Thecontinent ofAfrica and its music is vast and highly diverse, with differentregions andnations maintaining distinctmusical traditions. African music includes genres such as makwaya,highlife,mbube,township music,jùjú,fuji,jaiva,afrobeat,afrofusion,mbalax,Congolese rumba,soukous,ndombolo,makossa,kizomba, andtaarab, among others.[1] African music also uses a wide variety of instruments from across the continent.
The music and dance traditions of theAfrican diaspora, shaped to varying degrees by African musical traditions, includeAmerican genres such asDixieland jazz,blues, andjazz, as well asCaribbean styles such ascalypso (seekaiso), andsoca.Latin American music genres includingcumbia,salsa,son cubano,rumba,conga,bomba,samba, andzouk developed from the music ofenslaved Africans and have, in turn, influenced contemporaryAfrican popular music.[1][2]
Like the music of Asia, India, and theMiddle East, African music is highly rhythmic. Its complex rhythmic patterns often involve one rhythm played against another to create apolyrhythm. A common example is the three-against-two rhythm, comparable to a triplet played against straight notes.Sub-Saharan African music traditions frequently rely on a wide array ofpercussion instruments, includingxylophones,djembes,drums, and tone-producing instruments such as thembira or "thumb piano".[2][3]
Another distinguishing feature of African music is itscall-and-response style, in which one voice or instrument plays a short melodic phrase, and that phrase is echoed by another voice or instrument. This interaction also extends to the rhythm, with one drum playing a rhythmic pattern that is echoed or complemented by another. African music is also highly improvised. A core rhythmic pattern is typically played, with drummers then improvising new patterns over the established foundation.
Traditional music in much of the continent is passed down throughoral tradition. Subtle differences in pitch and intonation that do not easily translate to Western notation. African music most closely adheres to Westerntetratonic (four-note),pentatonic (five-note),hexatonic (six-note), andheptatonic (seven-note) scales.Harmonization of the melody is accomplished by singing in parallel thirds, fourths, or fifths.
Music is an integral part ofcommunal life in Africa.[4] It is created for both public enjoyment and public participation, and it is this social bonding over music that informedChristopher Small's idea ofmusicking.[5] Music serves as an avenue for social commentary andmoralism, taking forms such as work songs, love songs,lullabies, boasting songs, praise songs, narrative songs, and satirical songs.[6] Music is also important to religion, where rituals and religious ceremonies use music to pass down stories across generations and to accompany singing and dancing.[7]
North Africa is the seat ofancient Egypt andCarthage, civilizations with strong ties to theancient Near East and which influenced theancient Greek andRoman cultures.Egypt later came underPersian, thenGreek andRoman rule, while Carthage was later ruled by theRomans and theVandals. The region was subsequentlyconquered byArab forces, who incorporated the region into theMaghreb ofArab Africa(sky-blue and dark green region on map).[8] Its music maintains close ties withMiddle Eastern music and utilizes similar melodicmodes (maqamat).[9]
North African music encompasses a wide range of styles, from themusic of ancient Egypt to theBerber andTuareg music of the desert nomads. For centuries, the region's art music has followed the conventions ofArabic andAndalusian classical music, while its popular contemporary genres include the Algerianraï.
Themusic of Sudan and the Horn of Africa, including themusic of Eritrea,Ethiopia,Djibouti andSomalia, may be grouped with those of North Africa. Somali music is typicallypentatonic, using fivepitches peroctave in contrast to aheptatonic (seven note) scale such as themajor scale.[8] The music of the Ethiopian highlands is based on a modal system calledqenet, which includes four main modes:tezeta,bati,ambassel, andanchihoy.[10] Three additional modes are variations on the above: tezeta minor, bati major, and bati minor.[11] Some songs take the name of theirqenet, such astizita, a song of reminiscence.[10]
Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980), anethnomusicological, observed that the shared rhythmic principles of Bantu African musical traditions form a single overarching system.[12] Similarly, master drummer and scholar C. K. Ladzekpo affirms the "profound homogeneity" of Bantu African rhythmic principles.[13]
Africantraditional music is frequently functional in nature. Performances may be long and often involve the participation of the audience.[14] There are specialized songs forwork, childbirth, marriage, hunting, and political activities, as well as music intended to ward off evil spirits or honor benevolent spirits, the dead, and the ancestors. These forms are not typically performed outside their intended social contexts, and many are associated with specific dances. In some situations, professional musicians performsacred, ceremonial, or courtly music at royal courts.
Outside the greater Horn of Africa, as categorized above, the remainder of Sub-Saharan Africa can be divided into four musicological regions:[12]
Southern,Central andWest Africa share many features of the broader Sub-Saharan musical tradition, while also exhibiting additional influences fromMuslim regions of Africa and, in modern times, from theAmericas andWestern Europe.
Afrobeat, jùjú, fuji, highlife, makossa, and kizomba are among the genres performed in West Africa.West African music varies regionally, withMuslim regions incorporating elements ofIslamic music and non-Muslim regions drawing more heavily on indigenous traditions, according to the historianSylviane Diouf and ethnomusicologistGerhard Kubik.[15] Diouf notes that traditional Muslim West African Music incorporates elements of theIslamic call to prayer (originating fromBilal ibn Rabah, anAbyssinian African Muslim in the early 7th century), including lyrics praising God, melodic and pitch variations, "words that seem to quiver and shake" in the vocal cords, dramatic shifts inscale, and nasalintonation. Kubik similarly observes that the vocal style of Muslim West African singers "usingmelisma, wavy intonation, and so forth" reflect the musical heritage of the region's long contact with the Arabic-Islamic world of the Maghreb which began in the seventh and eighth centuries. In terms of instrumentation, Kubik notes that string instruments (including ancestors of thebanjo) were traditionally favored in Muslim West African communities, while drumming was more characteristic of non-Muslim West Africans.[15]
Besides vocalisation, which uses various techniques such as complex, hard melisma andyodeling, a wide variety of musical instruments are also used. African instruments include a wide range ofdrums,slit gongs,rattles, anddouble bells;harps and harp-like instruments such as thekora and thengoni;fiddles; variousxylophones andlamellophones such as thembira; andwind instrument includingflutes andtrumpets. String instruments are also used, withlute-like instruments such as theoud and the ngoni serving as accompaniment in some regions.
Sub-Saharan African musical instruments are grouped into five categories: membranophones, chordophones, aerophones, idiophones, and percussion. Membranophones include drums such as kettles, clay pots, and barrels. Chordophones are stringed instruments like harps and fiddles. Aerophones are wind instruments, including flutes and trumpets, similar to those found in American music. In Northern Nigeria, Niger, and NorthernCameroon, thealgaita – a double reed instrument – is commonly played at festivals and seasonal celebrations.
Idiophones are rattles and shakers, while percussion also includes body-produced sounds such as foot-stomping and hand-clapping.[16] Many wooden instruments are carved with shapes or figures that represent ancestry, and some are decorated with feathers or beads.[16]
Drums used in African traditional music includetalking drums,bougarabou anddjembe in West Africa,water drums in Central and West Africa, and the different types ofngoma (orengoma) drums of Central and Southern Africa. Other percussion instruments include rattles andshakers, such as thekashaka (orkosika),rain sticks, bells, and wooden sticks. Africa also has many other types of drums, flutes, string, and wind instruments.
Polyrhythmic playing is one of the most widespread characteristics of Sub-Saharan music, in contrast topolyphony in Western music. Several uniquely designed instruments evolved over time to facilitate the playing of simultaneous contrasting rhythms. The mbira,kalimba, kora, ngoni and dousn'gouni organize their notes not in a single linear arrangement from bass to treble, but in two separated rank arrays, allowing performers to more easily producecross rhythms. The continuing influence of this design principle can be seen in the 20th-century American instruments thegravi-kora andgravikord, which are modern adaptations of traditional instruments.
ManyAfrican languages aretonal, leading to a close relationship between music and language in some local cultures. In these communities, vocal sounds and physical movements accompany musical performance. In singing, the tonal patterns of the language impose constraints on the melodic patterns. Conversely, in instrumental music, native speakers can often perceive implied text or meanings within the music. This is also the basis ofdrum languages, or "talking drums".[17]
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Historically, several factors have influenced thetraditional music of Africa. Language, environment, diverse cultural practices, politics, and population movement have all contributed to its development. Each African group evolved in a different area of the continent, they experienced different climates, foods, and interactions with neighboring peoples. Each group moved at different rates and to different places than others, and thus each was influenced by different people and circumstances. In addition, these communities operated under different forms of governance, which further contributed to the diversity of the music that was created throughout Africa.[18]
African music has played a significant role in the shaping of what we know today asDixieland, theblues, andjazz. These genres have all borrowed from African rhythms and sounds brought across the Atlantic by enslaved Africans. While Sub-Saharan African music is typically upbeatpolyrhythms and joyful in character, the blues developed as an aesthetic response to the conditions of slavery in the Americas.[19]The blues has likely evolved as a fusion of an Africanblue note scale with Europeantwelve tone musical instruments.[20] The musical traditions of Irish and Scottish settlers later blended with African-American musical elements, contributing to the development ofold-time,bluegrass, and other similar genres.
On his albumGraceland, American folk musicianPaul Simon employed South African bands, rhythms, and melodies as the musical backdrop for his lyrics, featuring artists such asMiriam Makeba,Ladysmith Black Mambazo andRay Phiri.[21] In the early 1970s,Remi Kabaka, anAfro-rock avant-garde drummer, developed foundational drum patterns that shaped the Afro-rock sounds in bands such asGinger Baker's Air Force,The Rolling Stones, and Steve Winwood'sTraffic. He continued to collaborate with Winwood,Paul McCartney, andMick Jagger throughout the decade.[22]
Certain Sub-Saharan African musical traditions also significantly influenced works such as Disney'sThe Lion King andThe Lion King II: Simba's Pride, which blend traditional African and Western musical styles. Songs like "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "He Lives in You" combineZulu and English lyrics and incorporate traditional South Africanisicathamiya andmbube with more modern western styles.[23] The films additionally include numerousBantu words: for example,hakuna matata is an actual Swahili phrase meaning "no worries", while characters such asSimba,Kovu, andZira mean "lion," "scar," and "hate," respectively.[24][25]
Miriam Makeba,Hugh Masekela, andBabatunde Olatunji were among the earliest African artists to develop sizable fan bases in the United States. During the 1960s and 1970s, non-commercial African-American radio stations promoted African music as part of their cultural and political missions. African music also found enthusiastic audiences at Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and held particular appeal for activists in the civil rights and Black Power movements.[26]
African popular music – commonly referred to as African pop or afro-pop – is as vast and varied as Africa's traditional music.[27][28] Most contemporary African popular genres have developed through cross-pollination with Western popular music. Many Western genres, including blues, jazz, andrumba, derive in part from African musical traditions carried to the Americas by enslaved Africans. These rhythms and sounds have subsequently been adapted by newer genres likerock, soul, andrhythm and blues. In turn, African popular music has adopted elements of Western music, particularly musical instruments andrecording studio techniques.[29]
In 1933, Solomon Linda formedSolomon Linda's Original Evening Birds. Although Linda was illiterate, he composed songs from an early age while guarding cattle. The group's most internationally acclaimed hit, "Mbube," released in 1939, became the first African record to sell more than 100,000 copies.[30] Another 20th-century South African singer was Miriam Makeba, who played a key-role in the 1960s in drawing global attention to African music and its meaning. Beginning in the 1950s, Zenzile Miriam Makeba became one of Africa's most influential and celebrated musicians.[citation needed] She performed in three groups, including one all-female band, and sang a wide range of styles, including jazz, traditional African music, and music that was popular in Western Africa at the time. Much of Makeba's work wasmbube, "a style of vocal harmony which drew on American jazz,ragtime, andAnglican church hymns, as well as indigenous styles of music." After moving to the United States, passport complications forced her to remain there, and she incorporated American influences into her African repertoire.[31][circular reference] "The Empress of African Music" died at the age of 76.[32]
In West Africa,Fela Kuti andTony Allen performed Afrobeat music.[33]Femi Kuti andSeun Kuti followed their father Fela Kuti.[34] The Afro-Euro hybrid Cubanson also influenced African popular music; some of Africa's earliest guitar bands performed Cuban covers.[35] Early guitar-based bands from theCongo referred to their music asrumba, though it wasson rather than Cubanrumba. This Congolese style eventually evolved intosoukous. In 1972, Cameroonian songwriter and saxophonistManu Dibango released "Soul Makossa" which has since become the most sampled African record in history.[36]
The 2010 FIFA World Cupafro-fusion andsoca theme song, "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" performed byShakira andFreshlyground, sampled themakossa-influenced, presumably soldier-tribute melody "Zamina mina (Zangaléwa)" by the groupGolden Sounds.[37][38]
Kalpop is a music genre that originated in the Klassikan royal communities under the Klassik Nation record label.[39] It blends Klassikan, African, multilingual (multicultured), and popular music. Kalpop originated in its modern form during the mid-1990s in Kenya before later spreading to the United States and the United Kingdom. Kalpop has developed a growing fan base, with numerous locally established and emerging bands – more than thirteen active groups in Nairobi alone – helping to solidify the genre through a variety of individually hosted and collaboratively organized Kalpop-themed events.[40][41] Artists performing Kalpop in Kenya include DON SANTO,[42][43] Badman Killa, Blessed Paul,[44] Cash B, Jay Nuclear, Rekless, G-Youts (Washu B and Nicki Mulla), Sleek Whizz, and Chizei, among others.[40]
For African artists, live concerts have traditionally been one of the few reliable sources of income. Declining record sales, driven by piracy and changing consumer behavior, have made recorded music a less viable revenue stream. The enforcement ofcopyright law remains weak in many parts of Africa. MusikBi, the first legalmusic download platform in Africa, offers downloads but notstreaming and is limited by Africa's generally slow internet speeds.[45] Some African countries, including Kenya, Gambia, and South Africa, have experienced protests over what is perceived as excessive airtime given to American music. InZimbabwe, regulations require that 75% of airtime be dedicated to local music. These protective actions have contributed to the growth of new genres likeUrban Grooves.[46] In 2016, Sony Music expanded into Africa by opening an office in Nigeria. Traditionally, services provided by major Western recording studios were not available in Africa, and local demand for their music was largely met through piracy.[47]
Since 2014, the festivalVisa for Music has been held annually inMorocco, presenting musical artists with African roots through performances, music videos, and professional marketing aimed at creative-industries worldwide.[48]
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