UNIT II

Afro, Latin American,

Jazz, and Popular
Music
 ACTIVITY
(Music Analysis)
Question:

1.What scenario can you imagine while listening to the music?

2. Can you name some instruments that you can hear from the
music?

3.What can you say about the vocal productions of African

singers?
Traditional Music of Africa
Music in Africa plays an important role in their daily life, from birth until
death. They use music in their work, in their religious ceremonies,
rituals, festivities, and even as a mode of communication. It also
became their instrument to express their sentiments and emotions.
Their songs, dances, and instrumental playing are also used in their
personal celebrations including birth, baptism, marriage, and death.
African people also believed in the power of music to cure the sick, cast
away evil spirits, paying respect to good spirits, the dead, and the
ancestors.
African Styles of Music
• Afrobeat- combines West African musical styles such as Yoruba music,
jazz, highlife, funk rhythms, and fused with African percussion and
vocal styles. It features chants, call-and-respond vocals, and complex
rhythms.
• Apala (Akpala)- is a musical style developed in the late 1930 from
Nigerian people of Yoruba. This style was used during the Islamic holy
month of Ramadan to wake the worshippers after fasting. The Apala
rhythms were influenced by Cuban music that grew more complex and
later became quite popular in Nigeria. instruments used in Apala
include a rattle (sekere), thumb piano (agidigbo) and a bell (agogo), and
the talking drums.
• Axe- is a popular style of music fused with Afro-Carribean styles of
Marcha, Reggae, and Calypso. This word came from Yoruba religious
greetings which Incans soul, light, spirit, or good vibration
• Jit- is a popular style of Zimbabwean dance music that features quick
and fast rhythm played on drums and accompanied by a guitar. It was
popularized by Chazezesa Challengers, The Four Brothers, and Bhundu
Boys band in the 1980s.
• Jive-is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug (a form of
Swing dance) which was originated in the United States in the early
1930s from African-Americans.
• Juju- is a popular style of music from Nigeria that derives from
traditional Yoruba percussion. It is characterized by the use of the
African talking drums, agogo, sekere, bata, omelet along with other
western instruments such as the guitars, bass, keyboards, and drums
that can be performed in any occasion, events, and concerts.
• Kwassa kwassa is a dance style which begun in Zaire and developed
by Kanda Bongo Man in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is a dance
rhythm from Congo, where the dancers move their hands in a motion
that corresponds to the movement of their hips.
• Marabi was a name given to a keyboard style similar to American
ragtime and blues with roots of African tradition originated in the
1920s. It is characterized by repeated harmonic patterns and a few
simple chords in different improvised patterns to let the people dance
for an extended period of time.
POPULAR
MUSIC
 POPULAR MUSIC
• Popular music is a term that refers to a number of contemporary
musical styles having a wide appeal to large audiences most
especially to young people. Also known as pop music, this style is
often written and advertised commercially to general public to
achieve mass distribution and sales. This genre was developed in
the 20th century intended for entertainment and mass
consumption through live performances, radio, videos,
recordings, and/or similar media. Different popular musical
genres were developed such as the ballads, standard, rock and
roll, alternative music, and disco. Along with this genres, great
names were born that dominated the popular music scene like
Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Beatles, Ihe Bee Gees
to name a few.
Types of Popular Music
• Ballad came from the French chanson balladee or "ballade"
which originally refers to dancing song. It is a sentimental
and popular song that tells a story in a short stanza and
simple words, with repetition and refrain.
• Disco is a style of dance music popular in the 1970s
consisting of the elements of funk, soul, pop, and salsa. term
Disco came from the French word discotheque" which
means a library of phonograph records. Examples of disco
music are Dancing Queen, Stayin’ Alive and YMCA.
• Standard is a song that remained popular for several decades and
performed by different musicians or bands. The term began to apply
when rock and roll increased its popularity in the late 1950s and
early1960s. It is usually in a slow or moderate tempo and characterized
by singable melodies within a range. Some of the most important
proponents of standard music includes Frank Sinatra known as the Ol'
Blue Eyes, Chairman of the Board, or the Voice with his hit singles
My Way and Strangers in the Night; Nat King Cole who was considered
as one of the most important musical personalities in US with his hit
songs Unforgettable, Mona Lisa, and Too Young; and Matt Monro an
English singer known for being the most popular international music
entertainer in 1960s. Some of his hit songs include Portrait of My Love,
Softly as I Leave You, From Russia with Love (James Bond theme song),
Walk Away, and his signature song Born Free.
• Pop Music- continue to evolve as well as greatest singers and performers'
emerged. Some of the famous pop singers and their songs are: Neil Sedaka (
Laughter in the Rain), Diana Ross (Stop in the Name of Love), Olivia Newton John
(Hopelessly Devoted to You), Stevie Wonder (You Are the Sunshine of My Life),
Elton John (Skyline Pigeon), Carpenters (We've Only Just Begun), and Barry
Manilow (Mandy). Recent pop superstars are: Michael Jackson who is known as
“King of Pop" (his albums: Off the Wall, Bad, Dangerous, HIStory), Celine Dion (
My Heart Will Go On), Madonna (Material Girl), Whitney Houston (
I will Always Love You), Mariah Carey (Hero), Justin Timberlake (Justified),
Britney Spears (Ooops, I Did It Again!), Beyonce (Irreplaceable), Lady Gaga (Bad
Romance), Bruno Mars (Just the Way You Are), etc.
• Alternative Music is a style of music that developed from the independent music
underground of the 1980s. It became widely popular in the 1990s and 2000s, this
genre was regarded as more electrical, original, or challenging than most popular
music. Some alternative bands are Every Avenue, MGMT, and the Naked and
Famous.