AFST 280I Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Bongo Flava, Nyatiti, Luo Dialect
13 Sep 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
African music has been scrutinized over the past, because there were not as many famous musicians as there were throughout europe and america. Music that was not played for the purpose of religion was strictly prohibited in the 1800s. Parker mentions that it was easy to dismiss their music as noise because africans were inferior to others, therefore their music was also. However, there is substantial cultural context in african music, played for ceremonies and rituals that are very important to the people. There are four main categories of instruments used: idiophones, aerophones, chordophones, and membranophones. Idiophones make sounds on its own, such as rattles and xylophones. Rattles can be played by hand or tied to a body part, like an ankle, for percussive purposes. Xylophones are used for melodies and carrying out tunes that vocalists usually would. The vibrations create sounds through instruments like flutes or trumpets.
