MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF AFRICA

African Music- has very wide range of genres. It includes all the major instrumental genres of
Western Music including strings, winds, and percussions.
1. Idiophones 4. Chordophones
2. Membranophones 5. Aerophones
3. Lamellaphones

IDIOPHONES

Balafon- The balafon is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a

type of struck idiophone.
- The balafon is made from a bamboo frame
with wooden keys, originally rosewood although as
wood gets scarcer other hardwoods are sometimes
substituted. The wood is then kiln-baked to ensure no
moisture remains. The skill involved in making and
playing these instruments is immense.
- An ancient West African Musical Instrument.

Rattles-
The rattle is a shaken idiophone that is very
common in Africa. The variety of types, materials,
method of playing, and timbre is extremely wide.
- are made of seashells, tin, basketry, animal
hoofs, horn, metal bells, cocoons, palm kernels, or
tortoise shells.

Agogo- (Yoruba: agogo, meaning bell) is a single or a multiple bell

now used throughout the world but with origins in traditional Yoruba
and Edo music and also in the samba baterias (percussion ensembles).
The agogô may be the oldest samba instrument and was based on West
African Yoruba single or double bells.
Atingting Kon- This large slit drum is
unstained with characteristic large disk eyes
and carving around the head, there are also
areas of lichen (bush-like) throughout the
body of the drum. These towering slit
drums/gongs are among the largest musical
instruments in the world. They are carved
from the trunks of breadfruit trees.
- slit gong is used to communicate
with villagers. They were carved out the wood
to resemble ancestors and had a “split
opening” at bottom.

Slit Drum- percussion instrument formed by hollowing a

tree trunk through a lengthwise slit and sounded by the
players' stamping feet or by beating with sticks; the edges of
the slit are usually of different thicknesses, so as to produce
different pitches.
- although known as a drum, it is not a true drum but an
idiophone.

MEMBRANOPHONES

Body Percussion- 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 feets.

Talking Drum- The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum

from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the
tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads
connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitch of the drum by
scraping the cords between their arm and body.
- it is used to send messages to announce births, death, marriages, sporting events, dances,
initiation, or war. Sometimes, it may also contain gossips or jokes.

Djembe- A djembe or jembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered

goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West
Africa.
- The body is carved from a hollowed trunk and is covered
with goat skin

LAMELLAPHONES
Thumb Piano- also called kalimba or mbira.
- instrument known as a lamellaphone, consisting of thin metal or
split cane tongues mounted on a resonating board or box.
- they used this instrument to drive away evil spirits since it is
believed that it was a vector of communication with ancestors and
spirits.

Array Mbira- it is a hand-crafted instrument

with a unique harp or bell-like sound. Popular
traditional instrument of the Shona people in
Zimbabwe. It consists of up to 150 metal tines
attached to a wooden board. Comprising up to
five octaves.

CHORDOPHONES
Musical Bow- the ancestors of all string instruments.
- It is the oldest and one of the most widely used string
instruments of Africa.
 - It consists of single string attached to each end of a curved stick, similar to a bow and arrow.

Zeze- an African fiddle 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.
- It is from Sub-Saharan Africa.

AEROPHONES

Fulani- type of flute which is widely used throughout Africa and either
vertical or side-blown.
- they are usually fashioned from a single tube closed at one end and
blown like a bottle.

Kudu Horn- made from the horn of the kudu antelope. Its
sound releases a mellow and warm sounds that add an
unique African accent to their music.