Lesson 1 Music

Question 1

Music has been a vital part of the lives of Africans, performed during rituals related to birth, marriage, death, and war.

Answer 1

Traditional music of Africa

Question 2

What genres of music have deep roots in African music?

Answer 2

• Jazz
• Gospel
• Spiritual
• RnB

Question 3

What influences shaped African music?

Answer 3

The fusion of traditional and European influences due to colonization.

Question 4

Define Afrobeat.

Answer 4

A fusion of West African music with Black American music.

Question 5

What is Apala (Akpala)?

Answer 5

A musical genre from Nigeria to wake up worshippers after fasting during Ramadan.

Question 6

What characterizes Axe music?

Answer 6

It fuses Afro-Caribbean styles of marcha, reggae, and calypso.

Question 7

Describe Jit music.

Answer 7

A hard and fast percussive Zimbabwean dance music played on drums.

Question 8

What is Jive music?

Answer 8

A lively variation of the jitterbug, a form of swing dance from South Africa.

Question 9

What defines Juju music?

Answer 9

A popular style from Nigeria relying on traditional Yoruba rhythms.

Question 10

What is Kwassa Kwassa?

Answer 10

A dance style from Zaire characterized by hip movements and popularized by Kanda Bongo Man.

Question 11

What is Marabi music?

Answer 11

A South African three-chord township music that evolved into African Jazz.

Question 12

Define Maracatu.

Answer 12

A combination of strong African rhythms and Portuguese melodies, often paraded by many participants.

Question 13

What are the characteristics of Blues music?

Answer 13

Expressive and soulful melodies performed widely in the late 19th century.

Question 14

What is Soul music?

Answer 14

A genre combining elements of African-American gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz from the 1950s and 1960s.

Question 15

What is a Spiritual in the context of music?

Answer 15

A form created by African-American slaves to impart Christian values and express hardships.

Question 16

What does Call and Response in African music refer to?

Answer 16

A question and answer sequence in human communication, often used in songs by slaves.

Question 17

What are idiophones?

Answer 17

Instruments that produce sound by the body of the instrument vibrating.

Question 18

Define Agogo.

Answer 18

A single or multiple bells considered the oldest samba instrument based on West African Yoruba. Highest pitch

Question 19

What is a Shekere?

Answer 19

A gourd and shell megaphone from West Africa with beads woven into a net.

Question 20

What is a Slit/Log drum?

Answer 20

A hollow percussion instrument, not a true drum, usually made from bamboo or wood. Slits in the top

Question 21

What is the Atingting Kon?

Answer 21

A hollowed wooden cylinder struck to produce a deep tone, believed to resonate the voices of ancestors.

Question 22

What is the Balafon?

Answer 22

A wooden xylophone or percussion idiophone playing melodic tunes, prominent since the 1300s.

Question 23

What defines membranophones?

Answer 23

Instruments that produce sound by the vibration of a tightly stretched membrane.

Question 24

What is Body percussion?

Answer 24

Using the body to produce sound through clapping, slapping, or foot shuffling.

Question 25

What is a Talking drum?

Answer 25

Used to send messages for various announcements and believed to communicate with spirits.

Question 26

Describe the Djembe.

Answer 26

A goblet-shaped drum from West Africa, played with bare hands and covered with goat skin.

Question 27

What are lamellaphones?

Answer 27

Instruments that produce sound by the vibration of tongues of metal or wood.

Question 28

Define Mbira.

Answer 28

A set of plucked tines mounted on a sound board, used for communication with spirits.

Question 29

What is a Musical bow?

Answer 29

The ancestor of all string instruments, consisting of a single string attached to a curved stick.

Question 30

What is the Zeze?

Answer 30

An African fiddle played with a bow or plucked, made of one or two steel strings.

Question 31

What are aerophones?

Answer 31

Instruments that produce sound through the vibration of air.

Question 32

Describe the Fulani

Answer 32

A widely used flute in Africa, fashioned from a single tube closed at one end.

Question 33

What is a Kudu Horn?

Answer 33

Made from the horn of the kudu antelope, producing a mellow and warm sound.