Music of Africa

Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. Most importantly, the music of north Africa (red region on map) has a different history from that of Sub-Saharan African music. The music of northern Africa has a considerable range, from the music of ancient Egypt to the Berber and the Tuareg music of the desert nomads. The region's art music has for centuries followed the outline of Arab and Andalusian clas... more

Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. Most importantly, the music of north Africa (red region on map) has a different history from that of Sub-Saharan African music. The music of northern Africa has a considerable range, from the music of ancient Egypt to the Berber and the Tuareg music of the desert nomads. The region's art music has for centuries followed the outline of Arab and Andalusian classical music: its popular contemporary genres include the Algerian Raï. For further details see: Music of Egypt, Music of Libya, Music of Tunisia, Music of Algeria, Music of Morocco and Music of Mauritania. With these may be grouped the music of Sudan and of the Horn of Africa, including the music of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. African traditional music is frequently functional in nature. Performances may be long and often involve the participation of the audience. There are, for example, many different kinds of work songs, songs... less