African wood species are clearly suitable to make violins. They produce an instrument with a beautiful, though slightly different sound.
Articles on African music
Displaying 61 - 80 of 95 articles
Lesotho’s famo music is known for the use of accordions - and gang violence. In Wayfarers’ Hymns, Zakes Mda explores this tradition.
Clay figurines of musicians, made in the 1930s, are being exhibited along with a new film of actual musicians playing the traditional instruments.
Schooled in music through church, he was driven by a fierce sense of belonging to Lesotho where he was born, and neighbouring South Africa.
For over 50 years Tshola was loved by audiences around the world for his rich baritone voice, which he used to inspire and to speak political truths.
South Africa’s greatest composer was uniquely shaped by his early years of singing at traditional Zulu weddings and working in jazz bands and church choirs.
Mzilikazi Khumalo was a brilliant linguist with a stellar career in music. These achievements are extraordinary considering the obstacles he faced throughout his career.
He did not so much play the drums, as become the drum. His influence was felt through his trailblazing percussive work and his many collaborations.
Poverty aside, cultural factors like the influence of hip hop songs may also play a role in making a life of cybercrime attractive to young people.
A year later, it’s clear that the dance promotes a conscious concept of Africanity – sowing feelings of tolerance and contentment that have conquered international audiences.
The 1970s and 1980s saw a new genre of popular protest - its spirit would be felt even in 2011 when protests toppled a dictator.
Sacred sites where rituals are performed by the community should be protected as living archives that house local heritage.
She was the glue that bound younger artists together, helping them navigate the volatile terrain of the music industry.
Both choirs and classical music were childhood influences on a stellar career that would leave behind major new recordings in these areas.
She was a vocalist who sang in every style – from Carmen to UShaka – with equal mastery, popularising classical forms and epitomising ‘the new South Africa’.
The increased migration of Africans and the global growth of hip hop culture has seen a dynamic new generation of Pan Africanism emerge.
Baxsan’s tumultuous six-decade journey as a singer was irrevocably tied to Somalia’s national identity and cultural history.
Like Pata-Pata, Homeless and Mbube, the song Jerusalema is elevated by a historical moment in time and has the power to cross over to different audiences.
During the coronavirus pandemic the Jerusalema dance challenge enacted a way for communities to connect - repetitive enough to be picked up and varied enough to tease.
The artist’s body of work, through its very public focus on queer masculinity, offers alternative ways of thinking about what being a man is.
Top contributors
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Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of Pretoria
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Professor emeritus of music, SOAS, University of London
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Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town
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Senior Lecturer, South African College of Music, University of Cape Town
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Lecturer in Musicology, University of South Africa
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Professor Emeritus, Social Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand
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Research Fellow, Rhodes University
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Fellow, King's College London
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Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University
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Senior Lecturer, Stellenbosch University
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Artist in Residency, University of Pretoria
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Lecturer, University of Fort Hare
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Professor of Music, Wesleyan University
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Assistant Professor, Ethnomusicology, University of Minnesota
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Lecturer, Makerere University