AFRO LATIN AND
POPULAR MUSIC
MUSIC 10 UNIT II
AFRICAN MUSIC
• The music of Africa has been influenced by a mixture of language,
environment, cultures, politics, and population movement. Each tribe
has been exposed differently thereby producing slightly different
sounds and rhythm in every tribe. However, they unite as one Africa in
the use of music. Music is a part of their daily routine. It is not only for
entertainment but serves a greater purpose. There is a particular
music and dance for every occasion-for work and for religious
ceremonies of birth, naming, rites of passage, marriage, and funerals.
The beats and sounds of the drum are not only for cultural expression
but more so for communication purposes. There is a certain 'heartbeat
in every drum beat. As a whole, their music has an Arabic influence.
AFRICAN RHYTHMM
• MARACATU
• Maracatu is an ancient carnival tradition from the north-east of Brazil.
Maracatu has its roots in the sugar fazendas and slave estates of
Pernambuco state, where black African slaves formed religious
brotherhoods to preserve African culture and heritage. Each year, the
crowning of the slave King and Queen was celebrated with music and
dance.
•
• This is a notated sample rhythm of Maracatu. There are five different
rhythm instruments each playing different rhythmic patterns.
AFRICAN VOCAL FORMS
• BLUES
• Blues is a musical form and genre associated with the newly acquired
freedom of the enslaved. It came around at the end of the 19th century.
Early blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating
troubles experienced within Africa-American society.
•
• Characteristics of Traditional Blues
• 1. Uses "12 bars"
• “12 bars" refers to the number of measures, or musical bars, used to
express the theme of a typical blues song.
• 2. Uses the most common chord progression I- IV- V- I
• I- “tonic”- the beginning chord or starting chord"
• IV- “sub-dominant”-the fourth degree from the tonic
• V "dominant" - the fifth degree from the tonic
•
• 3. Uses Blue Notes
• The lyrics of early traditional blues verse consisted of a single line repeated four times. The blue
notes are also an important part of the sound of blues.
•
• This scale shows the blues notes. The blues notes are the lowered third, lowered fifth, and
lowered seventh as indicated by the flat "b” signs.
•
SOUL
• Soul Music is a gospel-style music with secular lyrics. In the 60's when
blues was urbanized and commercialized, a new genre emerge-the Soul
music'. It was inspired by the traditional gospel music and rhythm of the
African-American society. The term 'soul' in African-American terminology
has implications to African-American pride and culture.
• Ray Charles Robinson (American, 1930-2004) was a singer, songwriter,
musician and composer who is sometimes referred to as "The Genius". He
waste pioneer of the soul music genre. He was one of the first African-
American musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record
company.
•
• SPIRITUAL
• Spirituals, also known as Negro Spirituals, are generally Christian songs created by African people who were
then slaves in the United States. They were foremost, an expression of sacred faith. It may also have been used
as indirect socio-political protests against the culture of the white American. Spirituals were originally
monophonic and unaccompanied but they are now best known as harmonized choral arrangements.
•
• CALL AND RESPONSE
• Call and response as the name imply is like a pattern of human conversation wherein there is a first speaker and
second speaker. There are two separate phrases played by different musicians. The fist phrase serves as a
statement or a question where the second phrase will also serve as a reaction to the statement. It is likened to a
musical form with a verse and a chorus.
• Call and response are a prevalent prototype of a democratic participation in Sub-Saharan African cultures. It is
used in public gatherings like religious rituals and in the discussion of public affairs. It also served as an
expression of vocal and instrumental music. It is this very tradition that was transported to the New World
during the African slavery and was handed down from generation to generation in different forms of cultural
expression
CHARACTERISTICS OF AFRICAN
MUSIC
• 1. Primacy of rhythm
• Rhythm is the focal point of African music and the most highly developed component. Often there is the simultaneous use
of two or more meters, resulting in "constant conflict of rhythms" and described as "many levels of rhythm happening
simultaneously
•
• 2. Call and Response as the most important form
• Call and response are a style in which a melody is sung by one singer and is responded to or echoed by one or more singers.
•
• 3. Tone color and flexibility of pitch
• The voice quality is usually open and resonant. There 1s a variety of tone qualities in both vocal and instrumental music.
•
• 4. Use of "Blue Notes"
• African music uses the so-called "blue notes". The 3rd, 5th and 7thnotes are flatted. The 'blue notes' is an evidence of
Arabic influence.
•
• 5. Personalization and the wide latitude of personal expression
• Personalization is made possible through the different vocal ornamentations such as rhythmic grunting, bends, dips,
shouting/singing, and the upward break, falling release including glissando. Singers are free to express their emotions through
the use of these ornamentations according to their own preferences.
•
• 6. Percussiveness of sound
• Both in vocal and instrumental music have powerful impact percussive quality of sound".
•
• 7. Emphasis on improvisation
• They create their own music or inject their own while simultaneously singing and or playing an instrument, an avenue where
creativity is honed.
•
• 8. Heterophony
• It is common for Africans to play the same line but each in their own creative way, producing simultaneously sounding
variations in the line making it a very rich and thick sound.
•
REPRESENTATIVE AFRICAN
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
NYANGA PANPIPES
• This set of four instruments, called
Nyanga by the Nyungwe people from
the Tete district of Mozambique,
represents basic starter set: part of an
ensemble that can include up to 30
instruments. The music played on
them is very exciting, and extremely
challenging, involving blowing and
singing interlocking rhythmic patterns,
while dancing intricate steps.
XHOSA UHADI BOWS
• The Uhadi is a traditional instrument
that requires a shift in Western musical
perceptions. The scale is built up from
the harmonic Series resulting from the
overtones of the two fundamental
notes played on the single string. These
overtones are separated and amplified
by changing position of the instrument,
which tunes the resonating air space
between the gourd resonator and the
player's chest.
KUDU HORNS
• This set of six horns represents a cross
pollination of musical traditions. Animal
horns are played all over Africa, and
ensembles of pentatonic instruments form
the basis of many musical traditions, from
the Makondere horn bands from central
Africa, to the single panpipes of the Pedi.
Almost any pentatonic tune can be
transposed onto these horns. The sound is
warm and mellow and will lend a unique,
heraldic African accent to any formal
occasion.
AKADINDA
• This enormous instrument is played
throughout central Africa in many
different traditions. Players stand
on opposite sides if the instrument
is elevated or sit if the instrument
is without a stand and play fast
interlocking patterns. Up to six
players can be accommodated on
one instrument.
