African Music instruments

Purpose Music performed had a function… Celebrate birth, marriage and hunting Work songs Political activities To ward off evil spirits To invite good spirits To invite the dead and ancestors

Talking Drum = tama

Slit drums – divided to produce two pitches

Agogo bell – gankoqui – two tone - used for a congregation of the arrival of a dignitary

Challenge : Try working out the rhythms of the Agogo in groups of four or five

Kora – a stringed instrument which has two sets of strings. An experienced player is called a Jali or Griot Listen to it being played

Mbira or thumb piano – can be played in a resonator called a deze Hear one -

Challenge: play both parts of this Mbira music in pairs

bougarabou djembe

Two gourds with beans inside – one is occasionally clacked with the other Rain stick – believed it could bring rain storms Challenge: Perform a quiet section of an african piece by playing some of the selected instruments listed above