Musical Instruments
Kofi Agawu · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2016
African musical instruments are many and varied, and they reflect an impressive range in design, tuning, and functional and aesthetic use. This chapter offers a description of prominent instrumental classes associated with the performance of traditional music. It introduces and eventually rejects the influential Hornbostel-Sachs scheme for instrument classification. It also rehearses some pertinent indigenous ideas about musical instruments. Vignettes of the voice, drum, xylophone, seperewa, mbira, flute, and horn are included. Emphasis is placed on the nature of ensembles and the philosophy of ensemble music making.