Most musical instruments are typically classified into four families, but African musical instruments belong to five categories: chordophones, aerophones, idiophones, membranophones, and percussion.

The chordophones, also known as stringed instruments, produce sounds from the strings. These instruments are further sub-classified into bows, harps, lutes, lyres, and zithers. Good examples of chordophones in African music include: Musical bows like the South African Uhadi, Angolan Berimbau, and Rwandan Umuduri while Harps include Kora (West Africa), Ugandan Adungu, and Mauritanian Ardin. Examples of Lutes are the Malian Ngoni/Xalam, and the Moroccan Gimbri while the Kenyan Nyatiti, Ugandan Endongo, and Ethiopian Krar fall under the lyres and Rwandan Inanga, Cameroonian Mvet, and other Zithers.

Aerophones, also known as wind instruments, produce sound through air vibration. There are flutes, trumpets, and reed instruments. Good examples of African flutes are the Fulani Tambin, Egyptian Ne,y, and the Zulu flute, also called Umtshingo. The Nigerian Kakaki, Moroccan Waza, and South African kudu horns are very popular trumpets while the Nigerian Algaita and other reed pipes are examples of reed instruments.

Idiophones produce sound through the vibration of the instrument itself without strings or membranes. There are four types of idiophones - the struck, shaken, plucked, and scraped idiophones. West African Balafon and the Ugandan Amadinda are examples of struck idiophones, and various xylophones, the Nigerian/Ghanaian shekere, Ghanaian Axatse, and other seed rattles are under the shaken sub-category. While the Mbira/Kalimba/Sanza (multiple regions) and Congolese Likembe are plucked idiophones and Güiro-like instruments are scraped idiophones.

Membranophones produce sound through a vibrating stretched membrane. There are single-headed drums like the Djembe or Senegalese Bougarabou and double-headed drums or talking drums such as the Nigerian Gangan and Ghanaian Atumpan. There are also the frame drums such as North African Bendir and Egyptian Tar while Nigerian Udu or the Ghatam-like clay drums fall under the pot drums.

The fifth classification—percussion—sometimes refers to instruments that don't fit neatly into the other categories or specifically denote struck instruments that have elements of both idiophones and membranophones. Some classifications use this category to include body percussion, hand clapping, and other techniques fundamental to African musical expression.

This five-category system helps capture the remarkable diversity of sound-producing instruments across the African continent, reflecting the traditional Hornbostel-Sachs classification and Africa's unique instrumental heritage.

A 5-Category Classification System of African Musical Instruments

A 5-Category Classification System of African Musical Instruments

A 5-Category Classification System of African Musical Instruments

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