MUSICAL

INSTRUMENTS
OF AFRICA
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF
AFRICA
AFRICAN MUSIC INCORPORATES 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.
CLASSIFICATION OF TRADITIONAL
AFRICAN INSTRUMENTS

IDIOPHONES
>These are percussion instruments that are
either struck with a mallet or against one
another.
BALAFON
The Balafon is a West African xylophone. It is a pitched
percussion instrument with bars made from logs or
bamboo.
RATTLES
Rattles are vessels made of seashells, tin, basketry, animal
hoofs, horn, wood, metal, cocoons, palm kernels, or tortoise
shells.
AGOGO
The agogo is a single bell or multiple bells that had its
origins in traditional Yoruba music as well as in the samba
bateria (percussion) ensembles.
ATINGTING KON
The atingting kon are slit gongs used as communication
between villages.
SILT DRUM
The silt drum is a hollow percussion instrument. Although
referred to as a drum, it is more of an idiophone.
DJEMBE
The West African djembe (pronounced as zhem-bay) is one
of the best known African drums. It is shaped like a large
goblet and played with bare hands. The body is carved from
a hollowed trunk and is covered with goat skin.
Shekere
The shekere is a type of gourd and shell megaphone from
West Africa, consisting of a dried gourd with beads woven
into a net covering the gourd.
Rasp
A rasp, or scraper, is a hand percussion instrument whose
sound is produced by scraping notches on a piece of wood
(sometimes elaborately carved) with a stick, creating a
series of rattling effects.
MEMBRANOPHONES
>are instruments, usually, drums, which have
vibrating animal membranes. Their shapes may
be conical, cylindrical, barrel, hour-glass,
globular, or kettle, and are played with sticks,
hands, or a combination of both.
Body Percussion
African people frequently use their bodies as musicalinstruments.
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, the messages may even
contain gossip or jokes. An example of the talking drum is
the luna.
Luna
It is believed that these drums can carry direct messages to
the spirits after the death of a loved one.
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.
Mbira
The mbira (thumb piano or finger xylophone) is from
Zimbabwe that is used throughout the continent. It consists
of a wooden board with attached metal tines (a series of
wooden, metal, or rattan tongues) of graduated sizes.
CHORDOPHONES
>instruments which produce sounds from the
vibration of strings. These include bows, harps,
lutes, zithers, and lyres of various sizes.
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. The principal types are the mouth
bow, the resonator bow, and the earth bow.
Mouth Bow
The mouth bow consists of a single string attached to each
end of a curved stick, similar to a bow and arrow. The string
is held in the mouth and the string is either plucked or
struck with another struck, producing a percussive yet
delicate sound.
Resonator Bow
is a form of the mouth bow with a calabash resonator
attached at its mid-point. In different parts of African, this
bow is known by other names. In Rwanda, it is known as
munahi; in Dahomey, tiepore, and in Madagascar, jejolava
Earth Bow
also called ground bow or pit harp, consists of a flexible
pole which is planted in the ground. A string is attached to
one end of the pole, while the other end of the string is
attached to a stone, a piece of bark, or a small piece of
wood which is then planted in a hole dug in the ground,
thus bending the pole.
Lute
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.
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.
Zither
The zither is a stringed instrument with varying sizes and
shapes whose strings are stretched along its body.
Zeze
The zeze is a fiddle from Sub-Saharan Africa played with a
bow, a small wooden stick, or plucked with the fingers. It
has one or two strings, made of steel or bicycle brake wire.
AEROPHONES
>musical instruments that produce sound
primarily by trapping or enclosing a body or
column of air and causing it to vibrate.
Flutes
Flutes are widely used throughout Africa. They are usually
fashioned from a single tube closed at one end and blown,
while being held either vertically or side-blown.
Panpipes
Panpipes consists of cane pipes of different lengths tied in
a row or in a bundle held together by wax or a cord, and
generally closed at the bottom.
Horns
Horns and trumpets are found everywhere in Africa, and are
commonly made from elephant tusks and animal horns.
WIth their varied attractive shapes, these instruments may
be either end-blown or side-blown.
Reed pipes
These are single-reed pipes made from hollow
guinea corn or sorghum stems, where the reed is
a flap partially cut from the stem near one end.
Whistles
Whistles are found throughout the continent and
may be made of wood or other materials. Short
pieces of horn serve as whistles, often with a short
tube inserted into the mouthpiece.
Trumpets
African trumpets are made of wood, metal, animal
horns, elephant tusks, and gourds, ornamented
with snake or crocodile skin or the hide of zebras,
leopards, and other animals.
African Musical Instruments from the
Environment
Many instruments of Africa are made from natural elements
like wood, metal, animal skin and horns, as well as
improvised from objects like tin cans and bottles. These are
mainly used to provide rhythmic sounds, which are the
most defining element of African music. Materials in the
environment, like wood from forest areas, are used for large
drums. Other drums are also made of clay, metal, tortoise
shells, or gourds. Xylophones are made of lumber or
bamboo, while flutes are constructed wherever reeds or
bamboo grow. Animal horns are used as trumpets, while
animal hides, lizard skins, and snake skins can function as
decorations as well as provide the membranes for drum
heads. Laces made of hides and skins are used for the
strigns of harps, fiddles, and lutes.