Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 26 results in 26 entries
1. abeng, n. View full entry 1890
...A type of bugle made from a cow horn, used by the maroons as a musical instrument and to send signals....
2. agogo, n. View full entry 1889
...A handbell of West African origin, consisting of two or more joined cones struck with a stick or rod, used as a percussion instrument in African and Latin rituals and music....
3. burru, n. View full entry 1929
...A kind of vigorous, popular, and sometimes indecent, dance; the music, esp. drumming, used to accompany this....
4. gorah | gorrah, n. View full entry 1790
...A Khoekhoe musical instrument (see quot. 1881)....
5. jit, n.3 View full entry 1980
...A style of popular music originating in Zimbabwe, combining elements of traditional African music with a fast dance rhythm and a prominent (electric) guitar sound. Also jit-jive....
6. John Canoe, n. View full entry 1774
...The chief dancer, or one of several dancers, in a Christmas celebration....
7. juba, n.2 View full entry 18..
...A species of dance or breakdown practised by the black inhabitants of the southern United States, accompanied by clapping of the hands, patting of the knees and thighs, striking of the feet...
8. kalimba, n. View full entry 1968
...A musical instrument played with the thumbs, consisting of metal strips along a small, hollow piece of wood....
9. kora, n.1 View full entry 1799
...A West African stringed instrument resembling a harp....
10. malombo, n. View full entry 1931
...A Venda rite of exorcism and healing conducted by a diviner, accompanied by drumming, singing, and dancing, which causes a high state of nervous excitement. Usu. attrib....
11. marimba, n. View full entry 1704
...A kind of deep-toned xylophone, originating in Africa and most commonly consisting of wooden keys on a frame with a tuned resonator beneath each key; a modern orchestral instrument evolved from this....
12. maskanda, n. View full entry 1980
...More fully maskanda music. Traditional Zulu music played on Western instruments (for example guitar accompanied by violin or concertina)....
13. mbalax, n. View full entry 1986
...A type of Senegalese rhythm, used as the basis of much Senegalese popular music; (also) music incorporating this rhythm, in which all instruments play in a percussive style....
14. mbaqanga, n. View full entry 1964
...A style of jazz-influenced popular music, esp. influenced by traditional southern African forms, originating in the townships of Johannesburg in the 1950s; (gen.) any form of township dance music....
15. mbila, n. View full entry 1928
...Any of various types of African xylophone with wooden keys and hollow gourd resonators....
16. mbira, n. View full entry 1948
...= mbila...
17. mbongo, n. View full entry 1911
...Chiefly derogatory. A political stooge or apologist; a ‘yes-man’....
18. mbube, n. View full entry 1948
...A style of male choral music, usually unaccompanied, which combines traditional Zulu song with American gospel music, and is often performed to slow, synchronized dance movements patterned after Zulu regimental dancing. Freq....
19. mgqashiyo, n. View full entry 1976
...A style of popular music featuring close-harmony singing (usually by a three- or four-woman group) of traditional or neo-traditional African (esp. Zulu) songs set to mbaqanga rhythms and instrumentation. See mbaqanga...
20. ngoma, n. View full entry 1860
...In eastern and southern Africa: any of various kinds of drum; (S. Afr.) a large single-headed drum of a type traditionally used by the Venda in certain religious ceremonies....
