Use Of Drums In African Culture

This drum is estimated to be around five to eight hundred years old, and was created during the Malian Empire by the Mande people. What’s different from the djembe drum than any other drums created is that it is very spiritual to make them. One has to make a sacrifice and get permission to cut down a tree to make it. After it is cut down, typically the wood is custom fitted to specifically fit the drummer. It’s a tradition to this day that you have to be born into in order to play, or be interested in playing the djembe drum. Children are typically taught how to play with coffee cans on the side of the road or with pots and pans. Sounds familiar,

Instruments used to portray these various styles of music were often drums of all shapes and sizes, rattles, and often tambourines or bells with other percussion instruments. The drums were constructed by using such materials as clay, iron, wood or aluminum with heads of buckskin, chamois, or rubber. These drums were typically played with a single drumstick, holding a steady pattern of four beats. Also, in addition to these instruments there were wind instruments.

Drums have existed for a very long time. Some say they even date back to 6000 BC. It is no wonder then, that they have been used for a variety of situations and have evolved to create a wide range of different types. This being said, all drums, or 'membranophones' (the technical classification), consist of at least one drum-head or drum skin. This is stretched over a shell and beaten either by hand or instrument to produce its sound. Most commonly it is used as a musical instrument as a part of the percussion group, to be used in rituals or entertainment such as modern day's rock bands. Throughout the world, drums have been created from many materials, including wood, metal, plastic and even clay.

Jazz is an art form which developed completely in the new world. However, the influence of African and European music spread due to immigration, slavery and trade. Jazz has a complex history which has roots in a diverse range of musical genres. Many factors which affected the development of jazz were intentional. However, many were also circumstantial, and as a result, gave jazz unique elements which otherwise would not be present. Jazz has two main genres of music which influenced it: Western military marches and traditional music which came from Africa and was developed by African Slaves. African slaves, while stripped of most of their culture, were usually allowed to sing vocal songs as they were shown to help get work done. These field hymns originated from the traditional musical practices in Africa, and developed over time. As slaves began setting up escape routes and converting to Christianity, their songs developed coded messages, usually using religious stories such as the Exodus as metaphors for running away. These songs always stayed true to African harmonies, melodies, and rhythms. On the Western side, marching bands were important from the begining of America. At the start of the 19th century, many blacks began being drafted to be musicians in these marching bands. They played an important role in directing the troops in various wars, such as the war of 1812 and the Civil War. After the end of the Civil War, there were many brass instruments in the hands of

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

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

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 African beats, the wind instruments and the rhythms that have been passed down through the

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.

While in Barbados, Ligon writes about cultural adaptations which are evident between the European and African inhabitants. Ligon knew a slave named “Macow”, he entered Ligon’s house only to find Ligon playing a musical instrument (called the “Theorbo”) and singing a song to it. Macow waited, watched, and listened attentively to these noises the Theorbo created. What caught Macow’s interest was the fact that the Theorbo made different pitches in sounds. All Macow knew was the drum, and how it was only capable of making a single tone. Ligon stumbled across Macow a couple days after this had happened. He noticed that Macow had a large piece of timber in which he was trying to duplicate the sound of the Theorbo. What Ligon points out in this story is the fact that some of the African slaves (or servants) actually have the potential to learn the Arts. Macow adapted to Ligon’s cultural practices and tried to duplicate them with this act.

Lastly, there is the water drum. This drum sounds completely different from the previous types; it is built differently as well. The water drum is made from an iron kettles or hollowed out and dried calabashes, which are then filled to a specific height with water. Even though this particular drum does not have any direct influences in percussion instruments, it can be easily recreated with a present-day household item like a milk jug. All of these drums are used by Native Americans to connect to The Great Spirit and the Earth.

Work songs were another influential form of musical expression in the lives of slaves, and these songs were sung by a field of hands in order to coordinate and pace their work, and slave owners expected their slaves to sing. In fact, many slave-masters discovered that drums could be used as a secret means of communication. Many of the slave owners were concerned that this secret means of communication could eventually lead to a slave uprising. As a result, drums were banned, but the enslaved Africans substituted “hand clapping” in the place of drums in order to reproduce the complex rhythms of African drumming.

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.