
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Emphasis on Rhythm
Use of Percussion
Density of Timbre (“buzzy sound”)
Use of Ostinato
Use of interlocking parts
Call and Response
Controlled Improvisation