MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF AFRICA
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.
These are the classifications of traditional African instruments
A. Idiophone
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- These 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.
3. Djembe- The West African djembe (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 friction drums. Some have one head, others have two heads.
B. Membranophone
These are instruments which have vibrating animal membranes used in drums.
Their shapes may be conical, cylindrical, barrel, hour-glass, globular, or kettle,
and are played with sticks, hands, or a combination of both.
Here are some examples of membranophone instruments
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.
Talking Drum
The talking drum is used to send messages to announce births, deaths,
marriages, sporting events, dances, initiation, or war.
Sometimes it may also contain gossip or jokes. It is believed that the drums can
carry direct messages to the spirits after the death of a loved one
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 is an example of this kind of percussion instruments in Africa under
Lamellaphone. This is a hand piano or thumb piano. The thumb piano or finger
xylophone is of African origin and is used throughout the continent.
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.
Here are some some instruments classified as chordophone
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
2. Lute
(konting, khalam, and the fingers. 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.
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.
Another Classification of traditional African instruments is the Aerophones.
Aerophones are instruments which are produced initially by trapped vibrating
air columns or which enclose a body of vibrating air
Some of the instruments classified as aerophone are the following
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.
Panpipe
It 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.
Here are some examples of panpipe
1. Horn and trumpets
It is 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
2. Whistles
It is 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 Mexic
3. 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.
