MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OFAFRICA friction drums.
Some have one head, others
African music includes all the major
instrumental genres of western music, including
strings, winds, and percussion, along with a
tremendous variety of specific African musical
instruments for solo or ensemble playing.
Classification of Traditional African
Instruments
A. Idiophones These are percussion instruments
that are either struck with a mallet or against
one another.
1. Balafon - The balafon is a West African
xylophone. It is a pitched percussion instrument
with bars made from logs or bamboo.
The xylophone is originally an Asian instrument
that follows the structure of a piano. It came
from Madagascar to Africa, then to the
Americas and Europe.
2. Rattles - Rattles are made of seashells, tin,
basketry, animal hoofs, horn, wood, metal bells,
cocoons, palm kernels, or tortoise shells. These
rattling vessels may range from single to several
objects that are either joined or suspended in
such a way as they hit each other.
8 war. Sometimes it may also contain gossip or
8 jokes. It is believed that the drums can carry
7. Shekere - The shekere is a type of gourd and
shell megaphonefrom West Africa, consisting of
a dried gourd with beads woven into a net
covering the gourd. Theagbe is another gourd
drum with cowrie shells usually strung with
white cotton thread. The axatse is a small
gourd, held by the neck and placed between
hand and leg.
8. Rasp - A rasp, or scraper, is a hand percussion
instrument whose sound is produced by
scraping the notches on a piece of wood
(sometimes elaborately carved) with a stick,
creating a series of rattling effects.
Gourd shekere
5. Slit drum - The slit drum is a hollow
percussion instrument. Although known as a
drum, it is not a true drum but is an idiophone.
It is usually carved or constructed from bamboo
or wood into a box with one or more slits in the
top. Most slit drums have one slit, though two
and three slits (cut into the shape of an “H”)
occur. If the resultant tongues are different in
width or thicknesses, the drum will produce two
different pitches.
6. Djembe - The West Africandjembe
(pronounced zhem-bay) is one of the best-
known African drums is. It is shaped like a large
goblet and played with bare hands. The body is
carved from a hollowed trunk and is covered in
goat skin.
Log drums come in different shapes and sizes as
well: tubular drums, bowl-shaped drums, and
have two heads. The bigger the drum, the lower
the tone or pitch. The more tension in the drum
head, the higher the tone produced. These
drums are played using hands or sticks or both;
and sometimes have rattling metal and jingles
attached to the outside or seeds and beads
placed inside the drum. They are sometimes
held under the armpit or with a sling.
Antique wooden rasp
1. Body percussion - Africans frequently use
their bodies as musical instruments. Aside from
their voices, where many of them are superb
singers, the body also serves as a drum as
people clap their hands, slap their thighs, pound
their upper arms or chests, or shuffle their feet.
This body percussion creates exciting rhythms
which also stir them to action. Moreover, the
wearing of rattles or bells on their wrists,
ankles, arms, and waists enhances their
emotional response.
2. Talking drum - The talking drum is used to
send messages to announce births, deaths,
marriages, sporting events, dances, initiation, or
direct messages to the spirits after the death of
a loved one.
However, learning to play messages on drums is
extremely difficult, resulting in its waning
popularity. An example of the talking drum is
the luna.
C. Lamellaphone
One of the most popular African percussion
instruments is the lamellaphone, which is a set
of plucked tongues or keys mounted on a sound
board. It is known by different names according
to the regions such as mbira, karimba, kisaanj,
and likembe.
Mbira (hand piano or thumb piano) - The thumb
piano or finger xylophone is of African origin
and is used throughout the continent. It consists
of a wooden board with attached staggered
metal tines (a series of wooden, metal, or rattan
tongues), plus an additional resonator to
increase its volume. It is played by holding the
instrument in the hands and plucking the tines
with the thumbs, producing a soft plucked
sound.
D. Chordophones
Chordophones are instruments which produce
sounds from the vibration of strings. These
include bows, harps, lutes, zithers, and lyres of
various sizes.
1. Musical bow - The musical bow is the
ancestor of all string instruments. It is the oldest
and one of the most widely-used string
instruments of Africa.
It consists of a single string attached to each
end of a curved stick, similar to a bow and
arrow. The string is either plucked or struck
with another stick, producing a per-cussive yet
delicate sound. The earth bow, the mouth bow,
and the resonator-bow are the principal types
of musical bows.
The earth bow, ground bow, or pit harp consist
of a hole in the ground, a piece of flexible wood
and a piece of chord. The musician plucks the
taut string to accompany his singing. When the
half gourd is not buried, the performer holds
the instrument very tightly under his knee flat
side down, so that the chord puts enough
tension on the wood to bend it into the shape
of a hunting bow.
A more advanced form of ground bow is made
from a log, half a gourd, a flat piece of wood,
and cord. The wooden strip is driven firmly into
one end of the log and the half gourd is
fastened to the log about 2 feet away from the
wooden strip. The cord, fastened from the
wooden strip to the gourd, is stretched so
tightly into the shape of a bow. The player holds
the instrument on the ground by placing one leg
across the log between the resonating gourd
and the wooden strip.
2. Lute (konting, khalam, and the nkoni ) - The
lute, originating from the Arabic states, is
shaped like the modern guitar and played in
similar fashion. It has a resonating body, a neck,
and one or more strings which stretch across
the length of its body and neck. The player
tunes the strings by tightening or loosening the
pegs at the top of the lute’s neck.
West African plucked lutes include the konting,
khalam, and the nkoni.
3. Kora - The kora is Africa's most sophisticated
harp, while also having features similar to a
lute. Its body is made from a gourd or calabash.
A support for the bridge is set across the
opening and covered with a skin that is held in
place with studs. The leather rings around the
neck are used to tighten the 21 strings that give
the instrument a range of over three octaves.
Thekora is held upright and played with the
fingers.
4. Zither - The zither is a stringed instrument
with varying sizes and shapes whose strings are
stretched along its body. Among the types of
African zither are the raft or Inanga zither from
Burundi, the tubular or Valiha zither from
Malagasy, and the harp or Mvet zither from
Cameroon.
Nkoni
Raft zither
African kora
E. Aerophones
Aerophones are instruments which are
produced initially by trapped vibrating air
columns or which enclose a body of vibrating
air. Flutes in various sizes and shapes, horns,
panpipes, whistle types, gourd and shell
megaphones, oboe, clarinet, animal horn and
wooden trumpets fall under this category.
1. Flutes - Flutes are widely used throughout
Africa and either vertical or side-blown. They
are usually fashioned from a single tube closed
at one end and blown like a bottle.
Panpipes consist of cane pipes of different
lengths tied in a row or in a bundle held
together by wax or cord, and generally closed at
the bottom. They are blown across the top,
each providing a different note.
Atenteben (Ghana) FulaniFlutes
5. Zeze - The zeze is an African fiddle played
with a bow, a small wooden stick, or plucked
with the fingers. It has one or two strings, made
of steel or bicycle brake wire. It is from Sub-
Saharan Africa. It is also known by the
namestzetze and dzendze, izeze and endingidi;
and on Madagascar is called lokanga (or
lokango) voatavo.
2. Horns - Horns and trumpets, found almost
everywhere in Africa, are commonly made from
elephant tusks and animal horns. With their
varied attractive shapes, these instruments are
end-blown or side-blown and range in size from
the small signal whistle of the southern cattle
herders to the large ivory horns of the tribal
chiefs of the interior. One trumpet variety, the
wooden trumpet, may be simple or artistically
carved, sometimes resembling a crocodile’s
head.
Kudu horn - This is one type of horn made from
the horn of the kudu antelope. It releases a
mellow and warm sound that adds a unique
African accent to the music. This instrument,
which comes in a set of six horns, reflects the
cross of musical traditions in Africa. Today, the
kudu horn can also be seen in football matches,
where fans blow it to cheer for their favourite
teams.
3. Reed pipes - There are single-reed pipes
made from hollow guinea corn or sorghum
stems, where the reed is a flap partially cut
from the stem near one end. It is the vibration
of this reed that causes the air within the
hollow instrument to vibrate, thus creating the
sound.
There are also cone-shaped double-reed
instruments similar to the oboe or shawm. The
most well-known is the rhaita or ghaita, an
oboe-like double reed instrument from
northwest Africa. It is one of the primary
instruments used by traditional music
ensembles from Morocco. The rhaita was even
featured in the Lord of the Rings soundtrack,
specifically in the Mordor theme.
4. Whistles - Whistles found throughout the
continent may be made of wood or other
materials. Short pieces of horn serve as
whistles, often with a short tube inserted into
the mouthpiece. Clay can be molded into
whistles of many shapes and forms and then
baked. Pottery whistles are sometimes shaped
in the form of a head, similar to the Aztec
whistles of Central America and Mexico.
5. Trumpets - African trumpets are made of
wood, metal, animal horns, elephant tusks, and
gourds with skins from snakes, zebras, leopards,
crocodiles and animal hide as ornaments to the
instrument.
They are mostly ceremonial in nature, often
used to announce the arrival or departure of
important guests. In religion and witchcraft,
some tribes believe in the magical powers of
trumpets to frighten away evil spirits, cure
diseases, and protect warriors