African music

Introduction
History
Musical instruments
- Idiophones
  - Rhythmic idiophones
  - Slit drums
  - Xylophones
  - Lamellaphones
- Membranophones
- Chordophones
  - Musical bows
  - Lutes
  - Fiddles
  - Harp lutes
  - Lyres
  - Harps
- Aerophones
  - Flutes
  - Reed pipes
  - Trumpets
Musical structure
- Timing
  - Interlocking
  - Time-line patterns
  - Inherent note patterns
- Tone systems and multipart patterns
  - Equi-tonal systems
  - Monophonic systems
  - Systems based on instrumental harmonics
- Multipart singing
  - Homophonic vocal styles
  - Polyphonic vocal styles

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Observe a man playing the atumpan, a talking drum of the Asante people of West Africa

Comparing traditional African music and rap

Quizzes

Young girl wearing a demin jacket playing the trumpet (child, musical instruments, Asian ethnicity)

Sound Check: Musical Vocabulary Quiz

Related Questions

How are African drums played with hands, sticks, and friction techniques?
How are bells used as rhythm instruments and signal instruments in Africa?
How are drums used in religious rituals and royal ceremonies in African societies?
How are music and dance connected in many African musical traditions?
How are water gourds played in West African funeral rites?
How can talking drums communicate spoken messages?
How did African music influence religious music in Brazil, Haiti, and the Caribbean?
How did African polyrhythms influence syncopation in ragtime and jazz?
How did Nigerian juju music use call-and-response singing and percussion?
How did West African musical traditions contribute to the development of jazz?
How did highlife music develop in Ghana and Nigeria?
How did lamellaphones spread from the Zambezi valley to other parts of Africa?
How did the climate changes that dried the Sahara affect African musical cultures?
How do African tone languages influence instrumental music?
How do Yoruba talking-drum players change the pitch of their drums?
How do gourd resonators and mirlitons change the sound of African xylophones?
How do overlapping vocal and instrumental parts create polyphony in African music?
How do slit drums produce several different pitches?
How do time-line patterns guide performers and dancers in African music?
How does a lamellaphone produce different musical pitches?
How does the Zulu ugubhu gourd bow interact with a singer’s voice?
How far can talking-drum messages be transmitted in the Bend region of West Africa?
How many xylophones could be included in a Chopi timbila orchestra in Mozambique?
How were African drums reconstructed and treated as sacred objects in the Americas?
What are the main differences between free-key and fixed-key African xylophones?
What materials and shapes are used to make African drums?
What musical instruments appear in archaeological finds from Ife and Benin?
What role do rattles play in African dance and religious ceremonies?
What role does collective participation play in African music-making?
Where in Africa are slit drums used to transmit messages?
Which African musicians helped bring African popular music to international audiences?
Which African regions commonly use 12-pulse time-line patterns?
Which peoples and regions are included in the study of African music?
Why are some African musical instruments restricted by age, sex, or social status?
Why do distant African regions sometimes have similar musical styles and instruments?
Why do many African musical performances use repeating cycles of pulses?
Why is the name “thumb piano” misleading for the African mbira?

Entertainment & Pop Culture Popular Music Genres Folk Music

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External Websites

Sabinet African Journals - Melodic and rhythmic aspects of indigenous African music
BBC Bitesize - Music of Africa
City University of New York Pressbooks - The Music of Africa

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

African music - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
African music - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

mangolongondo Man playing traditional *mangolongondo* instrument, Malawi.

African music

Written by

Donald Keith Robotham

Professor of Anthropology, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York. Author of Militants or Proletarians? The Economic Culture of Underground Goldminers in Southern Ghana.

Donald Keith RobothamAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

African music, the musical sounds and practices of all indigenous peoples of Africa, including the Berber in the Sahara and the San and Khoikhoin in Southern Africa. The music of European settler communities and that of Arab North Africa are not included in the present discussion. For the music of Islamic Africa, see Islamic arts: Music. It is widely acknowledged that African music has undergone frequent and decisive changes throughout the centuries. What is termed...

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