West Africa

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

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

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.

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.

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

Music is an expressive language of culture which tells a story, reveal ideas, offers various opinions and share emotions of life's experiences. Music is a unique identity of a particular culture. Different cultures have different ranges of music. Music creates and shapes culture and it is true for vice-versa. There is a circular relationship. In the South, it is treated as a heritage and has a great history of evolving on a large platform. Music ties generations together. Hillbilly music and Blues music were the lifelines of people in the South. This music reflects the American Culture of patriotism and era of World War II. There is a great story related to hillbilly music’s history, image and popularity.

The film, Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, showed how during the Apartheid, music in South Africa was a form of expression of the country’s general emotion that portrayed the oppression and struggle the black natives had to endure. Songs amongst the black South African community had different tones; for example, some songs depicted the injustices of the Apartheid amongst the black natives and others would be sung to uplift the people. Even though songs were sung as either beautiful melodies of hope and prayer or peaceful protests, they would still continue to upset the white community, specifically the government, which ordinarily resulted in violence. Music was applied throughout many aspects of black South African traditions and customs that it also played an important role of being a form of communication to alleviate the injustices brought upon them. In the beginning of the film, activist Sifiso Ntuli stated, “Song is something that we communicated with people who otherwise would not have understood where we were coming from. You could give them a long political speech and they would still not understand, but I tell you, when you finish that song people be like I know where you guys are coming from. Death unto Apartheid.” (Hirsch 2002). This statement emphasizes how powerful and pivotal music was to the salvation of the black South African community and how it enlightened those who were

In today 's world most music we hear today is profanity such as rap or pop or basically any music in the united states. But there is one culture that hasn 't changed that much but has stayed to their roots and is still popular today. That is African American music. Because of the rise of modern day music in America such as rap and pop I want to show how African music has impacted the world today and stayed in their roots.

Caribbean music has truly become world music and, in its own way, world history, as well”. The author states that because Caribbean music serves as a link between different music background in the world. It is blended between indigenous Caribbean, Afro American, European and Indian. Likewise, beside the Trinidad calypso, the reggae and the dancehall deejay, the Caribbean music plays a main role in the worldwide music and had dominance impacts on many other cultures. Every Caribbean’s melody reflects a different historical period, so it is said that the “world history”. Like the Calypso is the way to communicate among slaves, the reggae usually relates to political issues and news.

The traditional music of Africa, given the vastness of the continent, is historically ancient, rich and diverse, with differentregions and nations of Africa having many distinct musical traditions.

On February 16, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Harriet Fulton Theater, the University of Tennessee at Martin hosted its Civil Rights Conference with the UTM percussion ensemble. Entitled “Roots of Rhythm,” the purpose of the conference was to trace the migration of the slave trade through music, specifically focusing on the five following countries: Ghana, Zimbabwe, Trinidad, Colombia, and Brazil. The introductory piece was “La Samba,” and the instructor informed the audience that slavery widely influenced the cultures of the countries. The ensemble started with Ghana whose musical style was called “Kpanglo.” The next country, Zimbabwe, had a musical style called “Shumba,” which is considered the rock version of percussion music and includes the

Another country with a rich history of music and culture is

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.

Percussion has evolved throughout its history into what it is today. Melodic instruments have several origins, the two main origins being Eastern Asia and Africa. In each culture their first intended use was for religion and war. Melodic percussion instruments, like most instruments, are now used for less serious events than their original uses. Rather than being linked to war and religion, a majority of melodic percussion is used for entertainment. Along with the change of melodic percussion’s contributions in war and religion, comes the advancement melodic percussion has made for entertainment. Today they are played in most places around the world in ensembles or even on streets during street performances. Although the instruments belonging to melodic percussion can be played and enjoyed on their own, the main purpose of a melodic percussion instrument now usually lies

A few common threads found in music around the world are the themes of entertainment, appearances of stringed instruments, and forms of religious music. Despite possessing different cultures, all countries occupy and share entertaining music among their population. To name a few, Spain’s Flamenco, Vietnam’s Nhac Tai Tu, and Cuba’s Afro-Cuban Son all contain some characteristics of entertainment between the performers and audience. Flamenco gathers passionate vocals, vibrant guitars, and enthusiastic onlookers and dancers, while Nhac Tai Tu appears regularly at any sort of meet up between friends from a private village home to a music club in town (Miller and Shahriari 124). Afro-Cuban Son incorporates a Latin jazz sound to create danceable music that attracts others (Miller and Shahriari 368). Furthermore, besides entertainment, many countries have religious themed music or chants such as India’s Hindu Bhajan, Tibet’s Buddhist Rituals, Haiti’s Vodou Ritual, and Islamic “Call to Prayer” for their respective religions. Another similarity between the different countries are the appearances of a variety of chordophones or string instruments like the sitar from India, guqin from China, tanbur