Mbira are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs, the right forefinger, and sometimes the left forefinger. Musicologists classify it as a lamellaphone, part of the plucked idiophone family of musical instruments. In Eastern and Southern Africa, there are many kinds of mbira, often accompanied by the hosho, a percussion instrument. It is often an important instrument played at religious ceremonies, weddings, and other social gatherings. The "Art of crafting and playing Mbira/Sansi, the finger-plucking traditional musical instrument in Malawi and Zimbabwe" was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020.
Zimbabwean music is heavily reliant on the use of instruments such as the mbira, Ngoma drums and hosho. Their music symbolizes much more than a simple rhythm, as the folk and pop style styled music was used as a symbol of hope for Zimbabweans looking to gain independence from Rhodesia. Music has played a significant role in the history of Zimbabwe, from a vital role in the traditional Bira ceremony used to call on ancestral spirits, to protest songs during the struggle for independence. The community in Zimbabwe used music to voice their resistance to their oppression, as one of the only weapons they had available to fight back with. In the eighties, the Music of Zimbabwe was at the center of the African Music scene thanks to genres such as Sungura and Jit. However, several performers were banned by state TV and radio leading to the closing of several music venues.
The Western Sahara has an established music tradition. Many of the well-known from the country musicians have settled in Dakar, where they mingled further with musicians from West Africa.
Shona music is the music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. There are several different types of traditional Shona music including mbira, singing, hosho and drumming. Very often, this music will be accompanied by dancing, and participation by the audience. In Shona music, there is little distinction between the performer and the audience, both are often actively involved in the music-making, and both are important in the religious ceremonies where Shona music is often heard.
A level, also "tonality level", Gerhard Kubik's "tonal step," "tonal block," and John Blacking's "root progression," is an important melodic and harmonic progression where melodic material shifts between a whole tone above and a whole tone below the tonal center. This shift can occur to both neighboring notes, in either direction, and from any point of departure. The steps above and below the tonic are often called contrasting steps. A new harmonic segment is created which then changes the tonality but not necessarily the key.
The music of West Africa has a significant history, and its varied sounds reflect the wide range of influences from the area's regions and historical periods.
Ngoma are musical instruments used by certain Bantu populations of Africa. Ngoma is derived from the Kongo word for "drum". Different Bantu-inhabited regions have their own traditions of percussion, with different names for their instruments. In Kikongo, "ngoma" is used by extension to signify specific dances, social occasions, and rhythms. In Swahili, Ngoma music is used to describe music, dance, instruments including the drums, and events together as a joint cultural practice.
In Zimbabwean Shona music, a deze is a halved calabash gourd that an mbira is placed into to amplify its sound. It is typically round and has bottle caps, shells or other objects strung around its perimeter to vibrate with the mbira, creating a buzzing sound. Cracked deze frequently are repaired by wire stitching. Because of the size of the deze, audience members cannot see the mbira players' hands. Because of this, it is not uncommon for those who want to learn the mbira to play the hosho first, so that they can stand behind the players to see into deze and learn by observation. Modern deze are often constructed out of fiberglass and epoxy for increased durability. However, some mbira players, like Chartwell Dutiro, critique the use of fiberglass dezes in live performance. Dutiro says it compromises the resonance of the mbira and thus hinders communication with dza vadzimu.
The International Library of African Music (ILAM) is an organization dedicated to the preservation and study of African music. Seated in Grahamstown, South Africa, ILAM is attached to the Music Department at Rhodes University and coordinates its Ethnomusicology Programme which offers undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in Ethnomusicology that include training in performance of African music. ILAM, as the largest repository of indigenous African music, is particularly known for its study of the lamellophone mbira of Zimbabwe and Mozambique, as well as the Chopi people's Timbila, a variant of the marimba from southern Mozambique.
Andrew Tracey was a South African ethnomusicologist, promoter of African music, composer, folk singer, band leader, and actor. His father, Hugh Tracey (1903–1977), pioneered the study of traditional African music in the 1920s–1970s, created the International Library of African Music (ILAM) in 1954, and started the company African Musical Instruments (AMI) which manufactured the first commercial kalimbas in the 1950s.
John Anthony Randoll Blacking was a British ethnomusicologist and social anthropologist.
Ogene is a style of Igbo music consisting of, and taking its name from, the ogene instrument, which is a large metal bell. The Ogene instrument has historically been made by the Igbo people of Nigeria. It is one of the most important metal instruments of the people.
Queen Marimba is a folk hero whose accomplishments have become part of the folklore of Africa. As is customary in most African cultures she is considered to be a god and was one of the immortals. She led the Akamba tribe in East Africa in very ancient times across the Ukambani plains in present day Kenya, stretching across the Kilimanjaro plains in present day Tanzania. There has been scant research done on her and presently the most notable source for information on her life comes from the writings of Vusa'mazulu Credo Mutwa. He asserts in his book; Indaba My Children, that she was the mother of the Akamba people at the time when they were getting to know their Maasai neighbours. Various renditions of his book have been published since the late 60's, including "My People, My Africa", "Indaba My Children" and "Africa Is My Witness."
Ikembe, is a type of musical instrument of the lamellaphone group, common amongst the people of Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo. The instrument consists of several iron lamellae, fixed to a rectangular wooden soundbox.
Okwuohia is one of the 14 villages of Obowo, Imo State, Nigeria.
African Music is an annual peer-reviewed academic journal published by the International Library of African Music. It covers contextualized studies of African music and related arts. Articles are made freely accessible after a two-year embargo period.
Joshua Pulumo Mohapeloa (1908-1982) was a prominent choral music composer in Sesotho, the native language of the BaSotho people of Southern Africa.
The Gods Must Be Crazy (soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 1980 film of the same name. The original soundtrack erroneously credits all of the music for the film to Johnny Boshoff. Many of the musical contributions appearing in the film were composed by Jack Trombey (a pseudonym for Dutch composer Jan Stoeckart) and feature Fred Mann playing the pan pipes, but were never attributed on the record sleeve. Trombey's compositions were derived from De Wolfe Music's 1977 library music release "The Good Earth".
Igbo Christian Music is an Igbo traditional musical genre written, performed, and sung to narrate or express Christian faith, values, or topics. The genre is vibrant and spiritually uplifting. It combines Christian religious themes such as Praise, hymnals, worship, and other Christian themes with traditional Igbo musical/cultural versions or elements. It reflects the fusion of faith, cultural identity, and musical expression within the Igbo Christian community.
