Beyond the Classroom: Music of Sub-Saharan Africa

 Before I dive into something crazy interesting, I wanted to first share some information that I ran across when searching for a topic for this blog. Because of how large Africa is, they also have a LARGE list when it comes to genres of music. Below I will provide a preview of the list just so you can see how WILD this is! 

- Afrobeat                                    - Desert Blues 

- Apala                                         - Fuji

- Assiko                                        - Funana

- Bikutsi                                        - Gbema

- Benga music                               - Highlife

- Bongo Flava                               - Hipco

- Cabo-Love                                  - Hiplife

- Chimurenga music                      - Isicathamiya

- Coladeira                                     - Kizomba 

So lets dive in!

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We are traveling to Liberia! 

1. About Liberia

    Liberia received its independence on July 26, 1847 and has a population of around 3.9 million people. The size of Liberia is 43, 000 square miles and the capital is Monrovia. The ethnic groups that live in Liberia are the Kpelle who are located in central north (Bong County) and in Guinea and their language is Mande family. The Bassa who are located in central coast line counties and their language is the Kru family. Lastly the Gio who are located in central north (Nimba County) and Cote D’lvoire. Liberia is home to multiple genres of music, one that we will dive into is the Chantefable genre. Along with that genre there is the Tan (dance song genre, polyphonic), Zloo (praise song, heptatonic, shout-singing), Gbo (funeral lament), and HipCo (unique to Liberia, Liberian English or local vernacular, political subjects about life in Liberia, features simple synthesizers). There are also different instruments that are known to Liberia, but we will get to them later! 

2. Chantefable

    Chantefable is a genre of music from Liberia. It is a Kpelle traditional music/performance. The storyteller uses recitative during musical sections and the music often has pentatonic and rhythmic patterns based on unequal beats. As for other information on this, background is very limited, but from what I found, it seems as if the Chantefable is actually a medieval tale of adventure (so the story) told in alternating sections of sung verse and recited prose. While I couldn’t find a specific song or any song for that matter to represent the Chantefable genre, I did find traditional music from the Kpelle tribe, so give it a listen. 

 
 3. Instruments 

    So for the instruments, we four main ones that are found in Liberia I think it is pretty interesting that these countries have all of these instruments that I have never heard of, if you have heard of one of these instruments before let me know! First we have the Turu, the Turu is a side-blown horn and it is played in hocket style. Next we have the Koning and it is a triangular frame zither. The Koning has about eight or nine strings. Next is the Kongoma or Donduma, this is described as large lamellophone with only a few keys and it is actually played by people of the Kpelle tribe. Lastly we have the Balance, Gio, Blande, and Balau which is also known as the xylophone or also free longs on banana stalks (how cool!) and these are also played by the Kpelle tribe, but also the Mano tribe.

Here is a video that I found of the Kongoma, it is very similar to the Mbira.  

Sources:

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Chantefable. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/art/chantefable 

Liberia. African Music. (2013, April 30). Retrieved January 15, 2022, from https://africanmusicuga.wordpress.com/west-africa/liberia/