MUSIC OF SUB-SAHARAN

AFRICA
Senzenina

In This Unit, We Will

Explore the geography of areas with African music
Explore the instruments used in African music
Listen to music from different African cultures,

populations, and religious groups

Sing a traditional song from the Zulu people, Senzenina
Create a polyrhythmic song as a class and in small

groups

What Will I Be Doing?

You will be doing three different things
#1: Creating connections between content areas

Geography, History, Art, Technology, and Music

#2: Listening to new music that you may never

have heard before

#3: Learning melodies, harmonies, and rhythms

from different cultures

Geography
Sub-Sahara Africa is a geographical term that refers

to the area of Africa that lies beneath the Sahara

desert
Sub-Sahara Africa includes...

Kenya

Rwanda

Uganda

Sudan

Ethiopia

Zimbabwe

Madagascar

Over 49 countries!

LANGUAGES SPOKEN
Sub-Saharan Africa displays the most linguistic

diversity of any region in the world.

The region contains over

1,000 languages, which is 1/6

of the world's total!

RELIGIONS
Sub-Saharan Africa is

largely Christian
North African (not part of

Sub-Sahara Africa) is
Islamic and considered
part of the Arab world

CHARACTERISTICS OF SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICAN MUSIC
Polyrhythm: Rhythms that occur at the same time in two

different meters
Responsorial Forms: An exchange between a performers

vocal or instrumental call and a group response

Ostinato: A short pattern that repeats over and over again
Use of Percussion: Reflects the emphasis of music making

with drums, rattles, bells, xylophones, and the mbira (well

discuss this more later)

POLYRHYTHM
Rhythms that occur at the same time in two different

meters
Grand Master Djembe Player Polyrhythm
The Jamani Drummers
Djemba Drummers in Cape Town

RESPONSORIAL FORMS
An exchange between a performers vocal or

instrumental call and a group response

Thula Sizwe Singers (6:00 minute clip)
ABC News Clip on Ensigo

OSTINATO
A short pattern that repeats over and over again

AUCB Acting Course Senzenina

Blackburn Choir Senzenina

USE OF PERCUSSION
Reflects the emphasis of music making with drums,

rattles, bells, xylophones, and the mbira

Ogene (solo instrument)
Ogene Igbo (group performance)

MBIRA
An instrument made up of metal

rows that are plucked by the

players thumbs
Metallic, ringing sound
Song on the Mbira

TRADITIONAL AFRICAN INSTRUMENTS

There are three classifications;
Membranophones
Idiophones
Aerophones

Traditional African Instruments cont

Membranophones: A big, fancy word for DRUMS!
Drums are by far the most famous of the African instruments and

come in many different forms

Drummers use either their hands or sticks (sometimes one of each)

to hit the drum head. They may also use something called an elbow
stick

Drummers from Rwanda

TRADITIONAL AFRICAN INSTRUMENTS

CONT
Idiophones: Anything from large xylophones

to tiny bells, shakers, wooden sticks, or rattles

Xylophones made of wood, metal, gourds, pottery
Sometimes a solo instruments, but usually

an ensemble instrument
African Marimba Group

TRADITIONAL AFRICAN INSTRUMENTS CONT

Aerophones: The human voice or any instrument that

amplifies the human voice

Opening-throat singing is used in Sub-Saharan Africa,

which is a husky or nasally sound

Other distinct kinds of African singing include whisper

singing, which is a soft, breathy, almost growling tone

Yodeling may also be used

(Pygmies of Central Africa)

WELCOME CHLOE RENEA CROWE

MAY 9TH, 2012 @ 2:33 PM

MUSIC AS A LIVELIHOOD
Burundi Drummers
Kenyan Boy Choir
There is No Movement Without Rhythm

Documentary on Rhythm and Daily Life in South Africa

(10:51 minutes)

APARTHEID IN AFRICA
Senzenina came out of the Apartheid in Africa. The

Apartheid was a national law that segregated white

citizens and black citizens in Africa and denied blacks
citizenship
It was officially established in 1948 and ran until 1994
The origin of the song is unclear, but it has been used in

many different movies and documents highlighting the

Apartheid and is now a popular choral piece in the United
States and Great Brittan

THE RAIN STICK, THE WOODEN

FROGS, AND THE MARACAS
Music and rhythm can be created just by hitting two sticks

together, the idea for the simple percussive instrument

RHYTHM STICKS
Additional percussion instruments include shakers, like the

maracas, or something more elaborate, like the African

rain stick
Carved wooden frogs with ridges cut into their backs

produce a sound similar to the ribbit of a frog. A wooden

dowel is drug across their spines to produce the sound

#1

#2

#3