Typical instruments of Africa

If you do not know Africa or you are not aware of the cultural and musical richness of this continent, you may think that Africans only play drums. It is not like this! There are not only percussion instruments here, but wind, string and a complex variety capable of generating beautiful and unforgettable sounds.

Let's find out today in Actualidad Viajes, typical instruments of Africa.

music of africa

When musical historiography is done on this ancient continent, one discovers that one must go back in time. This is how wonders are discovered. For example, in the XNUMXth century BC, Hanno the Carthaginian happened to be here, paying a brief visit to the west coast, on one of his naval expeditions, and noted the existence of wind instruments as well as percussion instruments. He recounts hearing the sounds of flutes, cymbals, and the roar of drums.

But the truth is that in addition to these types of musical instruments noted by the navigator and explorer also there was and still is a variety of stringed instruments ranging from simple things to varieties of harps, lyres and zithers. In addition, each society tends to specialize in certain particular instruments and this varies from region to region.

Even in the XNUMXth century hybrids have emerged from the influence of outside.This is the case of segankuru and ramkie (chordophones), from southern Africa; or the malipenga from Tanzania and Malawi. It must be considered that musical instruments in these societies have various roles. Some focus only on religious life or particular cultural or social rituals, others have restricted use to certain people of a certain sex and age or social status.

For example, among the Xhosa tribe, only girls play the Jewish harp, an imported version of the classic oral harp that they have always used. Then, musical instruments here are also used outside the solemn, to lighten social gatherings and accompany a dance, for example, accompanying cattle in their grazing, transmitting messages or, together, with trumpets, to make speeches, or alone, to accompany a song.

Let us now see what kind of African instruments there are.

idiophones

Idiophone instruments are those that they have their own sound because they use their body as resonating matter. They are percussion instruments and produce sound primarily by the vibration of their body, without air, strings or membranes.

We can talk like this about grooved drums. They are usually made of bamboo or wood, empty, to which several slits have been made so that it sounds when struck. This type of instrument is easy to play and build. One of the oldest is Gankoki, an iron bell, double bell, played by the Ewe people of Ghana, which is part of the orchestral skeleton of Togo, Ghana and Benin, for example.

All the maracas and rattles They are widely used throughout the continent and come in all sizes and shapes, materials, natural, man-made, made with leather, fruits, coconuts, cans, etc. The filling can be anything from stones to seeds. In turn, they are used with the hands or, if they have another shape, they can be worn on the ankles, wrists, head...

Finally, there are melodic idiophone instruments such as xylophones and lamellophones. Lamellophones are musical instruments with a long thin plate fixed only at one end. When the performer touches the free end and slides a finger over the plate, made of metal or bamboo, it vibrates. In the case of Africa we are talking about instruments such as sanza, the Jewish harp, mbira or kalimba.

A simple mbira can have between six and eight keys but there are some with 36. They are usually played by men and children but for some time now there are more women. The Mbira Dzavadzimu, "voice of the ancestors", has many possible tones, between 22 and 28 if it is made of metal. If we talk about xylophones then there is the amadinda, the baan, the balafon and the marimba.

Xylophones generally have the shape of a box with keys mounted on a wooden frame and resonators below. They are very old on the continent and are often seen as a musical imitation of language. In Guinea, a national treasure is the Sosso bala. They were only able to bring it from France in 2002, and it is 800 years old. In Burkina Faso there is the Gyil, played only by men, it aspires to communication with the ancestors of the Lobi and Degara tribes.

chordophones

The chordophones are string instruments: we are talking about harps, lyres, zithers, lutes, violins, musical bows… The latter are mostly played in southern Africa and include ground bows, pointed to the floor, mouth bows and resonance bows.

In West Africa, especially Mali, there are many of these harps and lutes, but the most popular is the Kora. Traditional koras have 21 strings, 11 on the right and 11 on the left. It is played with the strings up. For their part, the zithers are positioned horizontally.

The number of strings in a harp varies from 3 to 4, it is the case of the Bolon or the Molo, although there are some with 7 or 8. Some sounds resemble the sounds of the bass, others sound more like a classical guitar and others well like harps. There may be solos or be in an orchestra.

The truth is that Harps or kundis are one of the most popular stringed instruments in Africa and especially they are found in the south of the continent. They are peaceful, quiet instruments that are generally used to accompany a singer or a poet.

aerophones

Are the air instruments and among them we have the flutes, pipes, trumpets, horns and whistlers. In this type of instruments, the vibration of the air produces a sharp sound, like a siren. They are present in many countries across the continent and appear at dances of all kinds.

Whistlers are made of reeds or, these days, metal. Traditional flutes are made from bamboo or cane. In countries like Burkina Faso, Sudan, Uganda or Chad, groups of a hundred flutists are formed on special occasions. Each one plays a single note and the cooperation of the group is essential for the good result. What mastery!

on your own, the horns are usually made from the horns of cows, ivory, or wild animals. They are used to convey messages, announce arrivals, or simply as a musical instrument. In general we see them in countries like Ivory Coast and surroundings.

membranephones

They are instruments that they have a membrane that when struck generates the sound. Obviously, they are synonymous with Africa. They generally appear in three shapes: kettle, cup and hourglass.

African drums have great historical and cultural significance, they are played at social events, birth, death and marriage ceremonies. They are used in warfare, they are used for communication, and they are very meaningful to the community.

The drums are played with the hands, with a stick or with bones. The surface of the skin (from antelope, sheep, goat or cow, sometimes zebra or reptile), can be rough and create softer sounds, and sometimes the drums have attached metal beads or seeds and so the sounds are softer. rich. They may or may not have handles.

Drums & Percussion

They are the instruments that produce sound when hit, scraped, shaken by an object or body part. In the case of Africa we have that this type of instrument forms an important part of the African spirit.

Percussion band performances are always loud, dynamic, joyful. In this group we can name the African rainstick. And we only name a few typical instruments of Africa. There are many more and the universe of traditional African music is immense.


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