Unique And Distinctive African Instruments
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Matthew Stanton
Matthew Stanton writes about how to Sell a Timeshare and has written several articles about the topic. You can check this website for more details on Timeshares at Sell A Timeshare By Matthew Stanton
Published on 23 April 2009
The African continent is very much known to be a haven for wild life and the safari. But then, another area of the African life and culture is the richness of African music which is a passe in African instruments.
When you talk about Africa, the very first thing that would ever come to your mind is the rich wild life and the vast vegetation. There is something more to Africa than lions, tigers, snakes and zebras though; they have rich music which they are able to make through the help of African instruments.
Africa is a continent where a wide variation of culture is present. Africa is the cradle for some 350 million people belonging to 3000 different cultural tribes who are speaking some 800 to 1000 different languages. As if Africa is in the forefront when God showered blessings of teeming wild life and vegetation, this continents main attraction and natural resource is the thousands of flora and fauna that is indigenous here.
However, Africa is not just about all the fierce and wild animals or the beautiful plants. It is more than just the tribes and the different cultures that they have; African music is one of the richest and liveliest in the world.
The main characteristic of African music is its being percussive. African instruments compose of different drums, gongs, rattles and bells among others, while there are also xylophones and plucked strings that you can play along the percussion instruments.
The melodies of African music are mainly based on short units and most of the time the singers and instrument players improvise on their songs.
The more unique characteristic of their music is the metronome sense which is the ability of many musicians to perform for long periods of time without deviating from the original tempo. The diatonic scales, which is similar to European music is a prevalent characteristic of their music too.
The membrane drums are the most celebrated of the instruments. They have famous talking-drums in the South Africa, like the atumpan of Ghana which can mimic speech tones and are sometimes used by people to signal messages. The bells, gongs, wind instruments of the horns also mimic speech. There are a lot of wind instruments made of wood and horns of animals. The harp and harp-lutes are also very present. Another interesting entry is the musical bow. This is a string instrument fashioned like a bow and with varied techniques and sophistication by most people all throughout the continent.
There are really a lot of great things to be discovered in Africa. If you are tired of the usual beating of your life, you might want to consider experiencing the richness of Africa in person. There will be a lot of things that will unfold before your very eyes. Animals which you can only dream of seeing face to face (the elephants, the lions, the tigers, many snakes in different sizes and colors and venom ranges, the rhinos and many other animals) could be seen free and teeming.
You can also witness the growth of many flowers, shrubs, trees and other wild plants. African with its terrains, cliffs, valleys, hills, plains and mountains can be a haven for the flora and fauna. But most of all the culture of Africa is so rich you can be really glad to see it with your naked eye.
If you cannot be there in person though, you can always play the African instruments. It would be the same as stepping foot in the richest place in the world.
Africa is a continent where a wide variation of culture is present. Africa is the cradle for some 350 million people belonging to 3000 different cultural tribes who are speaking some 800 to 1000 different languages. As if Africa is in the forefront when God showered blessings of teeming wild life and vegetation, this continents main attraction and natural resource is the thousands of flora and fauna that is indigenous here.
However, Africa is not just about all the fierce and wild animals or the beautiful plants. It is more than just the tribes and the different cultures that they have; African music is one of the richest and liveliest in the world.
The main characteristic of African music is its being percussive. African instruments compose of different drums, gongs, rattles and bells among others, while there are also xylophones and plucked strings that you can play along the percussion instruments.
The melodies of African music are mainly based on short units and most of the time the singers and instrument players improvise on their songs.
The more unique characteristic of their music is the metronome sense which is the ability of many musicians to perform for long periods of time without deviating from the original tempo. The diatonic scales, which is similar to European music is a prevalent characteristic of their music too.
The membrane drums are the most celebrated of the instruments. They have famous talking-drums in the South Africa, like the atumpan of Ghana which can mimic speech tones and are sometimes used by people to signal messages. The bells, gongs, wind instruments of the horns also mimic speech. There are a lot of wind instruments made of wood and horns of animals. The harp and harp-lutes are also very present. Another interesting entry is the musical bow. This is a string instrument fashioned like a bow and with varied techniques and sophistication by most people all throughout the continent.
There are really a lot of great things to be discovered in Africa. If you are tired of the usual beating of your life, you might want to consider experiencing the richness of Africa in person. There will be a lot of things that will unfold before your very eyes. Animals which you can only dream of seeing face to face (the elephants, the lions, the tigers, many snakes in different sizes and colors and venom ranges, the rhinos and many other animals) could be seen free and teeming.
You can also witness the growth of many flowers, shrubs, trees and other wild plants. African with its terrains, cliffs, valleys, hills, plains and mountains can be a haven for the flora and fauna. But most of all the culture of Africa is so rich you can be really glad to see it with your naked eye.
If you cannot be there in person though, you can always play the African instruments. It would be the same as stepping foot in the richest place in the world.