AFRICAN TRADITIONS

African Traditions

African Traditions are expressed through music, art, dance and sculpture...

African Tradition is expressed through many different art forms, such as music, dance, art, sculpture and bead work.

These traditions are deeply ingrained into the whole African culture.

Many African languages are “tone languages,” meaning that pitch level determines meaning.

Oral Tradition

Oral tradition is very important in African culture, as it insures the passage of cultural practices from one generation to another.

Listening is an equally important skill, which has been perfected by the traditional oral practices. Numerous songs and dances have been transmitted by word of mouth.

Music and Poetry in African Traditions

Naturally, singing is very important to the African society because the melody and rhythm follow the intonation of the song text. The songs are often sung in call-and-response form.

In West Africa, a griot is a praise singer or poet who possesses a repository of oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. They must know the traditional songs and must also be able to improvise songs about current events and chance incidents.

Music is a form of communication and it plays a functional role in African society. Songs accompany marriage, birth, rites of passage, hunting and even political activities. Music is often used in different African cultures to ward off evil spirits and to pay respects to good spirits, the dead and ancestors.

Although the musical styles and instruments vary from region to region, there are some common forms of musical expression. The most significant instrument in African music is the African drum. It expresses the mood of the people and evokes emotion. The beat of the African drum is the “heartbeat of the community” and its rhythm is what holds the dancers together.

Dance is an integral part of the African culture, and it utilizes symbolic gestures, masks, costumes, body painting and props to communicate. The dance movements can be simple or complex with intricate actions including fast rotation, ripples of the body and contraction and release. Dance is used to express emotion, whether joyful or sorrowful and it is not limited to just the dancers. Often spectators will be encouraged to join in.

Africa's most popular foods

African cuisine is as diverse as the hundreds of different cultures and groups that inhabit the continent. This diversity is reflected in the many local culinary traditions in terms of choice of ingredients, style of preparation and cooking techniques. Many of the dishes are also affected by the subsistence nature of living in many parts of the continent – you find farmers, herdsmen and fishermen everywhere. The crops they grow or the animals they keep thus affect the popular dishes in their regions.



The dishes have also been influenced by foreign visitors and invaders. The food of North Africa has been heavily influence by the Phoenicians of the 1st century who brought sausages, followed by the Carthaginians who introduced wheat, then the nomadic Berbers adapted the semolina from wheat into couscous – a main staple diet in the region. From the 7th century onwards, the Arabs introduced a variety of spices, like saffron, cinnamon, ginger and cloves and, from the New World, they got chillies, tomatoes and potatoes.



In East Africa the Arab influence on cuisine is evident. Settling on the coast over 1,000 years ago, the Arabs sailed in with rice and spices, particularly noticeable in the Swahili foods of the coastal regions. They also brought lemons, oranges and domestic pigs from China and India. Next came the British Empire and with it Indian workers who brought their foods with them, such as spiced vegetable curries, lentil soups, chapattis and pickles. The British themselves also influence food by bringing in new breeds of sheep, cattle and goats along with high-quality coffee.


As we go more inland, even though cattle, sheep and goats are widespread in eastern Africa, they are often regarded as a form of currency and a store of wealth by pastoralists. So while they may be used for dairy products, they are not often used for their meat. Many people in the eastern region therefore rely heavily on mainly on grains, beans and vegetables, with fish providing protein in lake and river regions.  One of the most widespread staples in eastern Africa, and in southern Africa too, is ground maize. Maize flour is cooked with water to form a stiff porridge or dough - called ugali, nsima or sadza, depending where you are.



It may be neighbouring East Africa but the food in the Horn of Africa is very different. Here the Islamic and Christian faiths have greatly impacted the food. There is no pork for starters, and as for Coptic Christians they adapted to the meat-free fast days with an increased use of pulses, lentils and chickpeas. The main traditional dishes in Ethiopian  and Eritrean cuisine are very similar and both are dominated by tsebhis (stews) served with injera - a flatbread made from teff, wheat, or sorghum, also found in Somalia. In Somalia an interesting addition to their cuisine is pasta, which arrived with the Italians in the 1880s, and sweet dishes that came with the Arabs and Yemenis.


Just before the British and the Indians, the Portuguese came to Africa and introduced techniques of roasting and marinating. This is evident in East Africa with the nyama choma (roast meat) culture, but also in Southern Africa.


Southern Africa has the most varied cuisines of any region on the continent, this is a result of the blend of cultures – the indigenous African tribal societies, European and Asian populations. Most of the African ethnic communities have diets that include meat and milk, some vegetables and grains. The Portuguese influence saw the introduction of piri-piri (chilli seasoning) into the region, and the European settlers brought with them curing techniques that produced the infamous cured meat – biltong.

                                                             FUFU

                                                     MANDAZI

                                                             INJERA

                                                                    NYAMACHOMA

                                                                        UGALI

LIFE IN AFRICA... GOOD OR BAD

Whether good or bad, Africa is my home and there is no place like home. I love Africa because there is no place like Africa. Even in my second life (if God should give me the opportunity), I will choose Africa why because I love Africa and there is no doubt Africa loves me. Some people don't understand. Some people think they know but they do not know. Some people think they know all about Africa but the truth is that, none of them knows Africa the way I do. I know Africa and Africa knows me.
I was born in Africa, I grew up in Africa and Africa is my home so you must believe me if I tell you there is no place like Africa. If it is true there is a God up there beyond the clouds then I am very sure that God is an African why because Africa is the rhythm of life. Africa is that mighty tree of ancient origin rooted in mountains of gold and silver. Africa is that mighty stream. Africa is that stream of life. Africa is that mighty stream full of untold number of souls. Africa is that bird. Africa is that quiet but mighty bird. Africa is that quiet bird with the voice of thunder. Africa is that mighty bird with the wings of gold and diamond feathers. Anytime Africa spreads her precious wings of different colors, even the beasts below the surface of the earth smile. Africa is my home and there is no place like Africa.

 

 

DECOLONISATION OF AFRICA

Between the 1870s and 1900, Africa faced European imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressures, military invasions, and eventual conquest and colonization. At the same time, African societies put up various forms of resistance against the attempt to colonize their countries and impose foreign domination. By the early twentieth century, however, much of Africa, except Ethiopia and Liberia, had been colonized by European powers.

The European imperialist push into Africa was motivated by three main factors, economic, political, and social. It developed in the nineteenth century following the collapse of the profitability of the slave trade, its abolition and suppression, as well as the expansion of the European capitalist Industrial Revolution. The imperatives of capitalist industrialization—including the demand for assured sources of raw materials, the search for guaranteed markets and profitable investment outlets—spurred the European scramble and the partition and eventual conquest of Africa. Thus the primary motivation for European intrusion was economic

 On Dec. 12, 1963, Kenya gained its independence from Britain. “With Britain’s Union Jack replaced by the black, red and green flag of the new states, political power in Britain’s last East African colonial holding slipped from the grasp of its 55,759 whites and was taken up by its 8,365,942 Africans,” wrote The New York Times.

The road to independence began in the 1950s with the Mau Mau Rebellion. The Mau Mau movement was a militant African nationalist group that opposed British colonial rule and its exploitation of the native population.

The East African country of Tanzania, which was previously known as Tanganyika, formally gained its independence from Great Britain on December 9, 1961. One year later, on December 9, 1962, Tanganyika became a republic, and on April 26, 1964 merged with the newly-independent archipelago nation of Zanzibar. On October 29, 1964, the union of the two countries was formally renamed the United Republic of Tanzania

Uganda gained her independence on October 9th 1962. Since 1894 she was a British protectorate that was put together from some very organized kingdoms and chieftaincies that inhabited the lake regions of central Africa. At independence, Dr. Milton Apollo Obote, also leader of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) became the first Prime Minister and head of the government.

The Republican leaning UPC came into power through an "unholy" alliance with a pro-mornarchy party called the Kabaka Yekka (KY), which had a stated aim of protecting the institution and power of the kingdom of Buganda. The UPC had earlier on, one year before independence, lost the first ever general election to the Democratic Party(DP) and now needed the strategic partnership of allies to avoid another defeat.

THE BIG FIVE(AFRICAN WILDLIFE)

The Big Five

The Big Five

LIONS - King of Beasts

Mention a safari to Africa, and one animal springs immediately to mind - lion! This, the so-called King of Beasts, is on everybody's list of animals to see. This fascination is no doubt due to the size and awesome power of this large cat, and its hunting prowess. But it may also have something to do with the human psyche, for our hominid ancestors on the African plains had to contend with lions as competitors and enemies on a daily basis. Perhaps they still dwell deep in our subconscious mind!

THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT - Gardeners of the Savannah

The African Elephant is the largest land mammal and perhaps the continent's most charismatic creature. Few animals are as closely linked to the welfare of mankind - for elephants have the potential to greatly modify the vegetation of landscapes, destroy the crops of subsistence farmers as well as create wealth through their valuable ivory tusks. There is little doubt that elephants have played a vital role in the economic history of the continent. Today, visitors to Africa's wildlife reserves and wilderness areas are captivated by the power and grace of these magnificent animals and by their apparent sensitivity and compassion.

WHITE RHINOCEROS - Great Grazer

Perhaps the first thing people wonder about the white rhinoceros is why it has its name. It is certainly not white in colour and actually has the same skin tone as its cousin, the black rhino. In fact, the name is thought to have been derived from the Dutch word "weid" meaning "wide" in reference to the animal's broad, wide mouth. 

BLACK RHINOCEROS - Black Beauty

The Black Rhinoceros has a hooked, prehensile nose, carrying its head high on its shoulders, as opposed to the low-hanging head and hump-shoulders of its relative, the grazing White Rhino. Predominantly a browser of short woody trees and shrubs, the Black Rhinoceros uses its pointed upper lip to grasp leaves and twigs, employing its double horns to dig roots or break branches too far out of reach. Its grey, wrinkled skin varies in colour due to the mud and dust in which it frequently wallows to cool down and protect against flies and sun. The two species of African rhino are similar in height, averaging about 1.6m at the shoulder, but the Black Rhinoceros has roughly half the mass of a White Rhinoceros, weighing in at a demure 1000 kg.

BUFFALO - Flanks of Ebony, Horns of Steel

A large herd of buffalo is an unforgettable sight. Heads raised, horns glinting, massive fringed ears and noses twitching in search of danger. Closely related to the domestic cow, the African buffalo is one of the most successful and perhaps ecologically important mammals on the African continent. Buffalo are completely dependent upon surface water, so are absent from arid and semi-arid regions but are widespread and common in savannah, woodland and forest environments. Not surprisingly, however, they provide good meat and few now survive beyond the borders of wildlife reserves and other protected areas. Buffalo are also host to several diseases which are lethal to domestic cattle and so have been eliminated from areas suitable for ranchlands.

LEOPARD - Prince of Darkness

Few animals possess the mysterious aura of the leopard. 'Prince of Darkness' and 'Silent Hunter' are frequent epithets for this traditionally elusive cat. Like the lion, the leopard has been held in awe by generations of people across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Although an infrequent man-killer, leopards elicit fear and dread among rural people whose domestic animals may be at risk to these cunning predators. The leopard is the most adaptable of the large predators and may still be found in close proximity to man, even, sometimes, on the outskirts of large cities. It is able to survive in just about any environment, being at home in forest, savannah, desert, or mountain top. The body of a leopard was once found in the snowfields on Mount Kilimanjaro at an altitude of some 4500 metres!

FACTS ON WILDLIFE IN AFRICA

Did you Know?

Some interesting facts about African Wildlife

There are over 1,100 different species of mammals in Africa and over 2,600 species of birds.

Four of the five fastest land animals live in Africa - fastest is the cheetah at 70 mph, wildebeest lion and Thomson's gazelle all about 50 mph.

Butterfly
Having a wingspan of only ½", the smallest butterfly in the world is found in South Africa. It is know as the Dwarf Blue Butterfly.

Chameleons
Madagascar is the home of the worlds largest as well as the smallest chameleons! Almost half of the worlds chameleon species live on the island of Madagascar.

Elephants
The African elephant is the largest living land mammal.
An elephant can weigh 6 - 7 tons and has no natural enemies.
An elephant drinks up to 160 liters of water per day.
An African elephant possesses such "manual" dexterity in his/her trunk tip that he/she can actually turn the pages of a book with it.

Fish
The only place where shoals of fresh water sardines are found is in Lake Tanganyika.

Frogs
The world's biggest frog is found in the Cameroon. Named the goliath frog, their body can be one-foot long.

Giraffes
The tongue of a giraffe can be as long as 45cm.
Giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their necks as humans, seven in total, but much larger.
Giraffes are 6ft tall when they are born.
It's thought that the Giraffes neck has grown so long due to the males mating battles. During battle they whip each other with their necks and heads, the winner and eventual mate usually being the one landing the harder blows, enhanced by a slightly longer neck.

Goliath Beetle
The world's largest and heaviest beetle, the Goliath Beetle is found in tropical Africa. It can reach a length of 5 inches and weigh up to ¼ lb.

Gorillas
The Gorilla is the largest of the living primates, male gorillas weigh up to 200kg, yet are shy and retiring vegetarians.

Lions
Lions are unique in that they are the only cats to live in groups (prides). They are the largest member of the cat family and the largest of all the African carnivores. They are are the top predator in any African ecosystem where they live. The roar of a lion can be heard over 8 kilometers away.

Nile Crocodiles
The Nile crocodile is Africa's largest living reptile - growing to an average length of 5m.

Penguins
South Africa has a penguin colony, which thrives thanks to the cold Antarctic currents on the west coast near the Cape.

Seals
The largest seal colony in the southern hemisphere is at Cape Cross in Namibia

AFRICAN MUSIC PART 2

African musical instruments

Performing music and making African musical instruments is an integral part of most communities and it varies not only from country to country but from village to village. 

Sanza mbira, Congo

There are common features though and much like the other forms of African art, most traditional African music is more than just aesthetic expression. It permeates African life and has a function, a role to play in society; songs are used for religious ceremonies and rituals, to teach and give guidance, to tell stories, to mark the stages of life and death and to provide political guidance or express discontent.

It also serves to entertain and is used in ceremonial festivals and masquerades to work up fervor from the spectators and participants alike. Singing, dancing and playing African musical instruments ensure a dynamic event transpires. 

The impact of the music is tantamount, the beauty of it, just like African sculpture, is secondary to the primary function. Performances may be long and often involve the participation of the audience. Much of it is associated with a particular dance. 

Fulani flute

There are some African musical instruments that cross boundaries and are found in varying shapes in the different countries but still have the same basic form. Some instruments have changed very little in 800 years since they were first recorded. 

Africans have strong beliefs about the status associated with particular instruments and with the spirit of an instrument. The carver of the instrument, especially true with drums, is held in high regard.

African musical instruments

The following are some of the African musical instruments used throughout the continent, primarily sub-Saharan:

Anthromorphic harp

• Membranophones (Drums):cylindrical, semi-cylindrical, barrel, hourglass, pressure, goblet, kettle, clay-pot, Djembe, West Africa
• Chordophones (Stringed instruments):harps (koras), musical bows, fiddles, lyres, zithers, lutes
• Aerophones (Wind instruments):flutes: bamboo, millet, reed, animal horn tips, gourds, trumpets: wood, gourd, metal tubes pipes; single, double reed, panpipes, horns: tusks and animal horns
• Idiophones (Resonant solids):mbira, xylophone and lamellophone rattles and shakers: gourds, woven, wooden, stick, bells: ankle, cluster, double, single, pod, tubular, clapperless
• Percussion:rainsticks, woodsticks, clapsticks bells, rattles, slit gongs, struck gourds and claypots, stamping tubes, body: foot stamping and hand clapping

African musical instruments also serve as works of art, carved into surprising shapes, covered with patterns and decorated with beads, feathers, paint or cloth. Figures are sculpted into the instrument as spiritual tokens empowering the musician to filter the godly or ancestral messages. 

Saharan 'green' cultures left a legacy of rock art describing some are the earliest scenes of African music such as in the painting below. 

Tassili-n-Ajjer, Rock painting of a dance performance, Tassili-n-Ajjer, Algeria, 6000-4000 BC

It is probably one of the oldest existing testimonies to music and dance in Africa and is attributed to the 'Saharan' period of the Neolithic hunters. 

Traditionally, African musicians were not concerned with the impact of the music, nor its 'beauty', it had a specific function with dance being an integral partner to music and was used to entertain as well as to mark occasions and provide moral guidance.

African singers use a large number of sounds, not all of them appealing to the ear; some are confronting or emotionally and spiritually charged. Singing style can be loud and resonant but can also be constricted and accompanying sounds can be added. African traditions also emphasize dance and all the mime and props that go with it because movement is a significant form of communication. Body percussion; clapping and foot stamping is also utilized. 

African music history

From the 15th C onwards, our history of music making in Africa is mainly derived from studying representations of dances and making music with African musical instruments and scenes depicted in terracotta, stone or metal.

In Ife, Yorubaland we see footed cylindrical drums dating from the 10th to 14th century on terracotta artefacts.

In Benin, pressure drums appear on brass plaques from the 15th C onwards. These plaques have proven to be a never-ending supply of information on the use of instruments like horns, bells, drums and bow lutes in ceremonial occasions. In real form, the iron bells excavated in Katanga province, Congo and the Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe are some of the earliest actual African musical instruments found, also dating around mid/late 15th C. 

Migrations of tribes, movement of slaves and colonial porters and servants have all contributed to the wide dispersement of African musical instruments. 

For example, lamellaphones with metal keys were a prominent feature in ancient Zimbabwe and spread through neighbouring kingdoms to Katanga and Angolan cultures, all the while becoming smaller and smaller for travelling purposes. Zimbabwean 'mbiras' (lamellaphone) and 'ngomas' (drums) were first written about by Father Joao dos Santos, a Portuguese who travelled through the lower Zambezi in 1586 and recorded his impressions of the sounds these instruments made and the effects they had on their combined audience.

Historically, Africa has contributed hugely to music-making in many other areas of the world most notably the Americas and most significantly in genres such as jazz, rock and roll, blues, salsa and samba. Music once considered "primitive" by Westerners is now highly respected for its rhythmic sophistication and complexity. 

African music

Singing is as basic a function as talking for most African people; mothers sing to their babies on their backs as they walk, work and dance, building an inherent sense of rhythm. 

There are a great variety of sounds produced but generally singing is loud and resonant but it can also be shrill and piercing or it can include ululating, clicks and grunts. It can also be extremely melodious, using acapella and creating deeply harmonious songs. 

Bakisimba dance. Saharan vibe

Personally, some years ago, I had the privilege to listen to an extraordinary group of performers from the Zambesi Valley in Zimbabwe: Tongas, whose haunting music blown from their horns and beaten off their drums made such amazing sounds that if I closed my eyes I could believe I was in New York or London hearing the very latest contemporary jazz. 

Dinka Tuich horn trumpet

If anyone has heard the ground hornbill calling to his mates in the African bush in the early mornings then you will know the sound of Africa and it is echoed in their fantastic evocative music. 

If anyone has watched an African woman hoeing in the field with a baby strapped tight to her back and the thud of her hoe is harmonised with the song she is singing while she toils, then this too is the resonance of Africa and is intrinsically lodged in their genetic memory. 

Contemporary African music

Contemporary African music is immense in every respect and is possibly the most dynamic and vibrant form of cultural expression on the continent. 

Fela Kuti, Nigeria

It is a huge industry with most countries supporting wonderful musicians who still use traditional African musical instruments but overlay them with contemporary rhythms and lyrics. This is a hugely exciting form of expression for modern day Africans and what they produce is loved and admired and danced to, the world over. African musicians represent the collective memory of their continent and their instruments reflect their history, their culture and their ancestry. 

Culture Musical Club, Zanzibar

While being hugely creative, what is consistent throughout this huge continent is that it has become, like art, a vehicle with which all participants can make a social, political and sometimes spiritual comment. New forms are constantly being created in response to new social, economic and political contexts.

Many African states have experienced very hard times in recent history and in the face of this, music has demonstrated itself to be a successful manifestation of emotion in the face of heartbreak and suffering.

With poetry, dance and prayer the experience becomes a dual expression of inner freedom and possession, radiant happiness and anguish, loss and emotive expressiveness. 

World music

Contemporary African music is a huge industry with most countries supporting wonderful musicians who still use traditional African musical instruments like the kora (harp), djembe (drum) and mbira but overlay them with contemporary rhythms and lyrics. This has expanded to musical forms such as techno-funk and DJ culture that are way beyond their original context.

Tribal techno-funk fuses world dance rhythms with centuries old instruments and melodies creating haunting, trance-like sounds that contemporary belly dancers like Sharon Kihara are using in their performances. Hip-hop has its own language in Africa, different from the Americas where it emerged. Congolese rumba takes on powerful rhythms and narratives just as contemporary art does in this country. 

Jimmy Omonga (DRC)

Wenge music, Congo - The aim of this music is to give Congolese subjects a form of release from their daily hardships. The force of this music compels the body to escape from itself, either by using the body itself, the buttocks and the hips swinging like a pendulum, or by simply listening to all the complexities the music presents; its rhythms, lyrics, tensions and melodies. Either way a state of serenity is achieved. 

Jimmy Omonga was born in Kinshasa, Congo and taught himself to play guitar, singing in a choir and writing his own songs by sixteen. 

He moved to Angola and then Cape Town where he combined his beautiful Congolese ballads with Afro-pop and the South African choir tradition. The catchy sounds produced were so original that he was labelled the 'Best Newcomer in World Music' by Beat Int, UK in 2008. He continues to astonish and delight both abroad and in Africa, playing at festivals like Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar. 

Another music festival that attracts large crowds and musicians to Africa is 'Festival au Desert' in Essekane, Mali. 

Below is Toubab Crewe, a band which fuses rock and roll and W African music blending Mali, and America's 'dirty south'. They are usually to be found in the blues and jazz clubs of New York.