Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

“Senzenina”

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

“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

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

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!

Religions

Sub-Saharan Africa is largely Christian

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

Characteristics of Sub-Saharan African Music

Polyrhythm: Rhythms that occur at the same time in two different meters

Responsorial Forms: An exchange between a performer’s 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 (we’ll discuss this more later)

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

Responsorial forms An exchange between a performer’s vocal or

instrumental call and a group response

Thula Sizwe Singers (6:00 minute clip) ABC News Clip on Ensigo

Ostinato A short pattern that repeats over and over again

AUCB Acting Course – Senzenina Blackburn Choir – Senzenina

Use of percussion Reflects the emphasis of music making with drums,

rattles, bells, xylophones, and the mbira

Ogene (solo instrument) Ogene Igbo (group performance)

Mbira An instrument made up of metal

rows that are plucked by the player’s thumbs

Metallic, ringing sound

Song on the Mbira

Traditional African instruments

There are three classifications; Membranophones Idiophones Aerophones

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

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

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)

Welcome chloe renea croweMay 9th, 2012 @ 2:33 pm

Music as a livelihood

Burundi Drummers

Kenyan Boy Choir

“There is No Movement Without Rhythm”

Documentary on Rhythm and Daily Life in South Africa (10:51 minutes)

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

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

#1

#2

#3