A.

Idiophones
These are percussion instrument
that are either struck with a
mallet or against one another.
 The balafon is the West African
Xylophone. It is a pitched percussion
instrument with bars made from logs
or bamboo. The xylophone is originally
an Asian instrument that follows the
structure of Plano. It came from
Madagascar to Africa, then to the
Americans and Europe.
 Rattles are made of seashells, tin,
basketry, animal hoofs, horn, wood,
metal bells, cocoons, palm kernels, or
tortoise shells. These rattling vessels
may range from single to several
objects that are either joined or
suspend in such a way as they hit
each other.
 The agogo is a single bell or multiple
bells that had its origins in traditional
Yoruba music and also in the samba
baterlas (percussion) ensemble. The
agogo may be called “the oldest
samba instrument based on West
African Yoruba single or double bells”
It has the highest pitch of any of the
bateria instrument.
 These are slit gongs used to
communicate between villages. They
were carved out of wood to resemble
ancestors and had a “slit opening” at
the bottom. In certain cases, their
sound could carry for miles through
the forest and even across water to
neighboring islands. A series of gong
“languages” were composed of
beats and pauses, making it possible
to send highly specific messages.
 The slit drum is a hollow percussion
instrument. Although known as a
drum, it is not a true drum but is an
idiophone. It is usually carved or more
splits in the top. Most slit drums have
one slit, through two and three slits
(cut into the shape of an “H” occur. If
the resultant tongues are different in
width or thickness, the drum will
produce two different pitches.
 The West African Dyembe
(pronounced zhem-bay) is one of the
best-known African drums is. It is
shaped like a large goblet and
played with bare hands. The body is
carved from a hallowed trunk and is
covered in goat skin.
 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.
The agbe is another gourd drum with
cowries shells usually strung with white
cotton thread. The axatse is a small
gourd, held by the neck and placed
between hand and leg.
 A rasp, or scraper, is a hand
percussion instrument whose
sound is produced by scraping
the notches on a piece of wood
(sometimes elaborately carved)
with a stick, creating a series of
rattling effects.
 Are instrument which have
vibrating animal membranes used in
drums. Their shapes may be conical,
cylindrical, barrel, hour glass, globular,
or kettle, and are played with sticks,
hands, or combination of both.
African drums are usually carved from
single wooden log, and may also be
made from ceremics, gourds, tin cans,
and oil drums.
 Examples of these are found in
the different localities – entenga
(Ganada), dundun (Yoruba),
atumpan (Akan), and ngoma
(Shona), while some are
constructed with wooden staves
and hoops.
 Africans frequently use their
bodies as musical instrument. 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 chest, or
shuffle their feet.
 The talking drum is used to send
messages to announce births, deaths,
marriages, sporting events, dances,
initiation, or war. Sometimes it may also
cointain gossip or jokes. It is believed that
the drums can carry direct messages to the
spirits after the death of a loved one.
However, learning to play messages on
drum is extremely difficult, resulting, in its
waning popularity. An example of the
talking drum is the LUNA.
 One of the most popular african
percussion instruments is the
lamellaphone, which a set of plucked
tounges or keys mounted on a sound
board. It is known by different names
according to the regions such as
mbira, karimba, kisaanj, and likembe.
 The thumb piano or finger xylophone is
of african origin and is used thoughout
the continent. It consists of a wooden
board with attached straggered metal
tines (a series of wooden, metal, or
rattan tongues), plus an additional
resonator to increase its volume. It is
played by holding the instrument in the
hands and plucking the tines with
thumbs, producing a soft plucked sound.
 Chordophones are instruments
which produce sounds from the
vibration strings. These include bows,
harsh, lutes, zithers, and lyres of various
sizes.
 The musical bow is the ancestor of
all string instrument. 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. The string is either
plucked or stuck with another stick,
producing a per-cussive yet delicate
sound.
 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. The player
tunes the strings tightening or loosening
the pegs at the top of the lute’s neck.
West African plucked lutes include the
konting, khalam, and the nkoni.
 The kora is african’s most
sophisticated harp, while also having
features similar to a lute. Its body is made
from a gourd or calabash. A support for
the bridge is set across the opening and
covered with a skin that is held in place
with studs. The leather rings around the
neck are used to tighten the 21 strings
that give the instrument a range of over
three octaves. The kora is held upright
and played with the fingers.
 The zither is a stringed instrument
with varying sizes and shapes
whose strings are stretched long
its body. Among the types of
African zither from Burundi, the
tubular or valitha zither from
Malagasy, and the harp or mvet
zither from Cameron.
 The zere is 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. It Is also known by the names
Tzetze dyenze,izeze and endingdi;
and on Madagascar is called lokanga
(or lokango) voatavo.
 Are instrument which are produced
initially by trapped vibrating air
columns or which enclose a body of
vibrating air. Flutes in various sizes and
shapes, horns, panpipes, whistle types,
gourd and shell megaphones, oboe,
clarinet, animal horn and wooden
trumpets fall under this category.
 Flutes are 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.
 Atenteben (Ghana)  Fulani Flutes
 Consist of cane
pipes of different
lengths tied in row
or in bundle held
together by wax
or cord, and
generally closed
at the bottom.
They are blown
across the to,
each providing a
different note.
 Horns and trumpets, found almost
everywhere in Africa, are commonly
made from elephant tusk and animal
horns. With their varied attractive shapes,
these instruments are end-blown or side-
blown and range in the size from the
small signal whistle of the southern cattle
herders to the large ivory horns of the
tribal chiefs of the interior. One trumpet
variety, the wooden trumpet, may be
simple or artistically carved, sometimes
resembling a crocodile’s head.
 This is one type of horn made from the
horn of the kudu antelope. It releases a
mellow and warm sounds that adds a
unique African accent to the music. This
instrument, which comes in a set of six
horns, reflects the cross of musical
traditions in Africa. Today, the kudu horn
can also be seen in football matches,
where fans blow it to cheer for their
favorite teams.
 There are single-reed pipes made
from hollow guinea corn or sorghum
stems, where the reed is partially cut
from the stem near one end. It is the
vibration of this reed that causes the
air within the hollow instrument to
vibrate, thus creating the sound.
 Whistles found
throughout the
continent may be
made of wood or
other materials.
Short pieces of
horn serve as
whistles, often
with a short tube
inserted into the
mouthpiece.
 African trumpets
are made of
wood, metal,
animal horns,
elephant tusks,
and gourds with
skins from snakes,
zebras, leopards,
crocodiles and
animal hide as
ornaments to the
instrument.