Roles Of Music In Africa

Music defines our culture. As Americans, we listen to music while we drive our cars, are at work, doing housework, studying, etc. We have songs for special occasions: Christmas, Hanukah, birthdays, weddings, parties, etc. We have taken songs from the various cultures that make us diverse: Arabic, German, Mexican, Native American, etc. We have many genres: country, hip-hop, rap, pop, blues, jazz, rock, heavy metal, etc. And although we may think of music as simple and easy, looking at all this makes one realize how diverse and complex our music truly is. Two things that contribute to this diversity are theme and symbolism.

African music, on the other hand is different from European music. It has a strong sense of rhythm, which means it uses heavy beats in the music. Also, in African music you have the freedom to change or add the melody or rhythm. African Music usually is about daily life and it coveys life events. The “fields call” style plays a really important role in American Pop Music. This style will influence

Dance has always been the focal point in which Africans are able to let free through movements of emotion. In this essay I will discuss the history of African Dance and its importance to the African Culture. Also will be discussing the general information of African dance, the different types of African dance and the ones that I like the most. Dance in the African culture is something that cannot be taken advantage of in the African Culture because it holds such a strong meaningful moment at the time of any occasion.

a. Most of the collective music manifestations found in sub-Saharan Africa represent the community, and encourage group participation using a method that is called call-and-response. If they aren’t using a call-and-response such music’s are usually to be found at events such as religious ceremonies, and/or most other ritual based activities.

The roots of modern american rock and roll music, are firmly planted in Africa. As the native Africans were torn apart from their family’s and brought to the new world their lives were immediately and drastically changed forever. Finding themselves immersed in a completely new environment with a foreign culture, they thankfully persevered and carried on with their own traditions and most importantly to this paper, musical ones. Most American slaves originated from Western and Central Africa. The West Africans carried a musical tradition rich with long melody lines, complicated rhythms (poly rhythmics) and stringed instruments CITATION. The West Africans music was also strongly integrated into their everyday lives. Songs were preformed for religious ceremonies and dances and music was often a

According to the book New Africa Diaspora, “Music has been one of the primary media of communication in Pan-African world, through which cultural influences, ideas, images, instruments, institutions, and identities have continuously circulated, in the process of creating new modes of cultural expressions both within Africa itself and in the diaspora (Okpewho & Nzwgwu, 2012). The music was rooted to express the displacement of the African people and used as a creative way to connect with others in their culture. Through the use of music, cultures are able to express their true emotions and feelings to current and past events that have happened within their lives. This was a creative way for this group of individuals to relate to their homeland and also express their feelings of displacement. Another way in which African culture fits into the elements of a diaspora was through education. For education allowed individuals to pursue a higher education to allowed them to learn historical facts and ideas Africa itself. Thus demonstrating creating collective memories about their homeland. The book New Africa Diaspora suggest, “When Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone and Liberia College in Liberal opened in 1827 and 1862, respectively, they served as Pan-Africanist institutions that attracted students and faculty from across West African especially, many of whom were themselves of

African influence is evident in African secular and religious practices, in instruments modeled after African instruments, and in the use of musical traits associated with Africa’s ethnic groups.

Africa – to play the Cora you must be from the proper family lineage. * Music can be the property of a village. Also, this can be from a certain group. You don’t cross groups. * Music not treated as property at all

Music has commonly played an essential part when it comes to African American artistry. Music is significant in exhibiting African American roots. Far from today, older African American practice music into their living every single day. Religious practice dancing and story telling are all found in the history of African American music.

In Africa, music isn’t just something they see as having fun, it has become something greater. Africans use music in their everyday lives. It has become a social event, where African community’s come together and accompany songs with cultural beliefs, traditions, rituals, festivals and “recreation after a day’s hard work”(Bame, 7). For instance, in some communities it is believed farmers are able to heal people while dancing. Other’s dance to honor the death of a person, and find their soulmates.

entertainment categories and Africa’s music, is and has always been one of the most treasurable

African American music has evolved into unique musical tradition, reflecting the experiences of Africans in the New World. This musical tradition, however, has been influenced by African cultural patterns in profound and subtle ways. To define such a broad genre is a difficult task, as African music is not a static system of notes and beats, but rather it is a conceptual approach to music making. There are, nonetheless, a set of common basic elements that help define the genre. African music in terms of spirituality, community, and language have influenced African American music profoundly. Musical organization and syntax can be traced directly to sub-Saharan peoples in terms of cyclical

In this course we have learned about all of the different cultures and their musical traditions. My favorite so far has had to be the west African music culture. They have a variety of different music, instruments, and dances to contribute to the reasons I liked this music culture so much. So, I have taken it upon myself to further my research on this particular musical group. I will compare and contrast a variety of different videos from the west African music culture and I will analyze how they connect to this culture.

     Africa has more than 800 languages native to its continent. African cultures are so diverse that they are different from any other culture of the world. African cultures contain many different languages. African languages range from common French to languages unheard of to most people such as Swahili. African arts are much different than American arts. Their art involves much more creative pottery, masks, and paintings. Africa has a very interesting culture. Reasons being the people are very creative and like to express their individuality. The most diverse cultures in the world belong to Africa.

Scholars have attempted to define music, and to be quite honest, it will be a huge challenge to try to weave a definition around the art that is music, because it is beyond definition. However, for the purposes of this work, we shall adopt the definition by Aluede & Eregare (2009), not because the definition is, in itself, complete, but because it captures the very essence of what we look for in the definition of music. Music, according to Aluede & Aregare (2009), is not only an organization of sound but also a symbolic expression of a social and cultural organization, which reflects the values, past and present ways of life of human beings. Also, Jones (1975), cited in Amana and Onogu (2015), defines music as “a language which encodes emotions, aspirations and people’s goals in autonomous and self-expressive arts forms.” These definitions are important in understanding music, because they highlight the fact that music does not only appeal to the feel-good emotion, it is not only used for entertainment; it is a valid form of social expression and this underscores the centrality of music in African socio-cultural life.