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Compare and contrast the origin and development of Rap and Ragga music in Malawi and Zokela Sounds. In your discussion, point out some of the musical genres that influenced the development of each genre. Be sure to mention a few musicians or groups (or at least one from each) who contributed to the popularization of each genre. Try to be concise and logically organized in your writing as much as possible
Rap and Ragga music in Malawi and Zokela sounds in Central African Republic, both has mainly focuses on the significance of gender dynamics and addresses the political, and social circumstances. This article will be comparing and contrasting Rap and Ragga music and Zokela sounds and discuss some of the genres that have
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The second article, “Musical life in the Central African Republic” discusses about a musical group zokela, one of the most influential in the country.
Rap and Ragga music over the past decades has developed as importance genres of both socially and musically on the cultural landscape of Malawi. Rap and Ragga music is mainly characterized by competitions. The competitions usually occur mostly in the cities such as in bars, community centers. However, it is important to understand that Rap and Ragga competitions symbolizes male participations and masculinity. Some young women however do participate as spectators and sometimes as vocal
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Whereas in urban musical settings, performances are dominated by men. Also, Zokela which is an urban dance music based in the Central African Republic draws on local song styles. Rap and Ragga on the other hand is influenced by the foreign media sources. Nevertheless, as mentioned before, in order to perform Rap and Ragga, the participants need to have access to economic and educational resources. However, in Zokela, musicians compose their own lyrics deep into local traditions and creatively developing on urban culture. Most of Zokela music expressed the contemporary and complex of Urban Centrafrican. Zokela, meaning “acclamation, joy, heat, ambience, noise”. Zokela was influenced and developed from Mbati songs from traditional legends, funerals, and ceremonies. And it started with some homemade guitars and interpreting music from Zaire. One of the great influencer of Zokela is Kaida Monganga, the original leader of Zokela. He actually learned how to sing from his mother and at the age of eight he started singing with a group of friends and they formed two little groups and got back together as one and chose the name Zokela. Originally started from the bar and since then, Zokela has remained popular. The first four founders of Zokela were Mabele, Ilonga, Degoumouse, and Kaida. Later, Mbati pgymies were brought from the Mbaiki and do their dance with hip swiveling and rib rotating. This highlights the local roots
Despite having absolutely nothing to do with the four elements of Hip-Hop as defined by Afrika Bambaataa, the most influential person in the creati...
First is about the effect of slave music on American history and African American music. The slave music’s
Since the 1980s Hip Hop has a positive impact on black Americans when trying to empower the citizens of this country. Since blacks have tense to this country many have been looked down on, so many artist just want them to know that Africans Americans are more than what many other ethnicities say that they are. Therefore, the hip hop cultures and movements of the 1980s through the 2000s had a positive impact on contemporary young Africans Americans identities. This is due to, Hip Hop artists wanting to share their stories and insights on the issues that affect society. In addition, the rap artists and their lyrics serve as musical depiction of their culture’s rich history. Furthermore, Hip hop artist want African Americans to know that there
Rap Music, a genre of R&B that includes rhythmic poetry put over a musical background. The background consists of beats combined with digitally isolated sound bites from other recordings. The first recording of rap was made in 1979 and the genre began to take notice in the U.S. in the mid-1980s. Though the name rap is often used back and forth with hip hop. The name hip-hop comes from one of the earliest phrases used in rap on the song “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugarhill Gang. “I said a hip hop, hippie to the hippie, the hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it to the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie, to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.”. In addition to rap music, the hip-hop subculture also formed other methods of expression like break dancing, graffiti art, a unique slang vocabulary, and fashion sense.
Hip hop has multiple branches of style and is a culture of these. This essay will examine Hip Hop from the point of view of the following three popular music scholars, Johnson, Jeffries and Smitherman. It will delve deeper into their understanding of what hip hop is and its relation to the different people that identify with its message and contents. It will also identify the history of Hip hop and its transition into popular music. In particular this essay will focus on what hip hop represents in the black community and how it can be used as a social movement against inequalities faced by them. This will then open up the discussion for the how this has influenced society, and the impact it has had in terms of race issues which hip hop itself often represents through music.
“How Musical is Man?” was published in 1974. This book was written by John Blacking, a musician turned social anthropologist. His goal in writing this ethnography, and several other papers during this same time period, was to compare the experience of music-making that takes place within different cultures and societies throughout the world. In this book, he discusses and describes the musicology of the Venda people in South Africa. Though he does go to Africa to research and learn about the Venda people and their music, he specifically states that his book is “not a scholarly study of human musicality” (ix), but rather it is a summary (written from his point of view), which is both expressive and entertaining, of several different issues and ideas that he has seemingly been contemplating for some time.
Angeles, Los. (2009). African arts. Volume 28. Published by African Studies Center, University of California.
Music played a very important role in the lives of people is diaspora communities. It served as a reminder for the immigrants of their homeland, which allowed them to proudly express their national and cultural identities. Diaspora refers to an international network of communities linked together by the identification of a common ancestral homeland and culture. People in these communities are no longer living in their homelands, with no guarantee of a return either. (Bakan, 19). Music played a large role in African diaspora communities. This was first started by the slave trades many years ago when slave traders traveled to the coast of West Africa to capture Africans and brought them back to the United States to be slaves on plantations. Slaves were more prone to loose a sense of their own culture because every new aspect of their lives was forced upon them, therefore they were undoubtedly forced to abandon their n...
Music is one of the most powerful and influential language which to many people in
Throughout the semester, various styles of music and the aspects of culture associated with these styles have been analyzed. Musical elements such as dynamics, texture, form, timbre, melody, instruments, etc., have been used to thoroughly explore each kind of music from different areas of the world, with an emphasis in music from Africa, India and Indonesia. These aspects of music go far beyond just music itself. Culture also plays a huge role in music and the accompanying musical elements. Each country and culture has a different style and distinctiveness that add to what makes the music of that certain culture unique. Music in Africa may differ dramatically from music in Indonesia or India not only due to those certain elements but also due to how it is interpreted by people and what it represents for those people. In addition to this, what one may consider music in one culture may not be music to another. These differences have been made apparent in the several demonstrations that we have been exposed to in class.
Overtime, Hip-Hop artists began to diversify their sounds and rhythms by different influences regarding ethnic backgrounds or creating certain moods for their audiences. Based on the article, “ The Significance of the Relationship Between AFRO-AMERICAN MUSIC AND WEST AFRICAN MUSIC,” the author, Olly Wilson elucidates how African slaves used drumming as a way to call out to one another, for camp singing, and for negro spirituals as well (Wilson, 1974). During the Antebellum Period, African slaves would create beats from drums in which Hip-Hop today uses drums to project beats but at much different paces than in the past. Throughout its history, this genre of music has focused on beats instead of the melody, which is a commonality among African tribal music and today’s contemporary Hip-Hop. Depending on the timeframe and area the beat comes from, shows the impact of how those rhythms will sound. For instance, old school beats have different sound patterns than modern beats. Geographically, countries hear and spread music to each other and different ethnicities pick up their unique beats and rhythmic sounds; creating interrelationships of mixed musical cultures and specializations. In the article, “B-Beats Bombarding Bronx: Mobile DJ Starts Something 41with Oldie R&B Disk” by the author, Robert Ford expresses how the Hip-Hop pioneer, DJ Kool herc rose to fame by introducing assorted rhythm breaks (Ford, 2004). Also, as generations passed, Hip-Hop took a turn away from jazz and snappy blues to contemporary rap and R&B which is considered as “ghetto” or “gangsta music.” White critics have this false misconception of Hip-Hop and rap music and believe that they depict the harsh realities of ghetto life, poverty, and vulgarity. When in reality, it is a big phenomenon and apart of African culture because it conveys how they try to rise above the disorders of pauperism and the
Every West African village had its own professional musicians and singers who would perform for the community. Musicians were idolized in their villages. They normally sat with the king or chief because of their elevated status.
The missing and fusing of cultures has made a great impact on the music culture itself. One example of this is the influence of African aesthetics, for instance African dress while performing. Enculturation is a key factor in the development of a multitude of music genres, and the importation of key features has changed the Latin American
Music is a form of communication, letting others knows what is going on in the country, political, social or economic and any other problems the people of the Caribbean faced. With so many different ethnic backgrounds in the Caribbean, they are people with Asians, Indians, and Africans descents. This created a language and culture barrier but each ethnic background shared a common link music. Music bridged the gap between the different ethnicities Music is part of everyone’s culture especially here in the Caribbean. Our culture is recognized worldwide for its music. The Caribbean has different genres of music such as calypso, reggae, dance hall, zouk and many others. Our music has roots in both African and European cultures. The drum rhythm comes from the African in...
Music has played a role in society since the dawn of man. Said to be the beginning of communication in early civilization, music and dance have influenced how we think, act and treat members of our own society. Song and dance is used in rites of passage ceremonies such as births, weddings and funerals throughout the world. Jamaican and Yoruba cultures have made many contributions to our society. The uses of this music as a vehicle for political issues, values, and beliefs have been used by many musicians from different cultures. I intend to discuss the Contribution of these two contemporary cultures music and their effect on society.