What is the significance of traditional african music

If anyone has heard the ground hornbill calling to his mates in the African bush in the early mornings then you will know the sound of Africa and it is echoed in their fantastic evocative notes. If anyone has watched an African woman hoeing in the field with a baby strapped tight to her back and the thud of her hoe is harmonised with the song she is singing while she toils, then this too is the resonance of Africa and is intrinsically lodged in their genetic memory.

Contemporary African music is immense in every respect and is possibly the most dynamic and vibrant form of cultural expression on the continent.

The music industry is huge with most countries supporting wonderful musicians who still use traditional African musical instruments but overlay them with contemporary rhythms and lyrics. This is a hugely exciting form of expression for modern day Africans and what they produce is loved and admired and danced to, the world over. African musicians represent the collective memory of their continent and their instruments reflect their history, their culture and their ancestry.

While being hugely creative, what is consistent throughout this huge continent is that it has become, like art, a vehicle with which all participants can make a social, political and sometimes spiritual comment. New forms are constantly being created in response to new social, economic and political contexts.

Many African states have experienced very hard times in recent history and in the face of this, music has demonstrated itself to be a successful manifestation of emotion in the face of heartbreak and suffering. With poetry, dance and prayer the experience becomes a dual expression of inner freedom and possession, radiant happiness and anguish, loss and emotive expressiveness.

They had a long history of story-telling and music-making. From a very young age he learnt from the Balofonist masters in neighbouring countries around him. Today he lives in Austria where he performs his own compositions on the Balafon and other percussion instruments as well as singing.

He sometimes joins up with his brother Seydou Diabate. She has risen above her formidably challenging background to become a major star on the African continent and in Spain where she currently resides. She says "I am as African as I am Arabian' and that music and her voice can be a powerful weapon, a tool for change, social comment and advancement.

She recognises Mali as the cradle of African music. See here for more:. Contemporary African music is a huge industry with most countries supporting wonderful musicians who still use traditional African musical instruments like the kora harp , djembe drum and mbira but overlay them with contemporary rhythms and lyrics.

This has expanded to musical forms such as techno-funk and DJ culture that are way beyond their original context. Tribal techno-funk fuses world dance rhythms with centuries old instruments and melodies creating haunting, trance-like sounds that contemporary belly dancers like Sharon Kihara are using in their performances.

Hip-hop has its own language in Africa, different from the Americas where it emerged. Congolese rumba takes on powerful rhythms and narratives just as contemporary art does in this country.

Wenge music, Congo. The aim of this music is to give Congolese subjects a form of release from their daily hardships. The force of this music compels the body to escape from itself, either by using the body itself, the buttocks and the hips swinging like a pendulum, or by simply listening to all the complexities the music presents; its rhythms, lyrics, tensions and melodies.

Either way a state of serenity is achieved. Jimmy Omonga was born in Kinshasa, Congo and taught himself to play guitar, singing in a choir and writing his own songs by sixteen.

He moved to Angola and then Cape Town where he combined his beautiful Congolese ballads with Afro-pop and the South African choir tradition. He continues to astonish and delight both abroad and in Africa, playing at festivals like Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar. Another music festival that attracts large crowds and musicians to Africa is 'Festival au Desert' in Essekane, Mali.

Below is Toubab Crewe, a band which fuses rock and roll and W African music blending Mali, and America's 'dirty south'. They are usually to be found in the blues and jazz clubs of New York. You can do so right here and now by building a web page of your own within this web site. Click here and you'll be 'live' in minutes.

Do you want to publish your gallery and exhibit your work globally? I am a young developing artist who developed a new technique of manipulating calabash a few months back transforming it to modern and local artifacts. African sculpture takes many forms and offers us huge insights into the cultures and tribal communities from whence it came. All rights reserved. Bamboo flute, Rwanda. Child playing a Balafon in the Gambia. Fulani flute. Membranophones Drums :cylindrical, semi-cylindrical, barrel, hourglass, pressure, goblet, kettle, clay-pot, Djembe, West Africa Chordophones Stringed instruments :harps koras , musical bows, fiddles, lyres, zithers, lutes Aerophones Wind instruments :flutes: bamboo, millet, reed, animal horn tips, gourds, trumpets: wood, gourd, metal tubes pipes; single, double reed, panpipes, horns: tusks and animal horns Idiophones Resonant solids :mbira, xylophone and lamellophone rattles and shakers: gourds, woven, wooden, stick, bells: ankle, cluster, double, single, pod, tubular, clapperless Percussion :rainsticks, woodsticks, clapsticks bells, rattles, slit gongs, struck gourds and claypots, stamping tubes, body: foot stamping and hand clapping.

African music history From the 15th C onwards, our history of music making in Africa is mainly derived from studying representations of dances and making music with African musical instruments and scenes depicted in terracotta, stone or metal. Bakisimba dance. Saharan vibe. Dinka Tuich horn trumpet. Leron Leron Sinta is a classic work song that is believed to have originated in the provinces and was traditionally sang during the papaya harvest season.

It has a call and response verse pattern and is typically sung in duet by a man and a woman, with some minor alteration in the lyrics…. As well as dividing songs according to geography, it is possible to categorise them by subject matter:. The definition of a folk song is a song written by the common people or in the style of the common people.

A song originating among the working people of urban and rural areas, and handed by oral tradition. Answer: Any song or music that is dedicated to the almighty is referred to Religious music. On the other hand, all traditional music sung usually during weddings and festivals are known as folk music. Music is an important part of Christian worship, thanksgiving and celebration showing how worshippers feel towards God.

Music unites the congregation so that God is worshipped with one voice. The values of liturgical music and religious songs are to encourage participation and build community — while giving praise and thanks to a higher power….

Sacred music has a unique ability to engage both body and mind. It brings people together in expressing gratitude, praise, sorrow and even protest against injustice…. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Essay What are the importance of traditional songs? Ben Davis May 8, What are the importance of traditional songs? What is the significance of traditional African music? What is the purpose of folk music? What is the difference between traditional music and folk music?

Why do folks songs not change the key signature? What is the key signature of the song? How do folksong depict the community tradition? What is the meter of Manang Biday song? What is the meter of the song? What is the characteristics of Manang Biday? What is the mode of Manang Biday? What is the mood of pamulinawen?

What is the meaning of pamulinawen? What kind of song is Leron Leron Sinta?