Africa

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Drums are extremely popular in Africa. In fact there are many different types of drums used. 

 

 

 

 

Latin Percussion and the Caribbean Drums

No matter where in the world they originate, any musical instrument that gets beat is considered a percussion instrument, but not every percussion instrument is a drum.

To put that in perspective: the Latin word percussio means to beat or to strike – in a musical sense, not with an implication of violence.

That Latin word is the root of the term percussion and it covers anything that is struck to make a sound.

Some musical instruments, such as the piano and the dulcimer use hammers to beat the strings, which produce the sounds. Yet they are not considered percussion.

In fact, the piano defies standard classification: most accurately, it should be considered as a beaten-string instrument!

Other instruments in the percussion section of any orchestra or band, such as chimes and maracas, are agitated rather than struck by the player – although one can beat a single maraca into one’s palm.

Rain sticks do not get beat at all; the percussionist simply inverts the stick to generate its sound. 

Drum classifications include idiophones, membranophones, and electrophones

by their basic classification: acoustic, electric, and world?

by their region of origin: Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe among them?

by their function: orchestra, band, marching, military...?

by their configuration/size: standard, fusion, electronic, two-headed, single-headed?

By their shape: cylindrical, goblet, hourglass, bowl, box?

By how they’re played – by hand, with a mallet, with sticks, or by striking them against something?

And should we include cymbals in our assessment? They are, after all, essential to a drum kit and make a welcome addition to any orchestra.

Besides, they are some of the oldest musical instruments in the world!

One thing we can say for sure: you don’t need us to break down a common drum kit – the kick drum, the tom-toms, the snare drum...

African Drums

Note the djembe drums by their goblet shape. 

In spite of this being a vast continent whose music is characterised by a strong rhythmic interest, many of the Sub-Saharan languages do not have a word for rhythm or even for music.

Nevertheless, musicologist Arthur Morris Jones, who had travelled extensively throughout Africa from his home base in Zambia, found music across the continent so similar he considered even regional music styles a part of a bigger system found throughout Africa.

The underpinning elements of African drumming consist of syncopation and cross-beats, or polyrhythms, played on such diverse instruments as:

the udu – a ceremonial drum played by women in Nigeria

the slit drum, also called log drum

the djembe: goblet-shaped, it is the most well-known of African drums

The ngoma is generally referred to as a ceremonial drum in Uganda. Traditionally, they are played during rituals and as a symbol of authority. They are also used to communicate over distances.

The Bantu ethnic group, called Baganda, have a such a special connection to this drum that they refer to themselves affectionately as the children of the ngoma.

Beware that the term ‘ngoma’ can be misleading as it is the Swahili word for ‘drum’ in general.

Spoken in that sense, that word does not define a single drum, rather a set of up to seven drums, of different sizes and varieties, all linked and played together.

The most common drums that comprise a ngoma (set) include a bakisimba which, when beaten, makes a deep bass sound. One might compare it to a western drum set’s kick drum.

 

The empuunya has a slightly higher pitch and is smaller than the bakisimba; nevertheless, its sound is also in the bass range.

The nankasa is played with sticks rather than beaten with hands like the other drums and it makes a high-pitched sound. You might think of this drum as the snare’s counterpart – minus the snares, of course.

The drum most resembling the traditional, ceremonial ngoma is called engalabi. It is taller and more narrow than the other drums in the set. Furthermore, as opposed to the other drums, it has only one head, made of lizard skin and fastened with wooden pegs.

All of the other drum heads are made of cowhide on top and bottom. These skins are laced together by means of an intricate weave.

The engalabi has the highest pitch of any drums the set may comprise of. As you might have figured, it is a special honour to play this drum!

Other African percussion instruments include the marimba and the mbira, both of which must be regularly tuned.

Needless to say, drumming is a vital part of Bantu culture. Drum music, often accompanied by ritual dances are used to reinforce social cohesion, aid in healing and help reduce stress and tension.

Have you ever heard of a drum circle? Have you ever participated in one?

African tribes are not the only proponents of drumming to manage stress and help healing.

According to the Resiliency Project, drumming has a therapeutic effect on our physical, mental, emotional and psychological well-being. It has been shown to help lower blood pressure as well as to boost immunity and in managing chronic pain.

 

If you are any kind of music aficionado, you surely know this drummer for Def Leppard lost his left arm in a car accident. Rather than terminate his tenure, his bandmates aided his recovery by allowing him time to adapt to using an intricate pedal system so that his left foot plays the drums and cymbals his missing left arm would normally strike.

Back to African drums, now...

Of particular note in the African drum lineup is the talking drum: a two-headed, hourglass-shaped instrument with strings joining the top and bottom heads.

 

When played correctly, the percussionist would seat the drum under his arm and squeeze the strings while beating the head, causing the tone and pitch to change, mimicking human speech.

This drum type was generally used for communication more so than for making music, at least as we understand music making.

Naturally, each region, language, country and tribe identifies their drums by names unique to their language, and one might find similar drums on one side of the continent as the other. The aforementioned djembe is a prime example of such.

Furthermore, considering that Africa is the cradle of humankind, it is both reasonable and logical to postulate that, as humans migrated throughout the world, they took their drums with them.

That is why we see similar drums in Asia, South America and even in the Caribbean!

 

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A Punu mask 

 

 

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Ancestral spirits are important in Zulu religious life, and offerings and sacrifices are made to the ancestors for protection, good health, and happiness. Ancestral spirits come back to the world in the form of dreams, illnesses, and sometimes snakes. The Zulu also believe in the use of magic.

 

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Bronze African sculpture masterpiece 

 

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picathartes bird, a unique bird of Africa 

 

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picathartes bird, a unique bird of Africa 

 

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Edited August 22, 2020 by Preety_India

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Nkisi or Nkishi (plural varies: minkisi, zinkisi, or nkisi) are spirits or an object that a spirit inhabits. It is frequently applied to a variety of objects used throughout the Congo Basin in Central Africa, especially in the Territory of Cabinda that are believed to contain spiritual powers or spirits. The term and its concept have passed with the Atlantic slave trade to the Americas.[1]

MeaningEdit

The current meaning of the term derives from the root *-kitį, referring to a spiritual entity or material objects in which it is manifested or inhabits in Proto-Njila, an ancient subdivision of the Bantu language family.[2]

In its earliest attestations in Kikongo dialects in the early seventeenth century, it was transliterated as "mokissie" (in Dutch), as the mu- prefix in this noun class were still pronounced. It was reported by Dutch visitors to Loango, current territory of Cabinda, in the 1668 book Description of Africa as referring both to a material item and the spiritual entity that inhabits it.[3] In the sixteenth century, when the Kingdom of Kongo was converted to Christianity, ukisi (a substance having characteristics of nkisi) was used to translate "holy" in the Kikongo Catechism of 1624.[4]

In the eighteenth century, the mu- prefix evolved into a simple nasal n-, so the modern spelling is properly n'kisi, but many orthographies spell it nkisi (there is no language-wide accepted orthography of Kikongo).

UseEdit

Close communication with ancestors and belief in the efficacy of their powers are closely associated with minkisi in Kongo tradition. Among the peoples of the Congo Basin, especially the Bakongo and the Songye people of Kasai, exceptional human powers are frequently believed to result from some sort of communication with the dead. People known as banganga[5] (singular: nganga) work as healers, diviners, and mediators who defend the living against black magic (witchcraft) and provide them with remedies against diseases resulting either from witchcraft or the demands of bakisi (spirits), emissaries from the land of the dead.

Banganga harness the powers of bakisi and the dead by making minkisi. Minkisi are primarily containers - ceramic vessels, gourds, animal horns, shells, bundles, or any other object that can contain spiritually-charged substances. Even graves themselves, as the home of the dead and hence the home of bakisi, can be considered as minkisi. In fact, minkisi have even been described as portable graves, and many include earth or relics from the grave of a powerful individual as a prime ingredient. The powers of the dead thus infuse the object and allow the nganga to control it.[6] The metal objects commonly pounded into the surface of the power figures represent the minkisis' active roles during ritual or ceremony. Each nail or metal piece represents a vow, a signed treaty, and efforts to abolish evil. Ultimately, these figures most commonly represent reflections upon socially unacceptable behaviors and efforts to correct them.[7]

The substances chosen for inclusion in minkisi are frequently called "bilongo" or "milongo" (singular nlongo), a word often translated as "medicine." However, their operation is not primarily pharmaceutical, as they are not applied to or ingested by those who are sick, and perhaps bilongo is more accurately translated as "therapeutic substances". Rather they are frequently chosen for metaphoric reasons, for example, bird claws in order to catch wrongdoers or because their names resemble characteristics of spirits in question.

Among the many common materials used in the minkisi were fruit ("luyala" in Kikongo), charcoal ("kalazima"), and mushrooms ("tondo").[8] Minerals were collected from various places associated with the dead, such as earth collected from graves and riverbeds. White clay was also very important in the composition of minkisi due to the symbolic relationship of the color white and the physical aspects of dead skin as well as their moral rightness and spiritual positivity. White contrasted with black, the color of negativity. Some minkisi use red ochre as a coloring agent. The use of red is symbolic of the mediation of the powers of the dead.

Minkisi serve many purposes. Some are used in divination practices, rituals to eradicate evil or punish wrong-doers, and ceremonies for protective installments. Many are also used for healing, while others provide success in hunting or trade, among other things. Important minkisi are often credited with powers in multiple domains. Most famously, minkisi may also take the form of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic wooden carvings.

 

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Types of minkisi

 

Minkisi and the afflictions associated with them are generally classified into two types; the "of the above" and the "of the below". The above minkisi are associated with the sky, rain, and thunderstorms. The below minkisi are associated with the earth and waters on land. The above minkisi were considered masculine and were closely tied to violence and violent forces.[9] The minkisi of the above were largely used to maintain order, serve justice, and seal treaties.

Birds of prey, lightning, weapons, and fire are all common themes among the minkisi of the above. They also affected the upper body. Head, neck, and chest pains were said to be caused by these nkisi figures. Some figures were in the form of animals. Most often these were dogs ("kozo"). Dogs are closely tied to the spiritual world in Kongo mythology. They live in two separate worlds; the village of the living, and the forest of the dead. Kozo figures were often portrayed as having two heads – this was symbolic of their ability to see both worlds.

NkondiEdit

Main article: Nkondi

Nkondi (plural varies minkondi, zinkondi) are a subclass of minkisi that are considered aggressive. Because many of the nkondi collected in the nineteenth century were activated by having nails driven into them, they were often called "nail fetishes" in travel writing, museum catalogs, and art history literature. Many nkondi also feature reflective surfaces, such as mirrors, on their stomach areas or the eyes, which are held to be the means of vision in the spirit world. Although they can be made in many forms, the ones featuring a human statue with nails are the best described in anthropological and scholarly literature.

Nkondi are invoked to search out wrongdoing, enforce oaths, and cause or cure sicknesses. Perhaps the most common use was the locating and punishing of criminals, by hunting down wrongdoers and to avenging their crimes. An oath taker may declare him or herself vulnerable to the disease caused by an nkondi should he or she violate the oath. People who fall sick with diseases known to be associated with a particular nkondi may need to consult the nganga responsible for mediating with that spirit to determine how to be cured.

Although nkisi nkondi have probably been made since at least the sixteenth century, the specifically nailed figures, which have been the object of collection in Western museums, nailed nkondi were probably made primarily in the northern part of the Kongo cultural zone in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Modern impactEdit

The nkisi figures brought back to Europe in the nineteenth century caused great interest in stimulating emerging trends in modern art and Bantu themes previously considered primitive or gruesome were now viewed as aesthetically interesting. The pieces became influential in art circles and many were acquired by art museums. The intentions of the banganga who created minkisi were practical, that is their characteristics were dictated by the need of the object to do the work it was required to do. Hence the nails which caused a sensation were never seen as decorative items but as a requirement of awakening the spirit or the gestures were part of a substantial metaphor of gestures found in Kongo culture.[10]

Recently some modern artists have also been interested in creating nkisi of their own, most notably Renee Stout, whose exhibition "Astonishment and Power" at the Smithsonian Institution coupled her own versions of nkisi with a commentary by noted anthropologist Wyatt MacGaffey.[11]

The Republic of the Congo artist Trigo Piula painted several items in a "New Fetish" series, due to the rebuffing of traditional fetishes by people. It "is a way of engaging with my community and a way of denouncing things that I believe are impacting us, like television for example",[12] he said.

 

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The traditional African religions or traditional beliefs and practices of African people are a set of highly diverse beliefs that includes various ethnic religions.[1] Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural and passed down from one generation to another through folk tales, songs and festivals,[2][3] include belief in an amount of higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic[4][5] with various polytheistic and pantheistic aspects.[6][1] The role of humanity is generally seen as one of harmonizing nature with the supernatural.[1][7] According to the author Lugira, "it is the only religion that can claim to have originated in Africa. Other religions found in Africa have their origins in other parts of the world."[8][9][10]

 

Adherents of traditional religions in Sub-Saharan Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million.[11][8]

Although the majority of Africans today are adherents of Christianity or Islam, African people often combine the practice of their traditional belief with the practice of Abrahamic religions.[12][12][13][14][15][16] The two Abrahamic religions are widespread across Africa, though mostly concentrated in different areas. They have replaced indigenous African religions, but are often adapted to African cultural contexts and belief systems.[17]

Followers of traditional African religions are also found around the world. In recent times, traditional religions, such as the Yoruba religion, are on the rise. The religion of the Yoruba is finding roots in the United States among African Americans and some others.[18]

 

 

 

 

Basics of African Spirituality 

 

BasicsEdit

Animism builds the core concept of traditional African religions, this includes the worship of tutelary deities, nature worship, ancestor worship and the belief in an afterlife. While some religions adopted a pantheistic worldview, most follow a polytheistic system with various gods, spirits and other supernatural beings.[19] Traditional African religions also have elements of fetishism, shamanism and veneration of relics.[20]

Traditional African religions can be broken down into linguistic cultural groups, with common themes. Among Niger–Congo-speakers is a belief in a creator God or higher deity, which is considered by some to be a widespread and ancient feature of Niger-Congo-cultures,[21][22][23] along with other more specialized deities, ancestor spirits, territorial spirits, evil caused by human ill will and neglecting ancestor spirits, and priests of territorial spirits.[23][24] New world religions such as Santería, Vodun, and Candomblé, would be derived from this world. Among Nilo-Saharan speakers is the belief in Divinity; evil is caused by divine judgement and retribution; prophets as middlemen between Divinity and man. Among Afro-Asiatic-speakers is henotheism, the belief in one's own gods but accepting the existence of other gods; evil here is caused by malevolent spirits. The Semitic Abrahamic religion of Judaism is comparable to the latter world view.[25][26][22] San religion is non-theistic but a belief in a Spirit or Power of existence which can be tapped in a trance-dance; trance-healers.[27]

Some researchers, including historical ethnolinguist Christopher Ehret, suggest that monotheistic concepts, including the belief in a creator god or force (along with the veneration of many lesser deities and spirits) are ancient and indigenous among peoples of the Niger-Congo ethnolinguistic family (of much of West Africa and Central Africa) and date to the beginning of their history, in a form substantially different from the monotheism found in Abrahamic religions. Traditional Niger-Congo religion also included polytheistic and animistic elements.[28][22][23][29]

Traditional African medicine is also directly linked to traditional African religions. According to Clemmont E. Vontress, the various religious traditions of Africa are united by a basic Animism. According to him, the belief in spirits and ancestors is the most important element of African religions. Gods were either self-created or evolved from spirits or ancestors which got worshiped by the people. He also notes that most modern African folk religions were strongly influenced by non-African religions, mostly Christianity and Islam and thus may differ from the ancient forms.[30]

 

 

CeremoniesEdit

West and Central African religious practices generally manifest themselves in communal ceremonies or divinatory rites in which members of the community, overcome by force (or ashe, nyama, etc.), are excited to the point of going into meditative trance in response to rhythmic or driving drumming or singing. One religious ceremony practiced in Gabon and Cameroon is the Okuyi, practiced by several Bantu ethnic groups. In this state, depending upon the region, drumming or instrumental rhythms played by respected musicians (each of which is unique to a given deity or ancestor), participants embody a deity or ancestor, energy or state of mind by performing distinct ritual movements or dances which further enhance their elevated consciousness.[31]

When this trance-like state is witnessed and understood, adherents are privy to a way of contemplating the pure or symbolic embodiment of a particular mindset or frame of reference. This builds skills at separating the feelings elicited by this mindset from their situational manifestations in daily life. Such separation and subsequent contemplation of the nature and sources of pure energy or feelings serves to help participants manage and accept them when they arise in mundane contexts. This facilitates better control and transformation of these energies into positive, culturally appropriate behavior, thought, and speech. Also, this practice can also give rise to those in these trances uttering words which, when interpreted by a culturally educated initiate or diviner, can provide insight into appropriate directions which the community (or individual) might take in accomplishing its goal.[32]

 

Spirits

Edit

Main article: List of African mythological figures

Followers of traditional African religions pray to various spirits as well as to their ancestors.[33] This includes also nature, elementary and animal spirits. The difference between powerful spirits and gods is often minimal. Most African societies believe in several “high gods” and a large amount of lower gods and spirits. There are also religions with a single Supreme being (Chukwu, Nyame, Olodumare, Ngai, Roog, etc.).[34] Some recognize a dual god and goddess such as Mawu-Lisa.[35]

Traditional African religions generally believe in an afterlife, one or more Spirit worlds, and Ancestor worship is an important basic concept in mostly all African religions. Some African religions adopted different views through the influence of Islam or even Hinduism.[36]

Practices and rituals

Edit

Bakongo masks from the Kongo Central

There are more similarities than differences in all traditional African religions.[37] The deities and spirits are honored through libation or sacrifice (of animals, vegetables, cooked food, flowers, semi-precious stones and precious metals). The will of the gods or spirits is sought by the believer also through consultation of divinities or divination.[38] Traditional African religions embrace natural phenomena – ebb and tide, waxing and waning moon, rain and drought – and the rhythmic pattern of agriculture. According to Gottlieb and Mbiti:

The environment and nature are infused in every aspect of traditional African religions and culture. This is largely because cosmology and beliefs are intricately intertwined with the natural phenomena and environment. All aspects of weather, thunder, lightning, rain, day, moon, sun, stars, and so on may become amenable to control through the cosmology of African people. Natural phenomena are responsible for providing people with their daily needs.[39]

For example, in the Serer religion, one of the most sacred stars in the cosmos is called Yoonir (the Star of Sirius).[40] With a long farming tradition, the Serer high priests and priestesses (Saltigue) deliver yearly sermons at the Xooy Ceremony (divination ceremony) in Fatick before Yoonir's phase in order to predict winter months and enable farmers to start planting.[41]

Traditional healers are common in most areas, and their practices include a religious element to varying degrees.

 

 

Divination

 

Edit

Main article: African divination

Early-20th-century Yoruba divination board

Since Africa is a large continent with many ethnic groups and cultures, there is not one single technique of casting divination. The practice of casting may be done with small objects, such as bones, cowrie shells, stones, strips of leather, or flat pieces of wood.

Traditional healer of South Africa performing a divination by reading the bones

Some castings are done using sacred divination plates made of wood or performed on the ground (often within a circle).

In traditional African societies, many people seek out diviners on a regular basis. There are generally no prohibitions against the practice. Diviner (also known as priest) are also sought for their wisdom as counselors in life and for their knowledge of herbal medicine.

 

 

Virtue and vice

 

Edit

Virtue in traditional African religion is often connected with carrying out obligations of the communal aspect of life. Examples include social behaviors such as the respect for parents and elders, raising children appropriately, providing hospitality, and being honest, trustworthy, and courageous.

In some traditional African religions, morality is associated with obedience or disobedience to God regarding the way a person or a community lives. For the Kikuyu, according to their primary supreme creator, Ngai, acting through the lesser deities, is believed to speak to and be capable of guiding the virtuous person as one's conscience.

In many cases, Africans who have converted to other religions have still kept up their traditional customs and practices, combining them in a syncretic way.[42]

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

 

 

Traditions by regionEdit

This list is limited to a few well-known traditions.

Central AfricaEdit

Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)

Bushongo mythology (Congo)

Kongo religion (Congo)

Lugbara mythology (Congo)

Baluba mythology (Congo)

Mbuti mythology (Congo)

Dinka religion (South Sudan)

Hausa animism (Chad, Gabon)

Lotuko mythology (South Sudan)

East AfricaEdit

Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)

Gikuyu people#Culture and beliefs (Kenya)

Akamba mythology (Kenya)

Maasai mythology (Kenya, Tanzania, Ouebian)

Kalenjin mythology (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania)

Dini Ya Msambwa (Bungoma, Trans Nzoia, Kenya)

Horn of AfricaEdit

Waaqeffanna (Ethiopia)

Waaqism (Ethiopian-Somali Region)

Arabian polytheism (Ethiopia, Eritrea)

Southern AfricaEdit

Bantu mythology (Central, Southeast, Southern Africa)

Lozi mythology (Zambia)

Tumbuka mythology (Malawi)

Xhosa mythology (Southern Africa)

Zulu mythology (South Africa)

San religion (South Africa)

Traditional healers of South Africa

Manjonjo Healers of Chitungwiza of Zimbabwe

West AfricaEdit

Akan religion (Ghana, Ivory Coast)

Dahomean religion (Benin, Togo)

Efik mythology (Nigeria, Cameroon)

Edo religion (Benin kingdom, Nigeria)

Hausa animism (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Togo)

Odinani (Igbo people, Nigeria)

Serer religion (A ƭat Roog) (Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania)

Yoruba religion (Nigeria, Benin, Togo)

West African Vodun (Ghana, Benin, Togo, Nigeria)

Dogon religion (Mali)

North AfricaEdit

Ancient Egyptian religion (Egypt, Sudan)

Kemetism

Punic Religion (Tunisia, Algeria, Libya)

Traditional Berber religion (Morocco (including Western Sahara), Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso)

Hausa animism (Sudan)

African diasporaEdit

African diaspora religions

 

 

 

Sacred placesEdit

Some sacred or holy locations for traditional religions include Nri-Igbo, the Point of Sangomar, Yaboyabo, Fatick, Ife, Oyo, Dahomey, Benin City, Ouidah, Nsukka, Kanem-Bornu, Igbo-Ukwu, and Tulwap Kipsigis, among others.

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Preety_India

[Preety_India]

 

August 23. 

In Africa, I find peace.