the African way of life :)
In African culture, music is more than just a be a hand some lyrics. It's their way of life. It's the way they express their love, tell their stories, and just simply express themselves. Traditional African music is usually only played at special events and occasions. Songs and music from the African culture are also used in many religious ceremonies. The music and dance of their culture is usually passed down orally and visually so younger generations can carry it on to their future children. African Music typically relies on percussion instruments of many varieties, including xylophones, djembey, drums, and tone-producing instruments such as the or "thumb piano."
A thumb piano? What the heck is that. Sounds made up if you ask me...
WRONG
A thumb piano is a small instrument, who's actual name is Mbira. I would put this into my own words, but I think Wiki says it best when it comes to describing a thumb piano. Wikipedia says "Mbira are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and plucking the tines with the thumbs, the right forefinger, and sometimes the left forefinger." I'll definitely add a picture below, but these instruments, if known how to play, look very fun and easy to pick up on. Parents buy them throughout the world for their small children to play music on everyday, and it's roots lie in Africa!
Did you know Africa is HUGE?
Africa alone makes up 6% of the world! It is the 2nd most populated continent in the world, that's 16% of the worlds population. There are over 50 countries in Africa, 54 to be exact. There are more than 2000 languages spoken in Africa (um that's insane). We never really learned any of that in school did we? I'll be honest, I never really knew how amazing it actually was until we started studying it! And I'm so glad we did!
Thanks for reading !!!
Peace
Gracie C
Hey Gracie! first of all, I love the structure of your post, which makes it very enjoyable to read and second I love how you covered the Mbira it's such a beautiful instrument. I believe the first time I ever saw it in action is when a YouTuber covered the "Avatar the Last Airbender" theme song on the mbira. And that is when I fell in love with the sound the instrument creates. Lovely post Gracie :) Also, look up "Avatar the Last Airbender on Kalimba" it heals the soul.
ReplyDeleteHello, I hope you are doing great. I really liked the layout of your blog. t made it really easy to read. It is intriguing to see over the many other regions we learned about. How they use music to pass down to the younger generation and many more generations. From what I can see the Mbira is a really popular instrument they use. Which sounds lovely.
ReplyDeleteThis is really cool Gracie! I thought this whole blog was really neat and fascinating. Thumb piano's are really cool instruments. They seem really easy to play and to pick up on but who am I to say because I have never played an instrument in my whole life.
ReplyDeleteHey Gracie! Your blog was really fun to read. The Mbira is such a pretty instrument, i love listening to a mbira cover when i'm studying. When I was researching them, I looked up how much they cost and they can be pretty expensive! It would be fun to learn how to play though.
ReplyDeleteI knew there were many languages spoken in African, but wow 2000 is such a large number. I can only imagine how communication is in Africa. The first song was very peaceful and calming; sounds like movie music to me. I like how your blog offers something new and is straight to the point.
ReplyDeleteHey, I really like how your blog is set up. I talked about the Mbira too and I found them super interesting! I've always wanted an Mbira just so I can play songs from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Also, I didn't know that there are around 2000 languages spoken in Africa. That's actually crazy!
ReplyDeleteWOW! Your blog is so cool! I love it's flow and how informative it is. I really found the thumb piano interesting, as well as your information you included on the amount of languages in Africa. It's a shame we don't study Africa for what it truly is! A huge, culture rich, beautiful continent!
ReplyDelete