Musical instruments( Idiophones ) of Africa

Some examples of Idiophone Musical instruments from Africa

1. Musical Instruments of Africa Reporter:

2. AFRICAN MUSIC INCORPORATES ALL THE MAJOR INSTRUMENT GENRES OF WESTERN MUSIC, INCLUDING STRINGS, WINDS, AND PERCUSSION, ALONG WITH A TREMENDOUS VARIETY OF SPECIFIC AFRICAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FOR SOLO OR ENSEMBLE PLAYING.

3. Idiophones These are percussion instruments that are either struck with a mallet or against one another.

4. BALAFON ( Balafong, Balaphone) The balafon is a West African xylophone.It is pitched percussion instrument with bars made from logs or bamboo. a kind of wooden xylophone or percussion idiophone which plays melodic tunes and usually has between 16 to 27 keys which has been played in the region since the 1300s and originated in Mali according to the Manding history narrated by the griots.

5. BALAFON

6. RATTLES Rattles are vessels made of seashells, tin, basketry, animal hoofs, horn, wood, metal, cocoons, palm kernels, or tortoise shells. These may range from single to several objects that are either joined or suspended to create sound as they hit each other.

7. RATTLES

8. AGOGO The agogo is a single bell or multiple bells that had its origins in traditions Yoruba music as well as in the samba bateria (percussion) ensembles. The agogo may be called "the oldest samba instrument based on West African Yoruba single or double bells."It has the highest pitch among the bateria instrument .

9. AGOGO

10. ATINGTING KON The atingting kon are slit gongs used as communication between villages. Traditionally, 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 across water to neighboring islands.Gong"languages," composed of series of beats and pauses, made it possible to send highly specific messages.

11. ATINGTING KON

12. SLIT DRUM The slitdrum is a hollow percussion instrument Although referred to as a drum, it is more of an idiophon e. 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 sli, though two and three slits (cut into the shape of an "H") occur.If the resultand tongues are different in width or thickness, the drum can produce two different pitches.

13. SLIT DRUM

14. DJEMBE The West African djembe (pronounced zhembay) is one of the best-known African drums.It is shaped like a large goblet and played with bare hands.The body is carved from a hollowed trunk and i covered with goat skin. Log drums come in different shapes and sizes as well as tubular drums, bowl-shaped drums, and frictions drums. Some have one head while others have two. The bigger the drum, the lower the tone or pitch. The more tension in the drum head, the head the tone produced. These drums are played using hands or sticks both, while being held under the armpit or with a sling. They sometimes have rattling metal jingles attached to the outside, or seeds and beads placed inside the drum.

15. DJEMBE

16. 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 dried gourd with cowrie shells or beads usually strung with white cotton thread. The axatse is s small gourd, held by the neck and placed between hand and leg.

17. SHEKERE

18. RASP A rasp, or scracper, is a hand percussion instrument whose sound is produced by scraping the notches on piece of wood (sometimes elaaborately carved) with a stick, creating a series of rattling effects.

19. RASP