About African Music Library
Music and sounds have been part of life since the beginning of time.
Humans have been knocking sticks, and rocks together to produce melody since we became. From playing the Tutankhamun’s Trumpets to the earliest flutes to the Barra drums, dance circles music has continuously evolved and diverged. In Africa, instruments are as diverse as the people who use them.
As of today, African music history is sparse, and much information, genres, and instruments are lost to time, genres are misrepresented even within the communities where they were birthed.
The recognition, documentation, and preservation of these sounds are the purpose of this library. The African music library was created as a historical journey, to chronicle not just all things music in Africa, but as a place to create community, spark discussions, and learn.
We are documenting all music made in Africa, artist metadata, instruments, books, and articles that reference Music in Africa.
We hope the African Music Library will galvanize a community of bright minds in African music - academics, music makers, engineers, and anthropologists. This community, we hope, will form a foundation for the standardized knowledge exchange needed to build intelligent technologies around African music.
Welcome to the African Music Library.
Explore! Have fun!
Meet the Team
Help us preserve Africa's most tresured heritage, music
As a nonprofit, the African Music Library and its projects are powered primarily through donations.
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