World Wide Rearch of African Music

It must be first said that African music has much more influence on the whole of African people's lives than western music has on its indigenous constituents.

It can be convincingly argued that African music has been the most influential music in the world. It has given comfort to the farmer as he raises his hoe to cultivate two acres that will feed his family for a year and it has brought in millions of dollars and world wide fame to popular jazz and blues singers.

In the United States and Europe music is almost entirely recreational. Yes, there are the hymns of protest and sloganistic anthems. In Africa songs are about every day life and the struggles of human experience. When you do find such lyrics in the West they are usually in the jazz and blues genre that have there roots in Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, music is an woven through daily life. Songs accompany the rites of passage, labor and entertainment. Almost every member of society loves to sing and many play traditional instruments especially drums. Musical tutelage and notation is scarce in Africa. Skills and knowledge are passed from master to pupil in oral tradition.