For much of the history of the people of Africa, vocal mu-
sic has been a universal experience. Such beliefs in the power
of music are found throughout the world. Sound is used to
reach outward toward the deities. In turn, it is through the
vibratory matrix that sound provides that the deities them-
selves, it was thought, descend from the spiritual abode to
participate in the human world. Vocal music is the vortex of
religious ritual. Th e main purpose of vocalization was to ap-
pease the supernatural powers, solicit divine protection, and
give thanks to the guardian spirits of the community. For
millennia Africans have tended to approach their cultural ac-
tivities, such as healing, through vocal music. In addition to
these roles, Africans also relay these songs as entertainment.
When the community likes the songs, they all join in and de-
velop other tones to create naturally blended harmonies.
African musical instruments have a complex sociocul-
tural signifi cance. In keeping with their intricate musical
system, Africans have used every known type of portable
instrument; thus, it is important to examine African soci-
ety in the cultural contexts in which instruments are played.
While they may be used to produce a human experience, they
are also used to teach societal norms, including respect for
the aged and a continuing relationship between dead an-
cestors and the living. Instruments were used as media for
communication and for imitating animals and birds to cre-
ate the symbiotic relationship between animals and people.
Th is coexistence is an ancient African tradition. Th e belief
that the highest gods were part animal and part human led
Africans to look upon animals with great reverence and love;
accordingly, instruments were sometimes played to imitate
the sounds of the animals.
Since ancient times African instruments have been used
in the cycle of human life, including daily, social, political,
and religious life. African musical instruments also serve as
artistic works and as cultural symbols. Th ey may represent
specifi c social hierarchies, such as the atsimevu drum of the
Ewe people of Ghana that symbolizes the commander. Th e
sabar master drummer of the Wolof tribe of Senegal is con-
ferred status through the performance of his drum and is,
therefore, a leader in the community. His repetitive drum
patterns symbolize stability in the community.
EGYPT
BY EMILY JANE O’DELL
While we have many depictions of musical instruments and
musicians from the tombs of ancient Egypt, we know very
little about the actual nature of the music itself. Th e frequent
portrayal of musicians and musical events suggest that music
was an integral part of both religious and secular gatherings,
but without any notation it is virtually impossible for Egyp-
tologists at this point to know what the music sounded like
and how it was composed, written, and disseminated.
Musicians in tomb representations usually are shown
playing in an ensemble and frequently are accompanied by
singers, hand clappers, and dancers in palaces and temples
and at funerary events. Musicians in ancient Egypt were both
male and female, though female musicians did not appear
until aft er the end of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2575–ca. 2134
b.c.e.). Men and women played together in ensembles, espe-
cially in the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040–ca. 1640 b.c.e.), but
in the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–ca. 1070 b.c.e.) women played
in groups without men. Th ese ensembles ranged in size, but
some were composed of as many as 10 sistrum players and
10 hand clappers. Women wore light dresses and braided
their hair with small balls hanging from the ends of their
tresses, whereas men wore kilts. Both men and women could
be overseers of these ensembles. Th ere were titles for musi-
cians (most meaning “temple singer”), and the abundance of
designations suggests that musicians could function in many
diff erent capacities. Women singers were usually referred to
as songstresses or chantresses.
Music was used to accompany ancient Egyptian religious
rituals, such as the recitation of religious and funerary texts.
Some gods and goddesses were associated with music. One
of Hathor’s incarnations was as the goddess of festivity and
mistress of music. Priestesses of Hathor used sistrums to pro-
duce percussive rattling. Blind Horus was a god of the harp.
Interestingly, many musicians in ancient Egypt are portrayed
as blind or wearing a blindfold. Th e goddess Meret was ap-
pealed to in order to bring sacred texts to life. Th us, Meret
could be said to be a goddess of sacred chanting. Th e male de-
ity Bes is shown in ancient Egyptian art playing instruments,
in depictions in Egypt as well as abroad. Music also was used
to praise Osiris and Isis and Amun-Ra, among other gods
and goddesses.
Music was used in both religious and royal contexts for
rituals and festivals, and it was also used in daily life in the
secular sphere. Family members would dance and sing for
their deceased ancestors at their tombs. In the New Kingdom
there are even examples of laborers who sang in the fi elds.
During the New Kingdom a genre of harper’s songs emerged,
so called because a harper was illustrated alongside the text
of these poems. Th ese texts, which would have been sung at
a banquet at the tomb in honor of the tomb owner, are quite
rare when compared with the rest of the Egyptian corpus,
owing to their insistence on the celebration and appreciation
of earthly life over the aft erlife.
Th e ancient Egyptians used a variety of instruments that
would have produced a range of sounds, scales, tones, and
tunes. Th ere were a number of percussive instruments. Sis-
trums, as noted previously, were used to produce a rattling
sound, especially in praise of Hathor and Isis. Sistrums were
metal rattles held with a handle that would oft en be in the
shape of the goddesses Hathor. On top of the hand was an
oval-shaped frame that held metal horizontal rods on which
beads were placed to shake and make noise when rattled. In
fact, some large stone columns in the Hathor chapel of Queen
Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri and in the
temple of Queen Nefertari in Abu Sir resemble Hathor sis-764 music and musical instruments: Egypt