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African Music
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AFRICAN MUSIC AND DANCE, indigenous African musical and dance expressions that are maintained by oral tradition and that are stylistically distinct from the music and dance of both the Arabic cultures of North Africa and the Western settler populations of southern Africa. African music and dance, therefore, are cultivated largely by societies in sub-Saharan Africa.
Musical instruments
In the precolonial period, trade, wars, migrations, and religion stimulated interaction among sub-Saharan societies, encouraging them to borrow musical resources from one another, including peoples exposed to Islamic and Arabic culture, who had integrated some Arabic instruments and techniques into their traditional music. Some usages became concentrated in particular culture areas, whereas others were widely distributed. Thus, the savanna belt of West Africa forms a music area distinct from the Guinea Coast because of its virtuosic instrumental styles and the presence of a class of professional praise singers, or griots, in that area. Similarly, the music of East Africa is distinguished from that of Central Africa by a number of instruments, and from that of southern Africa, which traditionally emphasizes certain kinds of choral organization and complex forms of musical bows.
African Recordings & Artist || About African Music
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