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North African music has a considerable range, from the music of ancient Egypt to the Berber and the Tuareg music of the desert nomads. The region's art music has for centuries followed the outline of Arabic and Andalusian classical music: its popular contemporary genres include the Algerian Raï.
In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the use of music is not limited to entertainment: it serves a purpose to the local community and helps in the conduct of daily routines. Traditional African music supplies appropriate music and dance for work and for religious ceremonies of birth, naming, rites of passage, marriage and funerals. [1]
Contemporary styles of music in West Africa have been influenced by American music, African jazz and gospel music. [2] The forced migration of Africans to the Americas as a result of the transatlantic slave trade gave rise to kaiso [ 3 ] music, which has influenced the sounds of Calypso , [ 4 ] a style with major popularity throughout West Africa.
African drum made by Gerald Achee Drummers in Accra, Ghana. Sub-Saharan African music is characterised by a "strong rhythmic interest" [1] that exhibits common characteristics in all regions of this vast territory, so that Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) has described the many local approaches as constituting one main system. [2] C. K.
Ewe music is the music of the Ewe people of Togo, Ghana, and Benin, West Africa. Instrumentation is primarily percussive and rhythmically the music features great metrical complexity. Its highest form is in dance music including a drum orchestra, but there are also work (e.g. the fishing songs of the Anlo migrants [1]), play, and other songs.
Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony is a music theory of harmony in sub-Saharan African music based on the principles of homophonic parallelism (chords based around a leading melody that follow its rhythm and contour), homophonic polyphony (independent parts moving together), counter-melody (secondary melody) and ostinato-variation (variations based on a repeated theme).
Their songs were used to give guidance to one another and tell stories. The varieties of sounds and expressions used in the music helped stress their emotions. [3] Black music began to reflect urban environments through amplified sounds, social concerns, and cultural pride expressed through music.
African harps, particularly arched or "bow" harps, are found in several Sub-Saharan African music traditions, particularly in the north-east. Used from early times in Africa , they resemble the form of harps in ancient Egypt with a vaulted body of wood, parchment faced, and a neck, perpendicular to the resonant face, on which the strings are wound.