Sub-Saharan Africa.txt

Rhythms that occur simultaneously in two different meters, or with different starting points.

The stressed beginning of a metrical cycle.

• "Call and response"
• An exchange between a single performer's vocal or instrumental call and a group response.

• Short pattern that repeats over and over
• Usually refers to a repeating melody but can also refer to a repeating rhythm
• Form foundations for improve, variation, or addition of other patterns

Beads, coins, or small objects attached to instruments to create a buzzing or rattling in the background

Language in which the meanings of words depend on their inflection

Relative pitch at which words are spoken

A drum that can imitate the rhythm and common pitch levels of speech so that listeners can understand what is being "said"

• Made of two sticks attached at an angle or carved from a piece of wood.
• Allows player to stand behind the drum and strike the head with a solid, straight impact.

Soft, breathy, almost growling tone of singing.

Quick jumps between vibrational modes in the vocal cords

Creating a melody by dividing pitches among different players

A single string attached to two ends of a curved stick.

Several strings attached to two ends of a curved stick.

Wooden frame of two or three parts with strings strung between them

• Drumming of the Ewe people of Ghana. Lead drummer sets tempo and directs other drums and dancers with musical cues.
• Instruments
• Atoke
• Gankogui
• Axatse
• Atsimewu

A bell piece during which dancers rest

• Folded piece of iron that looks like a boat.
• Held in the palm and hit with a small metal stick.

• Double iron bell welded together for two different pitches.
• Timekeeper of the group.

• A gourd with a net of beads on the outside.
• Can be shaken, hit on a palm or leg, or twisted.

• Master or lead drum.
• Played with a combination of sticks and hands.
• Tall and cylindrical.

High pitched drum in Ewe ensemble

Low-pitched drum in Ewe ensemble

Drum in Ewe ensemble

Drumming language that associates syllables with different strokes.

• A traditional Ewe drumming piece that is played by different clubs in many ways.
• Has lyrics about the performance itself.
• Means "display" or "style"

• Music in African societies that didn't have a written language.
• Used to commit history to memory.

The French word for a performer of Jali music

• A large chordophone played by the jali
• A hybrid harp-lute with strings played by both hands on either side of the bridge.
• Heptatonic and can be tune to play with the balafon.

• Standard ostinato patterns that kora music is based on.
• Defined by a sequence of core tones.

Embellishments that interrupt kumbengo in kora music

• Wooden xylophone with gourd resonators under each bar.
• Heptatonic, and the kora can be tuned to play with the balafon

Senegalese Jali musician that produced a rock-fusion album

Jali musician in the US that founded the Mandingo Griot Society

• "Man from Yundum"
• By Nyama Suso, a jali musician

• Diatonic scale, roughly equivalent to major mode.
• Used commonly among kora players.

• Music played with the mbira - has metal tines plucked with the fingers and has shells or bottle caps attached for a background buzz with a gourd for a resonator.
• Has deep spiritual significance among the Shona people.
• A traveler's personal pastime instrument

The large, traditional mbira of the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

A ritual that calles the spirits of ancestors using the mbira

A rattle used in combination with the mbira

Small drum used in combination with the mbira

• Loud cries improvised at the top of the singer's range
• Ornamented with glissandi (sliding pitches) and yodeling

A soft breathy voice at the bottom of the singer's range improvised with vocables

Syllables chosen for expressive qualities but without any other meaning

The oldest and most representative traditional pieces in the Shona mbira repertoire.

• African pop musician.
• Played saxophone, keyboards, and sang.
• Style was "Afro-beat" and he sang in pidgin English.
• Music was a powerful social force in modern Africa.

European musical forms and instruments played by Africans.

Popular band music in Nigeria similar to highlife

Highlife and juju artist that became a pop star in America an dEurope.

• Nigerian style that drew on Islamic praise songs, traditional talking drum music (apala)
• Features huge percussion sections but no guitars

Traditional talking-drum music of West Africa

Senegalese style that popularized innovative connections to traditional instruments, styles, and forms

• Style of dance performed by workers in diamond mines.
• Clap and slap boots to the accompaniment of a guitar.

• Style of dance performed by workers in diamond mines.
• Clap and slap boots to the accompaniment of a guitar.

• Style of improvised folk harmonies
• developed from Western chords
• sung by a cappella groups
• Popular in Zulu areas

Cheap tin whistles played in kwela

Music played using pennywhistles and a one-string bass in South African townships

• Replaced pennywhistle with saxophone
• Replaced acoustic with electric guitar
• Drew on American rhythm and blues and traditional ostinatos and gumboot music

A cappella music in South Africa

Iscathamiya group that played with Paul Simon on Graceland