Music of Africa

Features Fela Sowande of Nigeria, a leading African musicologist, composer, and organist, along with other Nigerian musicians demonstrating how contempory African music has mingled traditional African and Western idioms to create new forms. Explains that African music places a greater stress on melody rather than rhythm. The music, therefore, more closely resembles African dialects where the meaning is expressed by tonal inflection. Summarizes from this that the talking drum can be either a musical function or transmitter of messages., Features Fela Sowande of Nigeria, a leading African musicologist, composer, and organist, along with other Nigerian musicians demonstrating how contemporary African music has mingled traditional African and Western idioms to create new forms. Explains that African music places a greater stress on melody rather than rhythm. The music, therefore, more closely resembles African dialects where the meaning is expressed by tonal inflection. Summarizes from this that the talking drum can be either a musical function or transmitter of messages.