In today's world, most of the music we listen to is as vulgar as rap, pop or any other music in the United States. The only culture that hasn't changed much is African music; The African music genre has remained true to its culture and roots and is somehow still popular today across many genres. Due to the rise of modern music in America such as hip-hop, this essay will illustrate how African musical culture has influenced the world in such a way that Africa can lay claim to the authenticity of those musical genres. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. African music is better known as African American music in today's society; brought many different types of musical genres to America starting with the transatlantic slave trade. One such type of music is Afrobeat, founded by Fela Kuti and who was also responsible for bringing a polyrhythmic sound. One of the first journeys of Africans to America was that of a variety of different ethnic groups with a history of African musical traditions. Upon arrival, some of these Africans were allowed to bring their instrument and others to make a new one. An example of this is the "Banja", now known as the banjo, one of the first African instruments brought to America and is still played in America to this day. The beginning of traditional African American music began in the 19th century: "In the 1830s, the Great Awakening led to a rise in Christian fundamentalism, especially among African Americans." At that time African Americans were slaves, but he was also the first to begin performing a variety of spiritual and Christian songs. Many of which were coded to allow them to escape slavery. By 1800 the black population was growing and the music of many African Americans was banned from the colonies. But what the colonizers didn't realize was that the primary tool for these African Americans was their voice. But besides the voice, the most common and well-known instruments available to African Americans were the fiddle, guitar, and banjo. According to Michael Fitch, the instruments are typically combined together and form a string band. Other tools they use were the mouthpiece, which was mainly used when they were slaves. The Diddley bow is a single-stringed instrument that influenced the sound of the blues and the bass, an instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal tub as its base. Compared to African American music and sub-Saharan African instrument they are different. The traditional African instrument is the "membranophone", an instrument that produces sound by vibrating the stretched membrane. Gankogui is an African bell; which is a forged iron percussion instrument. When skewered with a wooden stick it produces two different sounds: gang and gong. The point is that African music and African-American music have many things in common. Both are well known for their drums and percussive rhythms, which is no coincidence because this is a culture that was separated from its origins by colonial powers during the period of colonization. What makes African music so unique? “The thing about African music is that the melodies are simple and short but are repeated over and over again, which makes the rhythm of the beat exciting.” Knowing this, it is easy for Africans today to claim the authenticity of many Western musical genres that were brought to light by a black man whose ancestors were part of the tragic transatlantic slave trade. In Africa, there are many musical traits that are not only common in some parts of Africa but also in America. A..
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