Characteristics of African Music

African music, as the original music of black Africans, has its own unique style, and therefore has influenced a lot of other music in the process of historical development.

Jazz is a popular music that developed in New Orleans in the United States at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Its formation and development have gone through a relatively complicated process. Jazz comes from African music. In the 17th and 18th centuries, black Africans were trafficked to North America and lived an inhuman slave life. Music became their main tool to express their inner pain and seek spiritual comfort. Black slaves maintained the tradition of African music, and at the same time were gradually influenced by European music, resulting in many African American music forms, such as blues, ragtime, spirituals, gospel songs, etc. Among them, blues and ragtime have the most obvious influence on the formation of jazz, and some of their artistic characteristics are still retained in jazz music today.

In addition, from a macro perspective, Latin American music is a mixture of European music, Indian music, and African music. However, due to the different mixing ingredients, degree, level and category, a very rich musical style is formed. Indian music mainly uses the pentatonic scale without semitones, and the phrases have a downward trend. Use more even-numbered beats and syncopated rhythms; more solos and less duets. Latin American folk music is mainly the music of native white people and Indo-European mixed-race people. It uses a seven-tone scale, a smooth and smooth melody, a relaxed singing style, many duets, and a touch of nostalgia in the music. American-African music, whose rhythm plays a decisive role in the music, is strong, complex, and often multi-line

Social functions of African music

There are dozens of them on the African continent Countries, hundreds of languages ??and countless ethnic groups and tribes, black Africans living in sub-Saharan Africa are divided into two major ethnic groups (North of the equator, west of Ethiopia to the Atlantic coast, the dark-skinned Sudanese; south of the equator, the light-skinned The Bantu people) and four ethnic minorities (the Hamites in the Horn of East Africa; the Malay and black descendant tribes in Madagascar; the Khoisan tribes in Southwest Africa; the Pygers scattered in the tropical jungles of Central Africa rice people). ?

Due to the many complicated tribes and various external influences, African music culture is not only diverse and rich, but also has the unique characteristics of black African national music. It is interconnected and has unique characteristics. tradition. For example, the unique characteristics of the music of various African tribes are the complex and changeable rhythms of West Africa and Central Africa, and the common progression of third intervals in the melody; the relatively stable tonality of East and South Africa, and the various forms of polyphony. Singing, playing, and love and worship of drums, etc. ?

Black African music has an extremely direct and close connection with social life. Music accompanies almost all people's activities and has become an indispensable and organic part of life. In Africa, most musical activities are carried out along with daily life, many labors are often accompanied by music, and music plays an important role in many important ceremonies. During festive festivals or slack seasons, various musical activities often have a social nature. They are usually performed in an open-air environment, either a square, a market, a forest, a courtyard, or a mausoleum. In such public events, those who gather spontaneously are generally people from the same tribe or speaking the same language. Through collective music and dance performances and singing and dancing carnivals, they strengthened their feelings for each other and strengthened the connection between tribal members. At this time, everyone, regardless of age or gender, is both an audience and an actor. They can all participate in chorus, instrumental ensembles and dance. Even where professional musicians perform, there is no clear separation between them and the audience. In short, in Africa, music is a social activity. It not only pays attention to artistry, but also emphasizes social, political and religious aspects; it can be used purely for entertainment, and can also be a means of transmitting information, and it is also an important channel for tribal members to express their sympathy and will; it is both It can be used to praise gods and people, and it can also be used to exorcise demons and diseases.