Agenda

MUSIC OF AFRICA   

          African music is a total art form closely linked to dance, gesture and dramatization. It permeates African life and has a
function, a role to play in society; songs are used for religious ceremonies and rituals, to teach and give guidance, to tell stories, to mark
the stages of life and death and to provide political guidance or express discontent.

          It also serves to entertain and is used in ceremonial festivals and masquerades to work up fervor from the spectators and
participants alike. Singing, dancing and playing African musical instruments ensure a dynamic event transpires. Musical performances
may be long and often involve the participation of the audience and much of it is associated with a particular dance.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF AFRICA

 African traditional music is largely functional in nature, used primarily in ceremonial rites, such as birth, death, marriage, succession,
worship, and spirit invocations. Others are work related or social in nature, while many traditional societies view their music as
entertainment. It has a basically interlocking structural format, due mainly to its overlapping and dense textural characteristics as well
as its rhythmic complexity. Its many sources of stylistic influence have produced varied characteristics and genres.

LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC INFLUENCED BY AFRICAN MUSIC

1. Reggae is a Jamaican sound dominated by bass guitar and drums. It refers to a particular music
style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento and calypso music, as well as American jazz,
and rhythm and blues. The most recognizable musical elements of reggae are its offbeat rhythm and
staccato chords.
Robert Nesta Marley OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980
as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter.
Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by
fusing elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive
vocal and songwriting style.[

 Salsa music is Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Colombian dance

music. It comprises various musical genres including the Cuban
son montuno, guaracha, chachacha, mambo and bolero.

Samba is the basic underlying rhythm that typifies most

Brazilian music. It is a lively and rhythmical dance and
music with three steps to every bar, making the Samba
feel like a timed dance. There is a set of dances—rather
than a single dance—that define the Samba dancing
scene in Brazil. Thus, no one dance can be claimed with
certainty as the “original” Samba style.
 Soca- is a modern Trinidadian and Tobago pop music
combining “soul” and “calypso” music. Were This is Muslim
music performed often as a wake-up call for early breakfast
and prayers during Ramadan celebrations. Relying on pre-
arranged music, it fuses the African and European music
styles with usage of the natural harmonic series.

 Zouk is fast, carnival-like rhythmic music, from the Creole

slang word for ‘party,’ originating in the Caribbean Islands
of Guadeloupe and Martinique and popularized in the
1980’s. It has a pulsating beat supplied by the gwo ka and
tambour bele drums, a tibwa rhythmic pattern played on
the rim of the snare drum and its hi-hat, rhythm guitar, a
horn section, and keyboard synthesizers

VOCAL FORMS OF AFRICAN MUSIC

1. Maracatu first surfaced in the African state of
Pernambuco, combining the strong rhythms of African
percussion instruments with Portuguese melodies. The
maracatu groups were called “nacoes” (nations) who paraded
with a drumming ensemble numbering up to 100,
accompanied by a singer, chorus, and a coterie of dancers.
 Blues is a musical form of the late 19th century
that has had deep roots in African-American
communities. These communities are located in
the so-called “Deep South” of the United States.
The slaves and their descendants used to sing as
they worked in the cotton and vegetable fields.
The notes of the blues create an expressive and
soulful sound. The feelings that are evoked are
normally associated with slight degrees of
misfortune, lost love, frustration, or loneliness.
From ecstatic joy to deep sadness, the blues can
communicate various emotions more effectively
than other musical forms.

Soul music was a popular music genre of the 1950’s

and 1960’s. It originated in the United States. 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. Other characteristics include
“call and response” between the soloist and the
chorus, and an especially tense and powerful vocal
sound.
Spiritual music normally associated with a deeply
religious person, refers here to a Negro spiritual, a
song form by African migrants to America who
became enslaved by its white communities. This
musical form became their outlet to vent their
loneliness and anger, and is a result of the
interaction of music and religion from Africa with
that of America. The texts are mainly religious,
sometimes taken from psalms of Biblical
passages, while the music utilizes deep bass
voices.

Call and response method is a succession

of two distinct musical phrases usually
rendered by different musicians, where the
second phrase acts as a direct commentary
on or response to the first. Much like the
question and answer sequence in human
communication, it also forms a strong
resemblance to the verse-chorus form in
many vocal compositions.