Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

1
Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

• Senzenina

2
In This Unit, We Will

• Explore the geography of areas with African music
• Explore the instruments used in African music
• Listen to music from different African cultures,
  populations, and religious groups
• Sing a traditional song from the Zulu people,
  Senzenina
• Create a polyrhythmic song as a class and in
  small groups

3
What Will I Be Doing?

• You will be doing three different things
• 1 Creating connections between content areas
  Geography, History, Art, Technology, and Music
• 2 Listening to new music that you may never
  have heard before
• 3 Learning melodies, harmonies, and rhythms
  from different cultures

4
Geography

• Sub-Sahara Africa is a geographical term that
  refers to the area of Africa that lies beneath
  the Sahara desert
• Sub-Sahara Africa includes...
• Kenya
• Rwanda
• Uganda
• Sudan Over 49 countries!
• Ethiopia
• Zimbabwe
• Madagascar

5
Languages Spoken

• Sub-Saharan Africa displays the most linguistic
  diversity of any region in the world.
• The region contains over
• 1,000 languages, which is 1/6
• of the world's total!

6
Religions

• Sub-Saharan Africa is largely Christian
• North African (not part of Sub-Sahara Africa) is
  Islamic and considered part of the Arab world

7
Characteristics of Sub-Saharan African Music

• Polyrhythm Rhythms that occur at the same time
  in two different meters
• Responsorial Forms An exchange between a
  performers vocal or instrumental call and a
  group response
• Ostinato A short pattern that repeats over and
  over again
• Use of Percussion Reflects the emphasis of music
  making with drums, rattles, bells, xylophones,
  and the mbira (well discuss this more later)

8
polyrhythm

• Rhythms that occur at the same time in two
  different meters
• Grand Master Djembe Player Polyrhythm
• The Jamani Drummers
• Djemba Drummers in Cape Town

9
Responsorial forms

• An exchange between a performers vocal or
  instrumental call and a group response
• Thula Sizwe Singers (600 minute clip)
• ABC News Clip on Ensigo

10
Ostinato

• A short pattern that repeats over and over again
• AUCB Acting Course Senzenina
• Blackburn Choir Senzenina

11
Use of percussion

• Reflects the emphasis of music making with drums,
  rattles, bells, xylophones, and the mbira
• Ogene (solo instrument)
• Ogene Igbo (group performance)

12
Mbira

• An instrument made up of metal rows that are
  plucked by the players thumbs
• Metallic, ringing sound
• Song on the Mbira

13
Traditional African instruments

• There are three classifications
• Membranophones
• Idiophones
• Aerophones

14
Traditional African Instruments cont

• Membranophones A big, fancy word for DRUMS! ?
• Drums are by far the most famous of the African
  instruments and come in many different forms
• Drummers use either their hands or sticks
  (sometimes one of each) to hit the drum head.
  They may also use something called an elbow
  stick
• Drummers from Rwanda

15
TRADITIONAL AFRICAN INSTRUMENTS CONT

• Idiophones Anything from large xylophones
• to tiny bells, shakers, wooden sticks, or
  rattles
• Xylophones made of wood, metal, gourds, pottery
• Sometimes a solo instruments, but usually
• an ensemble instrument
• African Marimba Group

16
TRADITIONAL AFRICAN INSTRUMENTS CONT

• Aerophones The human voice or any instrument
  that amplifies the human voice
• Opening-throat singing is used in Sub-Saharan
  Africa, which is a husky or nasally sound
• Other distinct kinds of African singing include
  whisper singing, which is a soft, breathy, almost
  growling tone
• Yodeling may also be used
• (Pygmies of Central Africa)

17
Welcome chloe renea croweMay 9th, 2012 _at_ 233 pm
18
Music as a livelihood

• Burundi Drummers
• Kenyan Boy Choir
• There is No Movement Without Rhythm
• Documentary on Rhythm and Daily Life in South
  Africa (1051 minutes)

19
Apartheid in Africa

• Senzenina came out of the Apartheid in Africa.
  The Apartheid was a national law that segregated
  white citizens and black citizens in Africa and
  denied blacks citizenship
• It was officially established in 1948 and ran
  until 1994
• The origin of the song is unclear, but it has
  been used in many different movies and documents
  highlighting the Apartheid and is now a popular
  choral piece in the United States and Great
  Brittan

20
The Rain Stick, the Wooden frogs, and the maracas

• Music and rhythm can be created just by hitting
  two sticks together, the idea for the simple
  percussive instrument
• RHYTHM STICKS
• Additional percussion instruments include
  shakers, like the maracas, or something more
  elaborate, like the African rain stick
• Carved wooden frogs with ridges cut into their
  backs produce a sound similar to the ribbit of
  a frog. A wooden dowel is drug across their
  spines to produce the sound

21
1
2
3