Cool Stuff: Sub-Saharan Africa

 1.    I came across an aerophone that is used mostly in West Africa and was used by the Hausa/Kanuri people of Northern Nigeria. It is called the Algaita and it was developed ca. 1400's by the Fulani people. The Algaita is considered a type of oboe or shawm of the woodwind family and it is only played when a local ruler is present. The Algaita is made of hollowed wood in the shape of a cone-like tube covered in leather. It also has a circular pirouette to bear your lips on as you play as seen in the link below. Something that was interesting to me was how it can be constantly played when you breath in through the nose while breathing out of your cheeks at the same time! You can learn this blowing technique by not letting the bubbles stop as you blow through a straw in a cup of water, this is how the children learn the technique. I got my information from the links below. The first link also includes a video of an Algaita being played!

                                                1. The Algaita

                                                  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algaita

2.     From searching YouTube I discovered a very interesting Ted Talk about how the African drum was prohibited in early America gave birth to American music. The reason it was banned is because they thought it was a instrument to communicate in slave revolts. Sir Hans Sloane was a physician in Jamaica in the 1700's  and according to him, he wrote about African slaves that he saw performing and had thought that the African drum had a correlation of war. There are other examples about this that came from Colonel Edward Marcus Despard and Benjamin Latrobe as you can see in the video below. According to Chris Johnson's research he found many non-violent related uses of the drum in America, for example, weddings, festivals, dances, and signals for arrival. Two drums were used in the slave epoch, one in South Carolina and one in Louisiana. Therefore, the drum was banned, however, the ban didn't work. This case led to a substitute's for drums, such as the banjo, fiddle, tambourine, and bones. After the Emancipation, things developed and African Americans found and experimented with many other instruments. Eventually from that, it led to one of the most important instrument today, the wait for it... drum set.

3.     I have always loved nature and animals ever since I can remember. I came across another YouTube video about the many different types of animals that exist on Africa and only Africa! There are many elephants that roam Africa and they known as one the most intelligent animals and have emotions similar to humans such as joy and sadness. Elephants can weigh up to 6 tons, which is known to be the heaviest land mammal on earth. And they can live up to forty-sixty years! Africa is also home to one of the most violent and feared animals, the Cape Buffalo. This type of buffalo is very brave and will defend it's self without any doubt. If threatened they will gore individuals and have great stampedes! The Ring-Tailed Lemur is also home to Africa but is native to Madagascar. They are endangered species due to destruction of it's habitat and poaching. One more animal I would like to mention in the video is the Hyena. All the hyena species inhabit in Sub- Saharan except the striped hyena are they are found in East and Northern Africa. They are usually fighting with lions and leopards for their leftovers. Hyenas are also known for their call, in which resembles a human laughter!