African Music

Africa is huge. The USA could fit into the continent of Africa three times! And Africa is diverse. So, it is really impossible to talk about “African Music” as if there is a single type of African music. It has been common to divide Africa into four or five regions: North, West, East, Central and South. This is a useful division, but the biggest musical differences are between music north of the Sahara and music south of the Sahara. Some important features to consider in each of these regions are: 1. Music as a function of society and community 2. Music as it relates to language 3. Rhythmic and metric musical features 4. Melodic and harmonic musical features 5. Formal structures found in music 6. Relationship of music to movement (e.g. dance) 7. Relationship of music to religious thought 8. Relationship of traditional to contemporary musical materials 9. Relationship of indigenous to external musical materials