| In traditional African culture, music has ritual, social, | | | | entertainment purpose or for religious ceremonies. |
| and ceremonial functions along with some solely | | | | Friction sticks, bells, clappers, rattles, cymbals, and |
| recreational functions. Musical activities are highly | | | | sansa are very popular percussion instruments. |
| ritualized and are considered to link the invisible | | | | Among the popular African instruments, drums |
| world with the visible world. Melodies are generally | | | | are an important musical instrument. There are |
| organized within a scale of four, five, six, or | | | | various parchment-head drums such as |
| seven tones. Musical instruments in Africa take on | | | | kettledrums, cylindrical drums, semi cylindrical |
| sculptural forms that are sacred, elaborate, simple, | | | | drums, goblet drums, barrel-shaped drums, and |
| humorous, and serious, or a combination of all. | | | | hourglass drums with variable-tension heads. Many |
| Irrespective of whether these musical instruments | | | | wind instruments are constructed out of horns, |
| are beaded, carved, painted, or decorated with | | | | tusks, conch shells, or wood. Among wind |
| skins, they send messages about the religious | | | | instruments are flutes made of millet, reed, |
| beliefs, artistic styles, and entertainment practices | | | | bamboo, or the tips of animal horns, and gourds. |
| of the people who made them. | | | | Panpipes, ocarinas, whistle, oboe, horns that are |
| Percussion instruments are very popular musical | | | | made from elephant tusks or animal horns, and |
| instruments in Africa. Musical instruments of | | | | trumpets made of wood, sections of gourd, or |
| sub-Saharan Africa comprise of a wide variety of | | | | metal tubes, single-reed pipes made from millet |
| resonant solids such as stamping tubes, the mbira | | | | stalks, and double-reed pipes adopted from Arabic |
| (thumb piano), and the xylophone. Mbira is one of | | | | culture are among other African wind instruments. |
| the most popular melodic instruments in Africa. | | | | African stringed musical instruments or |
| The mbira is used in different ways by different | | | | chordophones include musical bows, zithers, |
| cultures and also exists in different forms in | | | | bowed and plucked lutes, arched harps, harp-lutes, |
| different cultures. Mbira may be used for | | | | and lyres. |