LESSON 1 MUSIC OF AFRICA

African music is one of the most influential styles of music in

the world. It has greatly influenced the music of Contemporary America, Latin
America and European music. Its highly energetic and rhythmically challenging
beats are quite universal. Jazz, Gospel and Spiritual, and Rhythm and Blues
(RnB) are genres of music that have deep roots to African music.
The music of Africa is the product of the diverse history, topography,
and unique musical heritage of more than 50 countries. It is the result of the
fusion of traditional and European influences which was a result of the
colonization of Europe to most of the continent until the 19th Century.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC OF AFRICA

African traditional music is mainly functional in nature which is used
primarily in ceremonial rites, such as birth, death, marriage, succession,
worship, and spirit invocations. Others are work related or social in nature,
while many traditional societies view their music as a form of entertainment.

Some Types of African Music

1. Afrobeat – It is a term used to describe the fusion of West

African with Black American music.
2. Apala (Akpala) - It is a musical genre from Nigeria in the
Yoruba tribal style to wake up the worshippers after fasting
during the Muslim holy feast of Ramadan.
3. Axe - It is a popular musical genre from Salvador, Bahia, and
Brazil. It fuses the Afro-Caribbean styles of marcha, reggae,
and calypso.
4. Jit - It is a hard and fast percussive Zimbabwean dance music
played on drums with guitar accompaniment influenced by
mbira-based guitar styles.
5. Jive - It is a popular form of South African music featuring a
lively and uninhibited variation of the jitterbug, a form of
swing dance.
6. Juju - It is a popular music style from Nigeria that relies on
the traditional Yoruba rhythms. A drum kit, keyboard, pedal
steel guitar, and accordion are used along with the traditional
dun-dun (talking drum or squeeze drum).
7. Kwassa Kwassa – It is a music style that begun in Zaire in
the late 1980s popularized by Kanda Bongo Man. In this
dance style, the hips move back and forth while the arms
move following the hips.
8. Marabi – It is a South African three-chord township music of
the 1930s-1960s which evolved into African Jazz. It is
characterized by simple chords in varying vamping patterns
and repetitive harmony over an extended period.

VOCAL FORMS OF AFRICAN MUSIC

1. Maracatu – It is the combination of strong rhythms of African percussion
instruments and Portuguese melodies. This form of music is being
paraded along the streets by up to 100 participants.
 2. Blues – It is one of the most widely performed musical forms of the late
19th century. The melodies of blues are expressive and soulful. The slaves
and their descendants used to sing these as they work in the fields.
3. Soul – It is a popular music genre of the 1950s and 1960s which
originated in the African-American community throughout the United
States. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm
and blues, and often jazz.
4. Spiritual – It originated in the Unites States and created by African-
American slaves. It is also known as “Negro Spiritual”. It became a means
of imparting Christian values and a way of venting their hardships as
slaves.
5. Call and Response – It is likened to a question and answer sequence in
human communication. The slaves used to sing these songs while
simultaneously doing all their tasks in a day.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF AFRICA

African music has a very wide range of genres. It includes all the major
instrumental genres of western music including strings, winds, and
percussion, along with a tremendous variety of specific African musical
instruments for solo or ensemble playing. Get ready to learn their most
popular instruments!

Classification of Traditional African Instruments

A. Idiophones – Sound is produced by the body of the instrument vibrating.

1. Agogo - It is a single bell or multiple bells and is
considered as the oldest samba instrument based on
West African Yoruba single or double bells. It has the
highest pitch of any of the bateria instruments.

2. Shekere – It is a type of gourd and shell megaphone

from West Africa, consisting of a dried gourd with beads
woven into a net covering the gourd.

3. Slit/Log drum – It is a hollow percussion instrument.

Although known as a drum, it is not a true drum but is an
idiophone. It is usually carved or constructed from
bamboo or wood into a box with one or more slits in the
top.

4. Atingting Kon (Slit Gong) – It is a hollowed cylinder of

wood with a narrow longitudinal opening or slit whose
edges are struck to produce a deep, sonorous tone. They
are considered to be portraits of ancestors so that when
played, it is the voices of awakened ancestors which
resonate from their interior chamber.

5. Balafon – It is a kind of wooden xylophone or percussion

idiophone which plays melodic tunes. It has been played
in the region since the 1300s. In the 16 th century, it
became a real art at the royal court of
Sikasso/ Mali and was flourishing under the reign of a
generous king.
B. Membranophones – Sound is produced by the vibration of a tightly
stretched membrane.

1. Body percussion - It refers to African music using their

bodies as instruments. Their body can be used to produce
sound by clapping their hands, slapping their thighs,
pounding their upper arms or chests, or shuffling their feet.
Wearing of rattles or bells on their wrists, ankles, arms, and
waists enhances their emotional response.

2. Talking drum – It is used to send messages to announce

births, deaths, marriages, sporting events, dances, initiations
or war. It is believed that the drums can carry direct
messages to the spirits after the death of a loved one.

3. Djembe - The West African djembe (pronounced zhem-bay)

is one of the best-known African drums. It is shaped like a
large goblet and played with bare hands. The body is carved
from a hollowed trunk and is covered with goat skin.

C. Lamellaphone – Sound is produced by the vibration of tongues of

metal, wood or other material.

1. Mbira (Kalimba/ Thumb Piano) – It is a set of plucked

tines or keys mounted on a sound board. It is being played by
holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines
with the thumbs. They used this instrument to drive away
evil spirits since it is believed that it was a vector of
communication with ancestors and spirits.

2. Array Mbira – It is a hand-crafted instrument with a

unique harp or bell-like sound. It is a popular traditional
instrument of the Shona people in Zimbabwe. It is a radical
redesign of the African Mbira and it consists of up to 150
metal tines attached to a wooden board, comprising up to
five octaves.
D. Chordophones – Sound is produced by the vibration of a string or
strings that are stretched between fixed points.

1. Musical Bow - The Musical bow is the ancestor of all

string instruments. It is the oldest and one of the most
widely used string instruments of Africa. It consists of a
single string attached to each end of a curved stick,
similar to a bow and arrow.

2. Zeze - The Zeze is an African fiddle played with a bow, a

small wooden stick, or plucked with the fingers. It has
one or two strings made of steel or bicycle brake wire. It
is from Sub-Saharan Africa.

E. Aerophones – Sound is produced through the vibration of air.

1. Fulani – It is a type of flute which is widely used

throughout Africa and either vertical or side-blown. They
are usually fashioned from a single tube closed at one
end and blown like a bottle.

2. Kudu Horn – It is made from the horn of the kudu

antelope. Its sound releases a mellow and warm sound
that adds a unique African accent to their music.

LESSON 2 MUSIC OF LATIN AMERICA

Like African Music, Latin American Music is also popular worldwide. You
have probably experienced dancing a Latin dance like Cha-cha-cha, Salsa,
Mambo, and Samba. Of course, you have probably listened to a lot of Latin
music like “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi or the version of Justin Bieber and
“Bailamos” by Enrique Iglesias.
 The music of Latin America is the product of three major influences –
Indigenous, Spanish-Portuguese, and African. Sometimes called Latin music, it
includes the countries that have a colonial history from Spain and Portugal,
divided into the following areas of Andean Region, Central America, Caribbean
and Brazil.

INFLUENCES ON LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC

1. Indigenous Latin-American Music – The natives were found to be using

local drum and percussion instruments. The indigenous music of Latin
America was largely functional in nature, being used for religious worships
and ceremonies.
2. Native American/ Indian Music - The ethnic and cultural groups of the
principal Native Americans share many similar yet distinctive music
elements. Songs had a wide range of volume levels. Songs celebrate themes
like harvest, planting season or other important events or occasions of the
year.
3. Afro-Latin American Music - The African influence on Latin American
music is most pronounced in its rich and varied rhythmic patterns produced
by drums and various percussion instruments.
4. Euro-Latin American Music - The different regions of Latin America
adopted various characteristics from their European colonizers. Melodies of
the Renaissance period were used in Southern Chile and the Colombian
Pacific coasts.
5. Mixed American Music - The result of the massive infusion of African
culture also brought about the introduction of other music and dance forms
such as the Afro-Cuban rumba, Jamaican reggae, Colombian cumbia, and the
Brazilian samba.

Popular Latin American Music

1. Samba - It is a dance form of African origin around 1838 which evolved

into an African-Brazilian invention in the working class and slum districts
of Rio de Janeiro. Its lively rhythm was meant to be executed for singing,
dancing, and parading in the carnival.
2. Son – It is a fusion of the popular music or canciones (songs) of Spain and
the African rumba rhythms of Bantu origin. Originating in Cuba, it is
usually played with the guitar, contrabass, bongos, maracas, and claves.
Its most important legacy is its influence on present-day Latin American
music, particularly as the forerunner of the salsa.
3. Salsa – It is a social dance with marked influences from Cuba and Puerto
Rico that started in New York in the mid 1970s. Its style contains elements
from the swing dance and hustle as well as the complex Afro-Cuban and
Afro-Caribbean dance forms of pachanga and guaguanco.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF LATIN AMERICA

The varied cultures developed in Latin America gave rise to different types of
wind and percussion instruments. As some instruments were considered holy
 and music was supposed to glorify the gods, mistakes in playing these
instruments were considered offensive and insulting to them.

A. Aztec and Mayan Instruments

These are the instruments that were played during the Aztec Empire (c.
1345-
1521 CE) and Mayan Civilization (1800 BC – AD 950). Aztec and Mayan people
are people who lived in Southern Mexico and Northern Central America Central.

1. Tlapitzalli – It is a flute variety from the Aztec culture made

of clay with decorations of abstract designs or images of
their deities.

2. Teponaztli – It is a Mexican slit drum hollowed out and

carved from a piece of hardwood with designs representing
human figures or animals to be used for both religious and
recreational purposes.

3. Conch – It is a wind instrument made from a seashell

usually of a large sea snail. It is prepared by cutting a hole
in its spine near the apex, and then blown into as if it were a
trumpet.

4. Rasp – It is a hand percussion instrument whose sound is

produced by scraping a group of notched sticks with another
stick, creating a series of rattling effects.

5. Huehueti – It is a Mexican upright tubular drum used by the

Aztecs and other ancient civilizations. It is made of wood
opened at the bottom and standing on three legs cut from
the base, with its stretched skin beaten by the hand or a
wooden mallet.

B. Incan Instruments
These are instruments that were being played during the civilization
of Inca between c. 1400 and 1533 CE in Pre-Columbian America, which was
centered in what is now Peru. The Incas built one of the largest, most tightly
controlled empires the world has ever known.

1. Ocarina - It is an ancient
vessel flute made of clay or
ceramic with four to 12 finger
holes and a mouthpiece that
projected from the body.

2. Zampoñas (Panpipes) – These are ancient

instruments tuned to different scalar varieties, played by
blowing across the tubetop.

C. Andean Instruments
 These are the instruments that were being played during the Andean
Civilization (c. 3000 BCE – 1537). This civilization is considered indigenous and
not derived from other civilizations mainly because they came from the river
valleys of the coastal desserts of Peru.

1. Siku- It is a side
-blown cane flute
that is played all year round.

2. Tarkas- Theseare vertical duct flutes with a mouthpiece similar to

that of a recorder, used during the rainy season.

3. Quenas– Theseare vertical cane flutes with an

-notched
end made
from fragile bamboo. They are used during the dry season.

D. Mariachi

It is an extremely popular band in Mexico whose original

ensemble consisted of violins, guitars, harp, and an
enormous guitarron. Mariachi music is extremely
passionate and romantic with their blended harmonies
and characterized by catchy rhythms.

VOCAL AND DANCE FORMS OF LATIN AMERICAN MUSIC

1. Cumbia – It is a popular African courtship dance with European and African

instrumentation and characteristics, originating in Panama and Colombia. It
contains varying rhythmic meters.
2. Tango – It is a foremost Argentinian and Uruguayan urban popular song and
dance and remains a 20th century nationalistic Argentinian piece of music
that is most expressive.
3. Cha Cha – It is a ballroom dance originated in Cuba in 1953 that was derived
from the mambo. The Cuban Cha Cha is considered more sensual because it
contains polyrhythmic patterns.
4. Rumba - It is a popular recreational dance with Afro-Cuban origin. It is
normally used as a ballroom dance where a couple would be in an embrace
though slightly apart, with the rocking of the hips to a fast-fast-slow
sequence.
5. Bossa nova – It is the slower and gentler version of the Cuban Samba,
originated in the 1950s. It is the Portuguese term for “new trend”. This genre
integrates melody, harmony and rhythm into swaying feel and mostly sung in
a nasal manner. Antonio Carlos Jobim is the foremost international figure of
Bossa nova while Sitti Navarro is his Filipino counterpart.
6. Reggae - It is an urban popular music and dance style that originated in
Jamaica in the mid1960s. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint
between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. Bob
Marley is the best known proponent of reggae who hails from Jamaica.
7. Foxtrot – It is a 20th century social dance that originated after 1910 in the
USA. This dance had no fixed step pattern, instead borrowing from other
dance forms and having a simple forward/backward sequence.
8. Paso Doble - It is a theatrical Spanish dance used by the Spaniards in
bullfights which means “double step”. The dance is arrogant and dignified
where the dancer takes strong steps forward with the heels accompanied by
artistic hand movements, foot stomping, sharp and quick.