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Brief history of the origin of music in africa
Essays on the west african culture
Brief history of the origin of music in africa
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The African continent is the second largest continent in the world. It has a complex network of music throughout Africa. My main focus in this essay is music from West africa. West Africa has a particularly plentiful and manifold music tradition. Music from West Africa has made its influence significantly throughout the world, largely in terms of rhythm. Music from West Africa is known to be both sacred and secular, including to the fact that it was very much famous in history and is still famous within todays generations. The main things we need to learn about the West African music regardless of all the supreme facts, have been narrowed down to the background of West African music heritage, the dominant style and instruments, and lastly how West African music is important to the music history.
In the West African heritage, music is an art that spreads through social life and is believed to be crucial for supporting community life. Just as at the time when a baby is born, its cry is an indication that the newborn is alive same way music is considered an expression of “...
Many African cultures see life as a cycle we are born, we grow and mature, enter adulthood, and one day we will eventually die but the cycle continues long after death. In Africa art is used as a way to express many things in their society, in this paper I will focus on different ways traditional African art are used to describe the cycle of one’s life. Since Africa is such a large continent it is important to keep in mind that every country and tribe has different rituals and views when it comes to the cycle of life. It is estimated to be well over a thousand different ethnic groups and cultures in Africa today. Thousands of cultures in Africa see the stages of life bound together in a continuous cycle; a cycle of birth, growth, maturity,
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.
Music is an art and a wonderful gift to human race. It soothes, stimulates and makes us feel happy. It affects our moods in many different ways from lullaby to war cry for changes in the society. Music is actually distinct to different people. Above all, it has a transformational importance that is captured in its art and nature. Music draws our emotions and it has an impact of bridging different cultures across the continents. Slave songs were very vital channels through which all kind of information was conveyed both positive and negative.
“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.
"Music is a common experience and a large part of societies. In fact, anthropologists note that all human communities at all times and in all places, have engaged in musical behaviours. Music as a mode of human activity is a cultural phenomenon constituting a fundamental social entity as humans create music and create their relationship to music. As cultural phenomeno...
Ladzekpo, a.k.a. Kobla. The "African Music" The Social Mechanics of Good Music: A Description of Dance Clubs among the Anlo Ewe-Speaking People of Ghana 5.1 (1971): 6-22. JSTOR.com - "The New York Times" International Library of African Music. Web.
Byerly, Ingrid B. "Mirror, Mediator, and Prophet: the Music Indaba of Late-apartheid South Africa." Ethnomusicology 42.1 (1998): N. pag. Print.
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...
West African music was the music of the African people before the Europeans captured and sold them into slavery in the Americas. It was unique in the manner in which it was played as well as the reasons why it was played. West African music was documented around the 1600's when explorers wrote journals about what they had found while traveling.
In Ghana, the word culture is used to describe traditional drumming, dance, and musical composition performed by culture groups. Ghana Culture Groups were first founded during the urbanization that happened in Ghana during the late 20th century. Ghana recieved independence from the British in 1957 and, in the years that that followed, wanted to re-establish its culture and traditions as the citizens of Ghana commenced migrating from their villages to town and cities.(Blum, 42) The music of Ghana has a Caribbean influence, yet it still is different from the Caribbean sounds. While pan-Ghanaian music had been around for awhile, the mid-20th century saw development in the evolution of distinctly Ghanaian pop music, which incorporated elements of swing, wind -rock, ska, and soukous. Ghanaian musicians found prosperity in the United States and, the United Kingdom with the surprise prosperity of Osibisa's Afro-rock in the seventies. Nationalism is a feeling that people have of being loyal to and proud of their country. The dance Kpanlogo is how people expressed themselves both before they were liberated as well as after, the carefree nature of the dance and free flowing moves that haven’t completely been planned ahead showed the freedom and liberation they wanted to have and then what they felt after.
In the slippery terrain created by globalization and cultural brokering, contemporary art made in Africa (and its diasporas) has enjoyed a steady growth in interest and appreciation by Western audiences during the last few decades (Kasfir, 2007). Several biennials, triennials, and scholarly works attest to that, with much of its impact owed to the figure of Okwui Enwezor. However, seamlessly uniting diverse African artists under the untrained Western gaze for the commercialism of the international art circuit – notwithstanding their different cultural contexts and the medium in which they work – is bound to create problems. Enwezor’s and other authors’ sophisticated publications and curatorial works show both the vitality and issues still to be addressed in this field of study (Ogbechie, 2010).
The influence that music has throughout the world is immeasurable. Music evokes many feelings, surfaces old memories, and creates new ones all while satisfying a sense of human emotion. With the ability to help identify a culture, as well as educate countries about other cultures, music also provides for a sense of knowledge. Music can be a tool for many things: relaxation, stimulation and communication. But at the same time it can also be a tool for resistance: against parents, against police against power. Within the reign of imported culture, cross cultivation and the creation of the so-called global village lies the need to expand horizons to engulf more than just what you see everyday. It is important to note that the role of music in today’s world is a key tool in the process of globalization. However, this does not necessarily provide us with any reasons that would make us believe that music has a homogenizing affect on the world.
“Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb; Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow.” For centuries “Mary had a little lamb” has become one of the most universally recognized nursery rhythms since being published in 1830. Centuries later it is still one of the most popular songs of the world. Merriam Dictionary defines music as “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity.” With that in mind, music is found everywhere. Whether it’s in the Great Wall of China to the jungles in Africa, music is found everywhere. The main purpose of this paper is to show that music is in fact a universal language by comparing music with other official languages, showing how music influences emotions and how music literacy and emotions helps people understand music as a language. In order to fully execute my purpose of proving that music is a universal language, I will be focusing on using personal experiences, researching articles and specific musical examples from class.
While one might expect the citizens of Swaziland to create a downtrodden and oppressed style of music and culture due to their immense oppression and deteriorating conditions, they have come to resemble a certain variety of optimism from which we all can learn from. Through defining events such as the Incwala and Umhlanga, their culture remains a strong and essential part of the Swazi way of life. Swaziland has made its mark on the music world through distinctive instruments and inspiration to last a lifetime.
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.