Afro-Latin American

and Popular Music

Presented to you by Group I
Music of Africa
Music has always been an important part of the daily
life of the African people, whether for work, religion,
ceremonies, or even communication. Singing, dancing,
hand clapping and the beating of drums are essential to
many African ceremonies, including those for birth,
death, initiation, marriage and funerals. Music and
dance are also important to religious expression and
political events.
Traditional Music of Africa
African traditional music is largely functional in nature, used
primarily in ceremonies rites, such as birth, death, marriage,
succession, worship and societies view their music as
entertainment.

African music has a basically interlocking structural format,

due mainly to its overlapping and dense texture as well as its
rhythmic complexity. Its many sources of influence have
produced such varied styles and genres as the following:
Afrobeat

Afrobeat is a term
to describe the
fusion of West
African with black
American music.
 Apala (Akpala)
Apala is musical genre from Nigeria in
the Yoruba tribal style, used to wake
up the worshippers after fasting
during the Muslim holy feast of
Ramadan.
Axe
Axe is a popular musical
genre from Salvador, Bahia
and Brazil. It fuses the Afro-
Caribbean styles of the
marcha, reggae, and
calypso, and is played by
carnival bands.
Jit
Jit is a hard and fast
percussive Zimbabwean
dance music played on
drums with guitar
accompaniment influenced
by mbira-based guitar
styles.
Jive
Jive is a popular form of
South African music
featuring a lively and
uninhibited variation of the
jitterbug, a form of swing
dance.
 Juju
Juju is a popular music style from
Nigeria that relies on the
traditional Yoruba rhythms, where
the instruments are more Western
in origin.
Kwassa Kwassa

Kwassa kwassa is a dance style

begun in Zaire in the late 1980’s
popularized by Kanda Bongo Man.
In this dance style, the hips
move back and forth while the
arms follow the hip movements.
Marabi
Marabi is a South African three-chord
township music of the 1930’s-1960’s which
evolved into African jazz. It makes use of
a keyboard style that combines American
jazz, ragtime, and blues with African
roots.
 Latin American Music
Influenced by African Music
 Reggae
Reggae is a Jamaican musical style
that was strongly influenced by the
island's traditional mento music, as
well as by calypso, African music.
American jazz, and rhythm and
blues. One of the reggae’s most
distinctive qualities in its offbeat
rhythm and staccato chords.
 Salsa
Salsa music is Cuban, Puerto
Rican, and Colombian dance
music. It comprises various
musical genres including the
Cuban son montuno, guaracha,
chachacha, mambo, and
bolero.
 Samba
Samba is a Brazilian musical genre
and dance style. Its roots can be
traced to Africa via the West
African slave trade and African
religious traditions particularly in
Angola and the Congo. Samba is
the basic underlying rhythm that
typifies most Brazilian music.
Soca
Soca is also known as the “soul of
calypso”. It originated as a fusion of
calypso with Indian rhythms, thus
combining the musical traditions of
the two major ethnic groups of
Trinidad and Tobago.
Were
Were is Muslim music, often
performed as a wake-up call
for early breakfast and prayers
during Ramadan celebrations.
Relying on pre-arranged music,
it fuses the African and
European music styles.
 Zouk
Zouk is fast, carnival-like rhythmic music,
from the Creole slang word for “part”. It
originated in the Caribbean Islands of
Guadaloupe and Marintinique and was
popularized in the 1980’s.
Vocal Forms of African
Music
 Maracatu
Maracatu first surfaced in the African
state of Pernambuco, combining the
strong rhythms of African percussion
instruments with Portuguese melodies.
The maracatu groups were called nacoes
(nations) who paraded with a drumming
ensemble numbering up to 100,
accompanied by a singer, a chorus, and a
coterie od dancers.
Musical Instruments used
in Maracatu
The maracatu uses mostly percussion instruments such as
the alfaia, tarol, Caixa-de-Guerra, gongue, agbe, and
miniero.

The alfaia is a large wooden drum that is rope tuned,

complemented by the tarol which is a shallow snare
drum, and the Caixa-de-Guerra which is war-like snare.
Providing the clanging sound is the gongue, a metal
cowbell. The shakers are represented by the agbe, a
gourd shaker covered by beads, and the miniero or
ganza, a metal cylindrical shaker filled with metal shot
or small dried seeds.
 Blues
The blues is a musical form of the late 19th century
that had deep roots in African-American
communities. These communities were located in
the so-called “Deep South” of the United States,
where the slaves and their descendants used to sing
as they worked in the cotton and vegetable fields.
The notes of the blues create an
expressive and soulful sound. The
feelings that are evoked are normally
associated with misfortune, lost,
love, frustration, or loneliness. From
extreme joy to deep sadness, the
blues can communicate various
emotions more effectively than other
musical forms.
Soul
Soul music was a popular music genre of the 1950’s and
1960’s. It originated in the United States. It combines
elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and
blues, and often jazz. The catchy rhythms are
accompanied by handclaps and extemporaneous body
moves which are among its important features.
Some important innovators whose
recordings in the 1950s contributed to the
emergence of soul music included Clyde
McPhatter, Hank Ballard, and Etta James.
Ray Charles and Little Richard (who
inspired Otis Redding) and James Brown
were equally influential
 Spiritual
The term spiritual, normally associated with a deeply religious
person, refers here to a Negro spiritual, a song form by African
migrants to America who became enslaved by its white
communities. This musical form became their outlet to vent
their loneliness and anger, and is a result of the interaction of
music and religion from Africa with that of America.
Call and Response
The call and response method is a succession of
two distinct musical phrases usually rendered by
different musicians, where the second phrase acts
as a direct commentary on or response to the first.
Much like the question and answer sequence in
human communication, it also forms a strong
resemblance to the verse-chorus form in many
vocal compositions.
Musical Instruments of
Africa
African music includes all the major
instrumental genres of western music, including
strings, winds, and percussion, along with a
tremendous variety of specific African musical
instruments for solo or ensemble playing.
Classification of Traditional African
Instruments

A. Idiophones
These are percussion instruments that
are either struck with a mallet or against
one another.
Balafon
The balafon is a West African
xylophone. It is a pitched percussion
instrument with bars made from logs
or bamboo. The xylophone is
originally an Asian instrument that
follows the structure of a piano. It
came from Madagascar to Africa, then
to the Americas and Europe.
Rattles
Rattles are made of seashells, tin,
basketry, animal hoofs, horn,
wood, metal bells, cocoons, palm
kernels, or tortoise shells. These
rattling vessels may range from
single to several objects that are
either joined or suspended in such
a way as they hit each other.
Agogo
The agogo is a single bell or multiple
bells that had its origins in traditional
Yoruba music and also in the samba
baterias (percussion) ensembles. The
agogo may be called “the oldest
samba instrument based on West
African Yoruba single or double bells.”
 Atingting kon
These are slit gongs used to communicate
between villages. They were carved out of
wood to resemble ancestors and had a “slit
opening” at the bottom. In certain cases,
their sound could carry for miles through
the forest and even across water to
neighboring islands.
 Slit Drum
The slit drum is a hollow percussion
instrument. Although known as a drum, it is
not a true drum but is an idiophone. It is
usually carved or constructed from bamboo or
wood into a box with one or more slits in the
top. Most slit drums have one slit, though two
and three slits (cut into the shape of an “H”)
occur. If the resultant tongues are different in
width or thicknesses, the drum will produce
two different pitches.
Djembe
The West African djembe (pronounced zhem-bay) is one of the best-
known African drums is. It is shaped like a large goblet and played
with bare hands. The body is carved from a hollowed trunk and is
covered in goat skin. Log drums come in different shapes and sizes
as well: tubular drums, bowl-shaped drums, and friction drums.
Some have one head, others have two heads. The bigger the drum,
the lower the tone or pitch. The more tension in the drum head, the
higher the tone produced.
 Shekere
Shekere - The shekere is a type of gourd
and shell megaphone from West Africa,
consisting of a dried gourd with beads
woven into a net covering the gourd. The
agbe is another gourd drum with cowrie
shells usually strung with white cotton
thread. The axatse is a small gourd, held by
the neck and placed between hand and leg.
Rasp
A rasp, or scraper, is a hand
percussion instrument whose
sound is produced by scraping
the notches on a piece of wood
(sometimes elaborately carved)
with a stick, creating a series of
rattling effects
 Membranophones
Membranophones are instruments which have vibrating
animal membranes used in drums. Their shapes may be
conical, cylindrical, barrel, hour-glass, globular, or kettle,
and are played with sticks, hands, or a combination of both.
Body Percussion
Africans frequently use their bodies as musical
instruments. Aside from their voices, where
many of them are superb singers, the body
also serves as a drum as people clap their
hands, slap their thighs, pound their upper
arms or chests, or shuffle their feet.
This body percussion creates exciting rhythms which also
stir them to action. Moreover, the wearing of rattles or
bells on their wrists, ankles, arms, and waists enhances
their emotional response.
 Talking Drum
The talking drum is used to send messages to
announce births, deaths, marriages, sporting
events, dances, initiation, or war. Sometimes
it may also contain gossip or jokes. It is
believed that the drums can carry direct
messages to the spirits after the death of a
loved one.
Lamellaphone
One of the most popular African
percussion instruments is the
lamellaphone, which is a set of
plucked tongues or keys mounted
on a sound board. It is known by
different names according to the
regions such as mbira, karimba,
kisaanj, and likembe
 Mbira
Mbira (hand piano or thumb piano) -The thumb piano or finger
xylophone is of African origin and is used throughout the
continent. It consists of a wooden board with attached staggered
metal tines (a series of wooden, metal, or rattan tongues), plus
an additional resonator to increase its volume. It is played by
holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with
the thumbs, producing a soft plucked sound
Chordophones
Chordophones are
instruments which produce
sounds from the vibration of
strings. These include bows,
harps, lutes, zithers, and
lyres of various sizes
Musical Bow
The musical bow is the ancestor of all string
instruments. It is the oldest and one of the most
widely-used string instruments of Africa. The
principal types are the mouth bow, the resonator
bow, and the earth bow.
Resonator Bow
Is a form of the mouth bow with
calabash resonator attached at its
mid-point. In different parts of Africa,
this bow is know by other names. In
Rwanda, it is known as munahi; in
Dahomey, tiepore; and in Madagascar,
jejolava
Earth bow
Also called ground bow or pit harp
consist of a flexible pole which is
planted in the ground. A string is
attached to one end of the pole, while
the other end of the string is attached
to a stone, a piece of bark, or a small
piece of wood which is then planted in a
hole dug in the ground, thus bending the
pole.
Lute
originating from the Arabic states, is
shaped like the modern guitar and played
in similar fashion. It has a resonating body,
a neck, and one or more strings which
stretch across the length of its body and
neck.
 Kora
The kora is Africa's most sophisticated harp,
while also having features similar to a lute. Its
body is made from a gourd or calabash. A
support for the bridge is set across the opening
and covered with a skin that is held in place
with studs. The leather rings around the neck
are used to tighten the 21 strings that give the
instrument a range of over three octaves. The
kora is held upright and played with the
fingers.
Zither
The zither is a stringed instrument
with varying sizes and shapes whose
strings are stretched along its body.
Among the types of African zither are
the raft or Inanga zither from
Burundi, the tubular or Valiha zither
from Malagasy, and the harp or Mvet
zither from Cameroon
Zeze
The zeze is a fiddle from Suh-
Suharan Africa played with a
bow, a small wooden stick, or
plucked with the fingers. It
has one or two strings, made
of steel or bicycle brake wire.
Aerophones
Aerophones are instruments which are produced
initially by trapped vibrating air columns or which
enclose a body of vibrating air.
Flutes
Flutes are widely used
throughout Africa and either
vertical or side-blown. They
are usually fashioned from a
single tube closed at one
end and blown like a bottle
Panpipes
consist of cane pipes of
different lengths tied in a row
or in a bundle held together by
wax or cord, and generally
closed at the bottom. They are
blown across the top, each
providing a different note.
Horns
Horns and trumpets, found almost everywhere in Africa,
are commonly made from elephant tusks and animal
horns. With their varied attractive shapes, these
instruments are end-blown or side-blown and range in
size from the small signal whistle of the southern cattle
herders to the large ivory horns of the tribal chiefs of
the interior.
Kudu horn
This is one type of horn made from the horn
of the kudu antelope. It releases a mellow
and warm sound that adds a unique African
accent to the music. This instrument, which
comes in a set of six horns, reflects the
cross of musical traditions in Africa.
Reed pipes
There are single-reed pipes made from
hollow guinea corn or sorghum stems,
where the reed is a flap partially cut
from the stem near one end. It is the
vibration of this reed that causes the air
within the hollow instrument to vibrate,
thus creating the sound
Whistles
Whistles found throughout the continent may
be made of wood or other materials. Short
pieces of horn serve as whistles, often with a
short tube inserted into the mouthpiece. Clay
can be molded into whistles of many shapes
and forms and then baked.
Trumpets
African trumpets are made of
wood, metal, animal horns,
elephant tusks, and gourds with
skins from snakes, zebras,
leopards, crocodiles and animal
hide as ornaments to the
instrument.
They are mostly ceremonial in
nature, often used to announce the
arrival or departure of important
guests. In religion and witchcraft,
some tribes believe in the magical
powers of trumpets to frighten away
evil spirits, cure diseases, and
protect warriors and hunters from
harm.
African Musical Instruments
from the Environment
Many instruments of Africa are made from natural elements like
wood, metal, animal, skin and horns, as well as improvised ones
like tin cans and bottles. These are mainly used to provide
rhythmic sounds, which are the most defining element of African
music. Africans make musical instruments from the materials in
the environment, like forest areas from where they make large
wooden drums. Drums may also be made of clay, metal, tortoise
shells, or gourds. Xylophones are made of lumber or bamboo,
while flutes can be constructed wherever reeds or bamboo grow.
Modern Africans make use of recycled waste materials
such as strips of roofing metal, empty oil drums, and
tin cans. These people, bursting with rhythm, make
music with everything and anything. At present, new
materials that are more easily accessible, such as
soda cans and bottles, are becoming increasingly
important for the construction of percussion
instruments.
Music of Latin America
The music of Latin America is the product
of three major influences – Indigenous,
Spanish-Portuguese, and African.
Sometimes called Latin music, it includes
the countries that have had a colonial
history from Spain and Portugal, divided
into the following areas:
a. Andean region (a mountain system of western South
America along the Pacific coast from Venezuela to
Tierra del Fuego) – Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador,
Peru, and Venezuela

b. Central America – Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador,

Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama

c. Carribean – Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe,

Haiti, Martinique, and Puerto Rico

d. d. Brazil
At the same time, because of the inter-
racial cross breeding and migration, the
abovenamed countries were also somewhat
commonly populated by five major
ancestral groups as follows:
a. Indian descendants of the original native
Americans who were the inhabitants of the region
before the arrival of Christopher Columbus
b. African descendants from Western and Central
Africa
c. European descendants mainly from Spain and
Portugal but also including the French, Dutch,
Italian, and British
d. Asian descendants from China, Japan, India, and
Indonesia/Java
e. Mixed descendants from the above-named groups
Influences on Latin
American Music
Indigenous Latin-American Music
Before the arrival of the Spanish, Portuguese, and other
European colonizers, the natives were found to be using local
drum and percussion instruments such as the guiro, maracas,
and turtle shells, and wind instruments such as zampona (pan
pipes) and quena (notched-end flutes) remain popular and are
traditionally made out of the same aquatic canes.
Materials came from hollow tree trunks, animal skins, fruit shells,
dry seeds, cane and clay, hardwood trees, jaguar claws, animal and
human bones, and specially-treated inflated eyes of tigers.

Turtle Shell
Zampona

Quena

Guiro Maracas
The indigenous music of Latin America was
largely functional in nature, being used for
religious worship and ceremonies. The use of
instruments as well as singing and dancing
served to implore the gods for good harvest,
victory in battles, guard against sickness and
natural disasters, and of course provide
recreation.
Afro-Latin American Music
The African influence on Latin American music is most
pronounced in its rich and varied rhythmic patterns produced
by the drums and various percussion instruments. Complex
layering of rhythmic patterns was a favorite device, where fast
paced tempos add to the rhythmic density.
 Euro-Latin American Music
The different regions of Latin America adopted various characteristics
from their European colonizers. Melodies of the Renaissance period were
used in Southern Chile and the Colombian Pacific coasts, while step-wise
melodies were preferred in the heavily Hispanic and Moorish-influenced
areas of Venezuela and Colombia..
 Mixed American Music
The diversity of races and cultures from the Native Americans, Afro-Latin
Americans, and Euro-Latin Americans account for the rich combinations
of musical elements including the melodic patterns, harmonic
combinations, rhythmic complexities, wide range of colors and
dynamics, and various structural formats.
 Popular Latin American Music
Latin America has produced a number of musical genres and forms
that had been influenced by European folk music, African
traditional music, and native sources. Much of its popular music has
in turn found its way to the many venues and locales of America,
Europe, and eventually the rest of the world.
Samba
The samba is a dance form of African
origins around 1838 which evolved into an
AfricanBrazilian invention in the working
class and slum districts of Rio de Janeiro.
Its lively rhythm, consisting of a meter but
containing three steps each that create a
feeling of a meter instead, was meant to be
executed for singing, dancing, and parading
in the carnival.
Son
The son is a fusion of the popular music or
canciones (songs) of Spain and the African
rumba rhythms of Bantu origin. Originating in
Cuba, it is usually played with the tres (guitar),
contrabass, bongos, maracas, and claves (two
wooden sticks that are hit together).
 Salsa
The salsa is a social dance with marked influences from
Cuba and Puerto Rico that started in New York in the
mid 1970’s. The execution of the salsa involves shifting
the weight by stepping sideways, causing the hips to
move while the upper body remains level. The arms and
shoulders are also incorporated with the upper body
position. In each, a moderate tempo is used while the
upper and lower bodies act in seeming disjoint as
described above.
Musical Instruments of
Latin America
In Central America, the ancient civilizations of the Aztec and
Maya peoples used various instruments mainly for religious
functions and usually by professional musicians. As some
instruments were considered holy and it was further believed
that music was supposed to glorify the gods, mistakes in playing
these instruments were considered offensive and insulting to
them. Some of their instruments include the following:
Tlapitzalli
The tlapitzalli is a flute variety
from the Aztec culture made of
clay with decorations of abstract
designs or images of their
deities.
Teponaztli
The teponaztli is a Mexican slit
drum hollowed out and carved from
a piece of hardwood. It is then
decorated with designs in relief or
carved to represent human figures
or animals to be used for both
religious and recreational purposes.
Conch
The conch is a wind instrument
made from a seashell usually of a
large sea snail. It is prepared by
cutting a hole in its spine near the
apex, then blown into as if it were
a trumpet
Rasp

The rasp is a hand percussion

instrument whose sound is
produced by scraping a group of
notched sticks with another stick,
creating a series of rattling
effects.
Huehueti
The huehueti is a Mexican upright
tubular drum used by the Aztecs
and other ancient civilizations. It
is made of wood opened at the
bottom and standing on three
legs cut from the base, with its
stretched skin beaten by the
hand or a wooden mallet.
Whistles

Whistles are instruments made of

natural elements such as bone
from animals. The eagle-bone
whistle is the most common
whose function is to help
symbolize the piece’s purpose.