What are African musical instruments?
Many African musical instruments are specific to one region or country. Still, Africa’s musical instruments have also been influenced over time by the movement of different peoples from other parts of the world. Today, African musical instruments can be heard in different kinds of music around the world, which the musical traditions of the continent have influenced.
African musical instruments are organized into the following groups:
- aerophones – blown instruments;
- membranophones – instruments with a stretched skin that is struck;
- chordophones – instruments with strings;
- idiophones – instruments made using materials that produce sound.
What is the most popular musical instrument in Africa?
The most popular musical instruments in the continent are all African percussion instruments: the mbira, the xylophone, and different drums, to name a few.
African musical instruments list
Here is a list of some of the most common African musical instruments. The instruments vary between countries and across regions.
What are the African wind instruments?
These are known as aerophones.
List of standard African wind instruments:
- Flutes in Africa are usually made from materials like bamboo, gourds, wood, clay, bone, and animal horn. Across the continent, many variations can be found in many different ways.
- Trumpets are often made of animal horns or tusks. The kakaki is made of metal, and the farai is made of wood – the Hausa people of Nigeria use both.
- The algaita is a west African wind instrument used in many ceremonies and festivals.
What are the African string instruments?
These are known as chordophones
List of some African string instruments:
- The Kora is a west African stringed instrument, usually with 21 strings. It’s made of a type of gourd – the calabash – covered with cowhide. Musicians play the kora by plucking the strings.
- The oud is found in several forms around the continent. The most popular is the oud sharqi – the ‘lute of the east.’
- The bolon is a traditional west African musical instrument belonging to the harp family. It’s an ancient musical instrument and is traditionally attached to hunting. It could also accompany storytelling at the royal courts. The bolon is made of a gourd covered with animal skin and a curved wooden neck. There are three or four strings attached to the gourd and the neck.
What are African percussion instruments?
In the African musical tradition, percussion instruments are known as idiophones and are divided into two classes: melodic and rhythmic.
Drums are essential in every aspect of life for many African cultures, including the physical, emotional, and spiritual. As a result, many different types of drums and other African percussion instruments are found across the continent.
African percussion instruments list:
These are known as idiophones.
Here’s a list of a few well-known types of African percussion instruments:
- The mbira is considered the national instrument of Zimbabwe and is played across South Africa and, today, in other genres of music around the world.
- The shekere is a west African percussion instrument that can be played in several ways. It’s made of a gourd covered with a web of colorful beads placed to make patterns. The beads on the shekere can be shaken and twisted to make a sound, and the hollow gourd can be slapped.
- The ekwe log drum is a traditional African percussion instrument from Nigeria and Cameroon.
- Gankoguis. These are bell instruments played by the Ewe people of Ghana. Made from forged iron, the double bell is gonged with a wooden stick to make a deep resonating sound.
- Axatse. These are a type of rattle made from dried-out gourds by the Ewe people. The material is readily available in the region and lends itself well to musical instruments. First, the makers spend hours working on the net that covers the hollowed-out gourd. Then, one by one, they attach dried seeds to them (these have also been replaced with colorful plastic beads in recent years).
- Balafons. It is a type of xylophone made by the Mande people, who can be found all over West Africa. All modern balafons are believed to be descended from a single, sacred example: the Sosso Bala, a wooden xylophone with supernatural powers. Because of this, balafons are considered highly essential in Mande culture.
Theagogô is a pair of bells with a handle that is struck with a wooden stick. They are a feature of Brazilian samba music too.
African music also has many kinds of drums, known as membranophones.
- The djembe is one of the most famous African percussion instruments. It’s originally from west Africa and is played with the hands.
- Dun Duns. These are bass drums. Often played in groups, they are made of cow skin and sit on the floor. They are also played with a stick. They are double-headed and belong to the family of hourglass-shaped pressure drums. They are played with a beater. The drums can imitate speech patterns or act as signals to make announcements or warnings. The note’s pitch changes by squeezing or releasing the drum’s strings with the arm.
- The bata is a set of three drums used by the Yoruba tribe in religious music. They are played using their hands or a beater.
- The ngoma drums are popular in east African countries like Kenya and Uganda. They are traditionally made of wood, can be very large, and are usually played by people in groups. They’re used for dancing and celebrations.
- The bougarabou is a goblet-shaped drum usually played in three or four sets. They look like the djembe but make a lower sound. In addition, the drummer sometimes wears bracelets that make sounds like a tambourine when they move their hands to beat the drum.
- Donnos. These drums imitate the rhythms and intonations of speech and have strings stretched between the skins at either end. The drum is played under the arm using a stick. Squeezing the strings makes the pitch of the drum higher.
