Culture and Customs of Africa

INDEX

•Culture

•Music and dance

• Language

•Clothing

CultureHuman culture in Africa is as old as the race itself; and it includes rock carvings from the Neolithic period, the petroglyphs of Ice Ages and hunter gatherers in the grasslands of

North Africa

Music and DanceIndigenous music and traditional dances have been transmitted by oral tradition and are different in both the north and south. Many African languages are tonal languages, so the sound level determines the meaning and affects the melodies and African rhythms.

Music and Dance

African dances are an important way of communication, and dancers use gestures, masks, costumes and body language. When the sun sets they play every day at that time a ritual called ‘Shapare’, which is interpreted with bongo, trumpet and drum.

Later we will see a video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxfTx5uotq4

LanguageThe most common languages are Arabic, Suahili and Hausa after these English, French and Portuguese. African official languages are:

• Amharic in Ethiopia ->

• Somalí in Somalia ->

•Swahili in Kenya and Tanzania ->

•Setswana in Botswana ->

•Afrikáans in South Africa and Namibia ->

•Malagasy in the Republic of Madagascar ->

ClothingWomen’s traditional clothes in Ethiopia are made from cloth called shemma and it’s use to make ‘habesha kemis’. This garment is basically cotton cloth, about 90cm

wide, woven in long strips which are then sewn together.

ClothingMen wear knee-high shirts and trouser women might not wear socks at all. Men as well as women wear shawls, the netela.