African Music
The art that derives from our sense of hearing ismusic. The basic elements of music are sound and silence.Music has many purposes within all societies. Most musicperformed by Africans is part of a social activity and isviewed as a sharing experience for everyone. African musicis generally classified into two main style areas, which areArab North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. There are manyunique regional music styles, including a immense influencefrom the Islamic faith which extends across the savanna Within African music, there are many types ofpercussion instruments, including the drums, clap-sticks,bells, rattles, slit gongs, struck gourds and clay pots,stamping tubes, and xylophones. There are two basic types ofxylophone. The frame xylophones, in which the keys areattached to a frame. The lamellaphone, which is also knownas the thumb piano, is found throughout the continent ofAfrica. The mbira, kalimba, and likembe, are a series ofmetal or bamboo strips mounted on a board or box. Africandrums come in many shapes and sizes. Wood
African musiccommunicates messages and feelings, ideas are extramusical. The peoples of Africa speak around one thousandAfrican languages, and there are more than fifty Africannations, each with its own history and unique mixture ofcultures and languages. The Kru branch of the Niger-Congo subfamily consists ofabout 30 languages that are spoken in southeastern Liberiaand southwestern Ivory Coast. Thesingle stringed goge fiddle is played by Hausa musicians innorthern Nigeria. Most of these languages are not widely spoken. Niger Kordofanian isthe language of which is spoken in nearly all the areas fromSenegal to Kenya, and to South Africa. Trumpets madefrom animal horns or wood are found over a wide area. The musicalbow, which includes of a string stretched between two endsof a flexible stave, performs an important role in thetraditional music of southern African peoples, such as theSan, Xhosa, and Zulu. African stringedinstruments range from musical bows, lutes, lyres, harps,and zithers. In Africa the twenty most widespread languages arespoken by less than half of the people. The languages and cultures of the people of North Africa areclosely related to those of the Arab world and the MiddleEast. It serves as the transferal of knowledge and values and forcelebrating important communal occasions. Mandekan is themost at large spoken Mande language. These peoplewere known for raising cattle, hunting and gathering.
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