Though Africa is the second-largest continent, its size does not inhibit its communities from being unified. In fact, an importance on "collective community" remains the goal within many African...

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Though Africa is the second-largest continent, its size does not inhibit its communities from being unified. In fact, an importance on "collective community" remains the goal within many African communities, even through colonization by Europeans (Miller and Shahriari, 297). The beliefs that every single person plays a role in the society and that everyone in a community is family, really drive home the unity that is seen in traditional African song and dance. "The importance of the collective community that characterizes traditional African life is reflected in three main activities associated with music: communal dance, call-and-response singing, and the use of polyrhythm in instrumental performance" (Miller and Shahriari, 298). The polyrhythm in "Fante Area: Vocal Band" can be heard through the call and response between the male who starts off the song, then the community responds. The song may even inspire some to spontaneously step out and dance, which may illicit cheers and praise from the crowd. (Miller and Shahriari, 298). When colonizers came to disturb the Africans, who were living in peace, they found the predominantly polyrhythmic music "chaotic," and tried to suppress the communal music. The colonizers attributed it to "wild" music to paganism that was corrupting the souls of the people (Miller and Shahriari, 298.)  Terry E. Miller, and Andrew Shahriari. World Music: A Global Journey. Vol. Fourth edition, Routledge, 2017.