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Music in Africa is securely rooted in its many societies, which lie both in and outside the continent itself. ... Africa’s pluralistic cultures show us as musicians how to adopt a greater respect, knowledge and understanding for folklore, and the music which has developed from past generations. ... As performers, we can learn that the music being produced has a true purpose and conveys our perception of the natural world and its creations surrounding us. We are taught as composers to learn the importance of having an amalgamation of different cultural styles, resulting in a musical solidarity heard and recognised by all. ...
Just by looking at the sheer size of Africa’s continent and the many countries within it, the ability to imagine the varsity of its cultural languages is easy. The different musical widespread traditions sweeping through the continent contribute to Africa’s unique sound. With over eight hundred million people inhabiting it, Africa is home to over thirty independent countries and contains the many languages and dialects to go with it. ...
Traditional Africa preserves a distinction between social music and religious music (although the two are contradictorily united when it comes to conveying the human spirit through music). This is because the people of Africa believe that religious and social music are not on the same level, and that spiritual life and material life have completely different functions. Music and dance in Africa are intimately linked with society, but do not necessarily just act as a reflection of it because it is capable to communicate social change at the same time. With regards to social music, the idea of performance bares similar resemblance to our Western musical culture. By playing and performing music, it brings happiness and a sense of well-being among the musicians and respective audience. Like Africa’s musical society, ours acts as bond and a coming together between many different people. In terms of religious music, it is evident that the musical cultures of the continent are more in touch with the idea of the sublime than the rest of Western civilisation. Being part of playing amongst a musical ensemble is looked upon as being one step closer to deity and parts of the supernatural life around them. African musicians consider their music to invoke spiritual existence, expressing their appreciation and love of the surrounding natural world. The presence of these spirits touches everything, from people, to trees, rivers, mountains and animals. ... The instrumental tools of African music are regarded to be as important, if not more, as the musicians themselves. ... It can be related to the trance-like feeling of being “in possession”, whereby the person departs from being a conscious individual and becomes part of the great forces of the inner and outer world. It is often brought on by music and dance, and in this state the forthcoming actions and speech made by the person in possession are considered to be those directly from the deity. ... In religious terms Africans do not so much feel the need to have temporal materials (except from individual private shrines) to express or receive spiritual force. ...
Rhythm is among the utmost important elements in African musical cultures and may be regarded as being the backbone and communicating body of them. It comes almost as second nature to the musicians and is firmly rooted within them from an early age. Kofi Agawu, a well-known writer on the subject of African rhythm, identifies two stereotypical concepts of its music: the distinctive quality of African music lies in its rhythmic qualities amongst their complexities, and that the people of African ancestry are ‘rhythmically different’ from others. ... By having these rhythmical publications in ‘traditional Africa’, it would surely defy the whole purpose and practice of passing down through generations of musical cultures and traditional knowledge. Agawu argues that by attempting to discuss in detail the rhythmical traits of Africa, it hides questions of power. ... ” The beauty of African music and its rhythm lies not in myriad textbooks of deep theoretical studies, but in the listening, appreciation and the interest of their different cultures. ... Crossrhythms are what provide Africa with its distinctive sound. ... Usually, the crotchet beats of the fundamental time signature alter from a quadruple feel to a triple feel and thus produce patterns such as fours against threes (4:3) and twos against threes (2:3). ... It evokes a multiple musical conversation, often lead by a solo melody or beat and then responded to by the rest of the ensemble in the same style but acting more in conclusion to the solo line.
Approximate Word count = 3767
Approximate Pages = 15.1
(250 words per page double spaced)
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