Snakeskin covers a gourd bowl to create a membrane head similar to that of a banjo. The Goje is a one string fiddle from Nigeria. Music in this region is always changing as more people move around looking for jobs in cities and media is constantly becoming apart of every minute of peoples’ day.The image below is from a church in Kiev called St Sophia Cathedral They mingled traditional kwela, part-singing, and local language call-and-response with the electric guitar and European influences. Also the appearance of electric-guitar was freely accepted into congolese bands. Now Africans are experimenting with hymns by adding their own harmonies. For instance many Christian missionaries introduced hymns and their way of harmonizing hymns. European music has been forced on East Africans since Europeans started settling there, but the twentieth-century is when we see Africans freely taking European music influences and making it their own. East Africa has also adapted many instruments like the goma, ngomas, nzumari, tarompet, and Arabic tambourines. Many people would not consider this as the conventional music. Arabic poetry and Muslim chants are normally performed as rituals throughout East Africa. Arabic and Islamic cultures have played a huge role in East Africa’s musical development because Arab countries are so close to the horn. The valiha, a tube zither, is played in Tanzania which has been imported to Indonesia. For instance, the marimba might be because of contact with Indonesia. Historians believe that Indonesians and Africans have had a many exchanges of musical traditions throughout the centuries. Therefore the royal music and religious music often overlap.Įast Africa has had a lot of contact with Indonesian, Arabic, Islamic and European cultures throughout its long history. “Royal music is often perceived as having a quasi-religious function, associated with the notions of the king’s divinity.”1 This is very true for Ethiopian region because Amhara people believe that their king’s lineage connects with King Solomon. The nagarit is a kettledrum that is normally played in a fourty-four pair ensemble for a processional to announce the Emperor of Ethiopia. Lyres are popular instruments for young men of this area. Begana is a box lyre known for the Amharic aristocracy. The ethnic groups that make up the Cushitic are Amhara and Tigre. The last group are the Cushitic-speaking who can be found in Ethiopia and Somalia. The trumpets have one or two pitches that are played in hocket to produce songs that convey praise and royal histories. The sedentary agriculturalists will traditionally use trumpet ensembles to announce Kings and rulers. This area has cone flutes, vessel flutes, end and side blown trumpets, several xylophones and mbira. The style of playing in amongst Nilotes is to strum across all strings with one hand and mute strings with the other. Musical bows, zithers, arched harps, lyres, and tube fiddles to name a few. Instruments found amongst this group include a long list of stringed instruments. It includes the Nilotes and Bantu-speaking people. The sedentary agriculturalists can be found in the southward, eastward, and northward of East Africa. The harmonies normally are ostinati that create fourths and fifths. The melodies are also different than the other two groups in that their phrases are longer and move smoothly in a wavelike motion. Common song themes in this region are historical traditions, war, and cattle. The music found in this area is purely vocal with occasional rhythmic hand-clapping, stomping feet, and other personal adornment accompaniment. It includes the Baggara, Karamojong, Jie, Pokot, Turkana, Maasai ethnic groups. Nomadic and pastoral people can be found in the southward and westward region of the Horn of Africa. The three main groups found in East Africa are nomadic and pastoral people, sedentary agriculturalists, and Cushitic-speaking. Before we evaluate the effect Western music influenced Eastern Africa we need to look at the traditional musical style and functions. There are many ethnic groups, languages, and Western music that influence musical traditions. East Africa is the area that range from northern Mozambique to Northern Sudan and Eritrea, and Rwanda to the Indian Ocean. More that 100 million people live in East Africa.
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