fbpx

10 Music Styles You Didn’t Know Were African

10 Music Styles You Didn’t Know Were African

8 of 11

It’s common knowledge that the blues, with its hybrids and fusions, can be traced to Africa. But there are many different genres of African music that are present in mainstream music without much acknowledgment, or foreign to Western ears. Lifting, shoe-tapping, booty-shaking, soul-singing: here are 10 African music styles you didn’t know were African, with audio links.

theguardian.com
theguardian.com

Mbalax, Senegal and Gambia

Marrying together “sabar,”– traditional Senegalese dance and drumming– with  Western pop, jazz, Latin beats, and rock, the product becomes the ever-popular mbalax. Bands such as Raam Daan and Etoile de Dakar (featuring Youssou N’Dour, a founding father of mbalax and one of Africa’s richest musicians) have brought the style to popularity. It is an assertion of national identity, eschewing French language for the mother tongue of Wolof. The dance is fun, too! Here is a nice, homemade video on youtube.com for a tutorial.

Source: afrobailar.com

matthewsavides.wordpress.com
matthewsavides.wordpress.com

Kwasa Kwasa, Democratic Republic of Congo/Zaire

With inspiration from Congolese soundings, Malawi’s kwasa kwasa movement became popular in the late ’80s and ’90s. It was actually a Zairean thing until Zaire became the Democratic Republic of Congo, and a baby of the soukous genre. A dance accompanies kwasa kwasa, which has something to do with moving hips around and having the hands follow. Better to watch this NalelaMizikiTV video.

rateyourmusic.com, en.wikipedia.org

africasounds.com
africasounds.com

Soukous, Democratic Republic of Congo/Various Countries

Inspired by the Cuban rumba, the 1980s heralded this guitar-driven rhythm, and it swept across multiple continents. The word soukous is derived from the French word secousse, which means to shake. In the 1940s, in French and Belgian-colonized Congo, bands started integrating Cuban music. By the 1960s, political strife in the Congo (then Zaire) led many musicians to flee to Kenya or Tanzania, and soukous picked up speed there. In Paris and London in the 1970s, it became an official worldwide craze. The latest soukous evolutionary hit dance is ndombolo, and it has experienced some censorship issues. Watch a dance video on youtube.com by Reggae Olisa.

nonesuch.com
nonesuch.com

Wassoulou, Mali

Malian music is ever rich and evolving, from praise-singers of the Fula people to Cuban-infused driving beats. South of the capital Bamako is the Wassoulou region, birthplace of the popular dance music of the same name. Performed mainly by women, the lyrics and spirit of the music raise issues of women’s rights such as fertility, matrimony and child bearing. Instruments include the soku (stringed, fiddle-like), djembe drum, and the karinyan (metal percussion). One of the most popular singers of Wassoulou is Oumou Sangaré (above). Her first album, “Moussoulo” sold more than 200,000 copies in Africa. Listen to a song by her on youtube.com.

Sources: last.fm, en.wikipedia.org, allmusic.com

cdandlp.com
cdandlp.com

Kwaito, South Africa

In the Johannesburg townships of the early 1990s, kwaito emerged. Originally sung in tsotsitaal — a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province — kwaito often crosses over into English. It has been described as slowed-down garage music, hip hop and toned-down house music. The end of apartheid ushered in various freedoms for the formerly oppressed black population, including musical freedom. Kwaito’s beats often accompany lyrics about freedom. Bands like Boom Shaka, Abashante (youtube.com has a great link to their song), and singers like Spoek Mathambo have led kwaito into the global scene.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org, guardian.com, usatoday.com

electricjive.blogspot.com
electricjive.blogspot.com

Gumba-Gumba, Botswana/South Africa

Jazz is the most popular form of music in Botswana, and as jazz virtually mandates myriad interpretations, so Botswana has discovered its own path to jazzy sounds. Tswana music is very vocal, and performed without percussion and lots of stringed instruments. Mixed with modernized Zulu, it forms gumba-gumba (meaning party-party!) — one of Botswana’s most popular musical forms. Wabangi Video on youtube.com offers a listen.

Sources: culturedude.com, lonelyplanet.com, allyouneedtoknowaboutbotswana.weebly.com

sublimefrequencies.com
sublimefrequencies.com

Raï, Algeria

Raï is a rabble-rousing, popular style of music from the Maghreb that originated in Algeria’s port town of Oran. The youth in the early 1900s would mix Arabic poetry and folk music with Western beats and instrumental styles, to the chagrin of the conservatives. As it evolved and proliferated, raï incorporated French cabaret, flamenco, and gnawa. In the 1970s, electric guitars and reggae beats got thrown in. Raï means opinion in Arabic, and like punk or the blues, it’s about vocalizing your stance with fervor. With Algeria’s Islamic military junta, raï experienced some suppression, many considering it too free. Cheb Khaled is most notable for bringing the genre overseas, and youtube.com hosts a song here.

Sources: thenational.ae, africanmusic.org

fourstory.org
fourstory.org

Afrobeat, Nigeria

Fela Kuti, the famous late activist, imprisoned hero, and musician from Nigeria, coined Afrobeat as the genre of black American music fused with West African melodic traditions. It combines highlife, funk, Yoruba beats, multiple big-band instruments (like trombone and saxophone) and fast percussion and drums. The sounds wafted out of Kuti’s club Afro-Shrine in the 1970s, politically charged and rhythmically dynamic. Today, artists like Nigeria’s Wizkid and Kuti’s son Femi keep the drive alive. Here is a youtube.com video of Fela Kuti, a pillar of African music.

Sources: princeton.edu, en.wikipedia.org, africanmusic.org

twitter.com
twitter.com

Makossa, Cameroon

From the Duoala region in Cameroon comes this urban style, booty-shaking pop genre. Fervent bass rhythms and bass guitar command the style, which shot to popularity in the 1980s. The word makossa means dance, and that’s pretty much mandatory when this music is playing. Remember Michael Jackson’s chant of “mamako mamasa maka makossa” from “Wanna be Startin’ Something?” That’s a direct tribute to the wildly popular song, “Soul Makossa,” by the successful Makossa singer/saxophonist/vibraphonist Manu Dibango. Listen to this youtube.com the song.

elikamahoney.com
elikamahoney.com

Morna, Cape Verde

The morna genre is redolent of mourning, and comes from West Africa’s Portuguese-speaking island Cape Verde. Sadness permeates through every note. Many consider it the national music; while you can dance to it just like the blues, and while it features multiple fun instruments like cavaquinho, clarinet, piano and guitar, its usually performed in a minor key. The harmonic and melodic structures are complex, and worth learning more about. The best education you’ll get regarding Morna is listening to the “Barefoot Diva,” Césaria Évora, the “Queen of Morna.” Here she is on youtube.com, in all of her beautiful despair.