The History Of African Music

African American influence in music has been an ever present and controversial subject in American history. Stemming from many different cultures, religions and backgrounds, large portions of American music was introduced by, and credited to African Americans. Although in many cases, this music was used for entertainment by the masses or majority, contrary to popular belief, black music served a greater purpose than just recreation. Dating all the way back to the beginning of slavery in the U.S. during the 17th century, music has been used to make a statement and send a message. As African American music progressed over the years, there were common themes expressed as the genres evolved. It has been an open letter to the world, documenting and protesting the ongoing oppression faced by blacks in the United States, as well as an outlet for frustration. For many African Americans, the music gave them the only voice that couldn’t be silenced by their oppressors.

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.

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art

6. In what ways has music in South Africa reflected the particular history of the country?

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

“In less than a minute, the death wail went up out of every cabin in the Quarters, and Brother Ezekial began the death chant: Soon one morning, Death come knocking at my door…. Oh, my lord, What shall I do” (Walker 17)? Death was common for slaves. They routinely died from disease, beatings and accidents on the plantation, and they expressed their sorrow in the form of song. “I see death around the corner, gotta stay high while I survive, … Keep my finger on the trigger, no mercy in my eyes” (“Death Around”). Death is still common in the African American society. “Black males ages 15-19 die from homicide at 46 times the rate of their white

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

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.

“From the lyrical cries of black street vendors in 18th-century Philadelphia to the infectious dance rhythms of the Motown sound, African-American music has been heard at all times and in every corner of America. This particular part of this article shows you the elements and eras of music we will be talking about.” (“The History On African-American Music”).

The art of improvisation traces back to early African and European roots which eventually influenced jazz musicians to produce what we hear today. We cannot know for sure where the early African traditions for improvisations spawned from, but we do know that African traditions heavily influenced the blues and jazz. Some of the earliest examples of improvisation come from a drum ensemble of Ghana and the Mandinka tribe. African singing was among the most influential for its improvisations which helped develop African Blues singing. Singers began to manipulate pitch and single sustained tones. This imagination and creativity led to singers altering rhythms and melodies as well as changing the timing of tones. Eventually, these creative manipulations led to some of the first rhythmic displacement which would be perfected and widely used in early jazz.

In this essay, I will be examining the musical genre of Afrobeat which was created by Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Afrobeat first came to be in the late 1960’s during the Civil Rights Movement in America. Fela Kuti a Nigerian, was able to create a genre that has change the way we view music today. Afrobeat is made up of two different words, “Afro” and “Beat”. “Afro” correlates with “African organized sound while beat is a rhythmic counting pattern in relation to such music” (Oikelome, 2013). Therefore, the meaning of Afrobeat is the unique African rhythmic patterns of such music. The coming of this genre is very interesting since the man behind it has quite a story.

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.

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.

Music from all over the world presents a range of musical theories. Some of these are documented in writing whilst others are transmitted orally. Discuss and give examples with reference to both Western and non-Western music.