“How come we’ve never heard of this beautiful instrument until now?” This was posted by a first-year college student to my world music course discussion board recently. He voiced what many of his ...

The djembe drum dates back roughly between 400 and 800 years, created during the Malian Empire by the Mandé people across regions including Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast. Picture a goblet ...

African instruments are rich and unique in their sounds. With such uniqueness in sound, they have influenced music from other parts of the world. Here are 7 musical instruments whose origin dates back ...

Toumani Diabaté, a Malian virtuoso of a 21-string instrument known as the kora, who brought a rich West African musical legacy to audiences around the world with genre-mixing collaborations ranging ...

The orutu, a one-stringed Luo musical instrument, was historically played by men during celebrations, storytelling, and ceremonies such as mourning. For years, cultural beliefs discouraged women from ...

Indigenous musical instruments have long been central to cultural expression in South Africa. They carry history, identity and social meaning. Many of these instruments were developed within specific ...

Rattles and clappers -- Drums -- Xylophones and 'sansas' -- Bill-roarers and spinning-disks -- Horns and trumpets -- Whistles, flutes and vibrating reeds -- Reed ...

This post was updated May 22 at 9:43 p.m. Community and tradition inspire the performers of the Old-Time String Band and African American Music Ensemble. Each class of musical performers has shared a ...