Modern African Music or Afropo

1  Title of piece:

Wombo Lombo

2  Performers:

Angelique Kidjo

3  Culture of Origin

Benin, West Africa

4 Instrumentation

Voice

Voices

Synthesizer (chordophones)

Drums (Idiophones) 

Traditional African Drums(Idiophones)
Saxophone (Areophones)

Trumpet  (Areophones)
Trombone (Areophones)

Angelique Kidjo’s piece is an example of how music can be influenced by many different cultures. The style used in the song is also powerful in allowing the listener to have a pleasant western pop music while interweaving the culture and music of West Africa. This video makes more of the traditions of West Africa with its visual representation. This video is a great way to introduce a new style of music to a new listener. This can help take the listener to the original songs and cultures of many different African nations. Videos and songs similar to Wombo Lombo offer people who enjoy music and teach music the chance to expand the musical knowledge of a broader group of people. These pieces can act as a bridge between two cultures and create more informed music listener.

The classification of instruments can help if the music that you are listening to is new to you and the culture is also new. When looking at a piece of music you might not know what instruments are in being played but you can determine the category. This was helpful in the song above there are may instruments I was able to identify quickly but some that I had to put into an instrument category.