April 17, 2014 - 2:15pm
I thoroughly like this project by the "All Stars."
January 31, 2014 - 10:45am
This Grammy Award-Winning album is an excellent showcase of this South African Zulu Choir's work. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a well known African group right here in the United States in great part due to their collaboration with Paul Simon on his Graceland album. Their music is a combination of...
January 14, 2014 - 9:45am
The Mbira or African thumb piano (other identifying names include: kalimba - contemporary term; the most popular term is either sansa, or mbira) is a percussive instrument originating from Africa. The instrument, also used in Cuban music, is generally held with both hands and played with the thumbs...
January 13, 2014 - 11:30am
Early slaves existing in the South and Appalachia crafted banjos after instruments they had generously employed in their original homeland - Africa. Some students of music history call the earliest banjos "gourd banjos". Examples include the akonting - a spike folk lute of the Senegambia Jola tribe...
January 13, 2014 - 11:15am
The Djembe is a cup-shaped wooden drum covered by a membrane or drumhead made of goat skin. The Djembe (or jembe) originates from West Africa, where it is used, not just for listening, but for dancing. Dances done to djembe drumming include celebratory communal events such as marriage, (a right of...
January 8, 2014 - 4:00pm
A kora or African lute is constructed from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin. This ancient instrument is fitted with a bridge like a lute or guitar. The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp characteristics of flamenco and delta blues guitar techniques. The play the kora,...
January 8, 2014 - 3:45pm
Photo by Ravenest13, Wickipedia (CC)
The Cajón is a percussion instrument originating from the African framed folkloric tradition of Peru, readily found throughout the country and most prominently in both Chincha and El Carmen where a significant population of Afro Peruvians reside. The instrument is of magnificently simplistic...
January 6, 2014 - 12:00pm
Sundanese Gamelan Ensemble (Photo by Hadiyana)
Gamelan music is the most popular and important style in Indonesia. Gamelan orchestras accompany all dances and dramas. Gamel means "to hammer," and most of the instruments of a gamelan orchestra are struck with wooden mallets, padded sticks or hammers.The conductor of a gamelan orchestra is a...
January 6, 2014 - 11:00am
Bassekou Kouyate
The N'goni is the Bambara name for this ancient traditional lute-like instrument found throughout West Africa. It is typically a small instrument with a big sound and an even a bigger place in the history of West African music. The body of the ngoni is a hollowed-out, canoe-shaped piece of wood...
January 6, 2014 - 10:00am
The traditional Chinese Pipa is a four-stringed lute with up to 30 frets and a pear-shaped body. The instrumentalist holds the pipa upright and play with small plectra attached to each finger of the right hand. The history of the instrument dates back at least 2000 years and developed from a...
