African Music
African music is very focused on traditions and customs. The thing that makes it very interesting is that it focuses on rhythm and it also involves the use of dancing to express those musical tones in a meaningful way. We can notice that the instruments used are unique, such as water drums, shakers, as well as talking drums, xylophones, marimbas and djembes. These create a very distinct, unique musical experience. Every African region has its fair share of differences, with each region bringing in front its own, unique set of ideas to the table. The most popular instruments in Africa are the djembe, ngoni and kora. But usually African music is not only instrumental. It actually involves a lot of singing, and that alone makes it very distinct when compared to other musical genres. That’s why it’s extremely interesting and it’s a unique tribute to the local region as well.
African traditions, songs and music was - and still is - used for rituals and religious ceremonies in many locations. What makes it stand out is that it relies on percussion instruments as well as tone producing instruments. On top of that, this type of music is most of the time based on a rhythmic language, which is very important dance and for trance. You have just a few beats, but they are expanded upon and varied as the song continues. African music doesn’t have a written tradition, in fact most of this music barely has lyrics most of the time. Of course, modern influences has shifted things quite a lot. They adopted some of the modern genres like soul, folk, electronic music or jazz,..and even pop.