African music and dance

* In texture, African music consists of a single line of melody without harmony. * As with most African dialects, where pitch is important in conveying meaning, variations of musical effect derive from tonal inflection and timbre. * The essential communal spirit of African culture is reflected in the use of Call-and-response chants similar to those of African poetry. * The most distinctive characteristic of African music is its polyrhythmic structure. * A single piece of music may simultaneously engage five to ten different rhythms, many of which are repeated over and over. * African dance is also communally preformed and shares the distinctively dense polyrhythmic qualities of African music. * A wide variety of percussion instruments, including various types of drums and rattles are used in the performance of African rituals. * Also popular are the balafo (Xylophone), the bolon or kora (harp), and the sansa. * The bolon and the sansa were believed to contain supernatural powers and to be dangerous, and were outlawed by many African tribes. * Africa was the origin of the banjo, which may have been the only musical instrument permitted on slave ships and traveled across the Atlantic in the 16th century. All other instruments were forbidden. * The dynamic convergence of poetry, dance and music generates a singularly dramatic experience in African culture. *

The African Mask

* African masks and headdresses play a vital role in poetry, music and dance that served a ceremonial or ritual event. * The mask functioned as a channel for the spirit of an animal, god, or ancestor. * The masker embodied the spirit of the being he represented. By the transformative power of the mask, he became the agent of the supernatural. * Masked dancers took part in rituals of exorcism, initiation, purification, and burial. * They functioned regularly in ceremonies that marked the transition from one stage of being to another. * While there exists a wide variety of masks and styles, most African masks reflect a tradition of expressive abstraction. * An example is the songe mask from Zaire, central Africa. * Worn at ceremonies for the death or installation of a king. * Used to channel spiritual energy. * Feathers, shells, teeth, beads, raffia, hair, and other materials were often added to a mask to enhance its vital powers. * The color red might be used to symbolize danger, blood, or power; black suggested chaos or evil; and white represented death.

African Sculpture

* Over the course of centuries, African artisans mastered a wide variety of sculpting. * Techniques included terracotta modeling, Ivory carving, and metal casting. * The greater Part of African sculpture was executed in wood. * Using axes, knives, and chisels, professional sculptures –almost exclusively male- carved images from green or semidry timber. * Unlike works in other media, few examples of Africa’s wood sculptures survived the 16th century. * Most were destroyed by Africa’s corrosive climate, by termites, and by Muslims and Christians who deemed these objects sacrilegious. * African figural sculptures served many functions: grave figures were designed to watch over the dead, fertility images were uses to promote or assist in child birth, and others served in rituals of divination and healing. * In style, objects ranged from realistic to abstract. * The nkisi sculpture describes a type of power object produced throughout the Congo basin in central Africa. * Used in rituals designed to channel spiritual energy, some nkisi were used to heal the sick, while others served to seal agreements or ward off evil spirits. * On behalf of a client, a diviner or a priest prepared medicinal ingredients ( possibly hair or nail clippings) that were placed inside the nksis. With ritual oversight, the client drove a nail or a sharp object into the nkisi to activate its powers.

African Architecture

* As with the sculptures of pre-colonial Africa, little survives of its native architecture, and that which does suggests a wide variety of structural forms. * It is believed that there were 3 dozen different types of traditional African structures. * Construction materials consist of mud, stones, and brushwood, or adobe brick. * At the ancient trade center of Zimbabwe in south central Africa, a powerful kingdom was developed before the year 1000. * The remains of huge stonewall and towers, constructed without mortar, indicate the presence of a royal residence or palace complex. These are the largest structures in Africa after the pyramids. * Africa’s Muslim dominated cities display some to the most visually striking structures in the history of world architecture. * For example, the adobe mosques of Mali contain organic contours, bulbous towers, and conical finials Resembling fantastic sand castles. * Some have been rebuilt continuously since the twelfth century * Many are seen as sites of spiritual renewal and all the components have some symbolic significance.