June 21: World Music Day

June 21: World Music Day

The world stands still for the 34th Music day. It is something special worth celebrating, as the annual event has spread its wings far and wide since its origins in France.

The term 'World Music', no matter how much it has caught on today was a marketing invention by the music industry in the 1980's to describe traditional music of any culture. 

World music is basically the kind of music that does not fall into the multitude of categories that is mainstream in the West, and of course in Africa. 

The traditional music of Africa, given the vastness of the continent, in terms of land mass and population, is historically ancient, rich in human and natural resources, diverse, with different regions and nations having many musical traditions.

Traditional music in most of the continent is passed down orally, any written form not passed down is contemporarily, Western.

Let Africans stand still to celebrate their own:

• Afrobeat: Fela Kuti's fusion of West African and black American music
• Apala: Yoruba style of talking drum in Nigeria.
• Axe: Yoruba word meaning 'life force', used to describe the Bahian style of Brazilian pop music.
• Benga: Originating from the Luo people from Western Kenya.
• Chimurenga: From the Shona people of Zimbabwe, also called mbira-based music.
• Fuji: Nigerian Yoruba voice and percussion style using original African percussion instruments popularised by Barrister Kollington and Adewale Ayuba. It usually sounds like a conversation.
• Gnawa: Morrocan music of people descended from the slaves bought from Mali in the 16th century. This kind of music features the stringed instruments sintir or gimbri, singing in unison, and hand clapping. Most often played at healing ceremonies.
• Griot: Generic term for a West African oral historian cum minstrel, a storyteller.
• Highlife: Dance music from Ghana and Eastern Nigeria, originating from the popular Kpanlogo rhythm developed in Ghana in the 60's.
• Iscathamiya: Traditional call and response capella choral music sung by men from South Africa.
• Jali: Manding word for a West African oral historian cum minstrel; a storyteller.
• Jit: Hard, fast percussive Zimbabwean dance music, influenced by mbira-based guitar styles.
• Juju: I.K. Dairo is credited with being the first modern Juju star. It's a popular style from Nigeria that relies on the traditional Yoruba rhythms, but instead of being played on all percussive instruments as tradition demands, the instruments in Juju are more Western in origin. Drum kit, guitars, keyboards, often pedal steel guitar and some times accordian are used along with the traditional dun-dun.
• Kwassa Kwassa: Shake your booty dance style begun in Zaire in the late 80's.
• Kwela: South African pennywhistle (tin flute) music.
• Makossa: Cameroonian dance rhythm from the Douala region, also the name of the country's most popular pop style.
• Marabi: South African three-chord township music of the 1930's-1960's, which evolved into African Jazz.
• Marrabenta: Mozambique's popular roots-based urban rhythm, a distinctive dance sound.
• Mbalax: M'balah, a Senegalese (Wolof) percussion music characterised by a sweet, funky combination of Afro-Cuban rhythms, Wolof drumming and American pop.
• Mbaqanga: Sometimes called 'Township jive'. This South African music was first popularised in the 60's.
• Morna: From Cape Verde. It's a soulful genre often sung in Creole-Portuguese and played in a minor key emotional tone, mixing sentimental folk tunes filled with longing and sadness with the acoustic sounds of guitar, cavaquinho, violoin, accordian and clarinet.
• Palm Wine: Originates from tropical Sierra Leone located on the far West coast of Africa. Typical to the Palm Wine sound is the light and airy guitar riffs originally played in acoustic guitar accompanied by traditional percussion instruments. 
• Rai: Youthful pop music from Algeria. It's a style that borders on themes of love and drinking.
• Reggae: Originally from Jamaica, internationally played sound dominated by bass, drums and guitar chops is associated with the Rastafarian religion, liberation politics and ganga.
• Salsa: New York Puerto Rican adaption of Afro-Cuban music.
• Wassaoulou: A musical style from Mali typified by a strong Arabic feel along with the sound of the scraping karinyang, women play the fle, a calabash strung with cowrie shells, which they spin and throw in the air in tune to the music.