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Africa, often referred to as "the motherland," is the very birthplace of the human race. It's also likely that the continent is where our uniquely human habit of making music was born. From the living traditions of the Pygmies to the archeological record of Ancient Egypt and its neighboring kingdoms, music has played a key role in African civilization from its very birth. Musically, Africa can be divided in 5 regions: North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. These areas all share common histories and cultural traits that bind them into coherent musical regions—but also allow for an amazing number of styles and variations within each region.
North Africa—Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco—bears a strong Arab and Islamic stamp thanks to medieval Islamic expansion. Egypt especially has deep musical connections to the rest of the Arab world, being one of the epicenters of Arab classical and popular music for hundreds of years and the center of the Arabic film and recording industry for much of the last century. To the West, Libya, Morocco and Algeria all balance Arab musical traditions with homegrown African styles such as gnawaa, malhun and chabbi as well as the indigenous music of the Amazigh and Kabyle (also known as Berber) peoples. Morocco is especially fertile, with a classical tradition all its own, known as al-andalus, while Algeria was the birthplace of the raucous, heavily exported 20th-century style called rai.
West Africa, below the expanse of the Sahara desert, is one of the most musically fertile areas of the world, containing such musical powerhouses as Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana and Guinea. Once the home to various Empires that grew rich from trans-Saharan trade, the region is home to some of the most sophisticated "classical" and court music traditions in sub-Saharan Africa. The Mande peoples especially, with their various ancient griot and jeli traditions have preserved a rich musical and cultural heritage, and the Yoruba kingdoms of Nigeria and Benin preserve some of the most technically complex music in the world. Though Islam continues to play a major role throughout the region, European colonization hit West Africa hard and early, shaking these civilizations to their cores.
The Europeans brought both colonial armies and Christianity, two institutions that would reshape both African society and music. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Church music and military bands gave many African musicians first-hand experience performing European music on European instruments. The advent of radio opened these musicians up to even more foreign sounds—especially American jazz and Cuban rumba. By the middle of the 20th century, musicians all over West Africa had adapted these new sounds into a dizzying variety of homegrown pop sounds. By the end of the century, the region was a bona-fide international-pop juggernaut. Superstars as diverse as Nigeria's Fela Kuti, Senegal's Youssou N'Dour and Mali's Ali Farka Toure toured the world, and such styles as Afrobeat and mbalax had become a permanent part of the world's musical vocabulary.
Central Africa, dominated by the musical colossus of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), followed a similar course—with even more spectacular results. European music didn't gain as firm a foothold here but, surprisingly, Cuban music did. In the mid-20th century, the rumba craze swept through Africa, and Congolese musicians recognized it as the long-lost descendent of a local kiKongo dance called nkumba. They quickly reappropriated the music and infused it with the buoyant spirit of the Independence era, and this new Congolese rumba soon swept across the continent and created some of the first African superstars. In the 1970s a new guitar-driven style called soukous evolved, which was even more irresistible. This sound traveled to the expatriate African communities of Europe, especially France and Belgium, where it helped establish these countries as epicenters of African music production and distribution.
Southern Africa offers another musical motherlode, with the rich and varied musical patchwork of South Africa vying with Zimbabwe's endlessly creative Shona people for the region's musical crown, while neighboring Angola, Mozambique and Zaire offer up unique styles of their own. South Africa is the region's major economic player, and its recording, broadcasting and media industries are among the most sophisticated in Africa. Accordingly, the country has a rich history of popular music in the 20th century, from the homegrown jazz, jive and gumboot styles of Johannesburg to the gorgeous Zulu choral and instrumental styles of Durban and KwaZulu Natal. South Africa also has a vibrant young urban music scene with everything from rap and R&B to kwaito, a local variant of house music and hip-hop. Zimbabwe offers up a wealth of music to rival South Africa's bounty—jit, mbira and chimurenga, just to name a few—as well some international superstars. If South Africa can boast the likes of Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba, Zimbabwe offers up Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi. Meanwhile, Angolans still dance to the semba (the grandfather of Brazilian samba) and Mozambicans groove to the marrabenta as the two nations slowly recover from decades of civil war.
East Africa also has deep musical ties to the Islamic world; from the Egyptian-influenced taraab music of the Swahili coast to the oud-driven music of the Nubian people of Northern Sudan. Yet the region is equally influenced by Congolese soukous and even has its own local guitar style, the sparkling benga music of the Luo people of Kenya. Additionally, Ethiopia and Eritrea have their own ancient, unique and interrelated musical cultures that date back more than 1,000 years.
— courtesy of Tom Pryor; Global Rhythm Magazine and National Geographic
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