Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

Just like it was mentioned in class, during high school was just touched on Africa a little as possible. So, trying to figure out what direction to take this was kind of difficult. Another difficult part was trying to stay in Sub-Saharan Africa; I researched what we hadn't talked about in class and now I really want to study Africa more closely in the future.

The first direction I’m going is to the Democratic Republic of Congo. After doing some research I found one artist that stuck out to me who is Papa Wemba. He was a very important person in the Congolese music. Papa Wemba’s claim to fame is being one of the best dressing Congolese singers. Since Papa Wemba dressed well he became an important ally to the La Sape movement. He sings his music in the Congolese language. His music is considered to be Soukous but Papa Wemba disagrees with that. Papa Wemba says that him and the others had never referred to their music as “soukous” because soukous is a dance. I also really just love the history behind Papa Wemba. He was born in Kazai when the Democratic Republic of Congo was knows as Zaire. He moved to the capital city; Kinshasa as a child. This is when he began singing and breaking through with new bands. After a while he began his international part of his career. In 1996, he joined many other African musicians’ as they journey through Africa during a war time. They were sponsored by the International Red Cross. Not even a decade later he was put in prison for being guilty of illegal immigration network. Sadly, Papa Wemba passed on April 24, 2016 during his concert. 

The next direction I am going in is Kenya. More specifically the ethnic group; Luo People. One similar correlation between the Native Americans and the people of Africa, is they both have tribes. The Luo people and the Native Americans both have a strong tradition of music and use it for different things. In the Luo culture music surrounds everything and it is in every aspect of their life. There is music used for funerals, rituals that drive spirits away or heal the sick, festivals and/ or sporting events. The instruments the Luo people use are primary percussion; they use the strums and rattles. They also use string instruments that are not very different from the harp and violin. One new instrument that I haven’t seen any other culture use yet in the class is the horn of a cow. Of course, when it comes to music there will be singing and dancing. For the dance, they dance in a specific costume and usually have ornaments so it would add more movement and people would focus on the beauty of the dress rather the person dancing. 

The last direction I’m going is to Mali. To begin with I had to look at a map to find what countries were considered Sub-Saharan countries. I stumbled across the Masquerade dancers and realized they were from Mali which was one. Masquerade dancing is also called Dogon.I will admit the Masquerade dancer’s kind of scare me and creep me out. There are four main types of them; “those who embody deities or nature spirits and to whom sacrifice is made to assure the fertility of land and people, those who embody the ancestral spirits, those who placate the spirits through their dance, and those who perform principally as entertainers.” (Britannica) The mask that the dancer wears make a difference in way that they dance. Some tribes will wear slimmer fitting clothes so they can move quicker while others will wear looser fitting clothes and lose that advantage. One thing goes for all tribes; the more the mask weights, the less you go to move around. Some people will even bring ‘magic powers’ into these dances by changing into the animal on the mask. When there is dancing, there is music. The singers will sing a form of folk theatre, with a drum keeping the beat. In the African culture many people use dancing and music to show the power a person holding in their community. Many kings use music for their people to praise him. If this show is not done correctly, it can lead to damage to his role in the community. 

Works Cited

“Papa Wemba.” Red Bull Music Academy, https://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/papa-wemba-lecture. 

Romero, Angel. “Artist Profiles: Papa Wemba: World Music Central.org.” World Music Central.org | Your Connection to Traditional and Contemporary World Music, Including Folk, Roots, Global Music, Ethno and Crosscultural Fusions, 28 Apr. 2020, https://worldmusiccentral.org/2016/07/16/artist-profiles-papa-wemba/. 

“Music and Dances of the Luo.” Exploring Africa, 2 July 2017, https://www.exploring-africa.com/en/kenya/luo-population/music-and-dances-luo. 

“Luo.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Luo-people. 

“Masquerade Dancers.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/art/African-dance/Masquerade-dancers. 

“Masquerade Dancers.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/art/African-dance/Masquerade-dancers.