The African Music

Music is important in the life of African people. In America, we tend to be spectators or listeners. Nearly everyone in Africa sings and plays one or two instruments. Africans make music in the home, at the market place, and at social gatherings. Also, music plays an important part in political, religious, and ceremonial life. Music has roles in healing, at trials, announcing the presence of very important people like chiefs and kings, weddings, funerals, and visits of important people. The person who plays the instruments often is the maker. Materials for the instruments are usually from nature, like wood, gourds, turtle shells, animal horns or skin. Other materials might be recycled from man-made objects, like scrap metal from old cars or oil drums. Blacksmiths or artists trained in instrument making create them for important people and groups. They decorate their instruments so that they not only sound good but are so beautiful they are considered works of art.