Peoples include
Instruments
Discover Africa · Tribes of Africa
Yoruba talking drums. Zulu isicathamiya. Mandinka kora lines Afrobeats still borrows from. Every modern African genre is a conversation with something much older. Pick a region and start there.
Regions
05
Peoples
3000+
Languages
2000+
Tap any country on the map, or pick from the five cards below.
Four traditions that turn up, in different clothes, almost everywhere.
INSTRUMENT
A drum tuned mid-phrase to mimic the tones of speech. Yoruba dùndún players can hold a conversation across a village square.
VOICE
One voice leads, the crowd answers. It structures work songs, worship, protest and, eventually, the chorus of nearly every African pop record.
RHYTHM
Two or more time signatures running at once. Not decoration but the architecture — the reason a groove can feel weightless and locked at the same time.
CRAFT
Kente, adire, bogolan and kitenge carry proverbs, lineage and status in their patterns. Stage costume on the continent is rarely only costume.
FROM ROOTS TO CHARTS
Thirty-six genres, mapped by region and era. The talking drum runs straight through to Afrobeats; the kora line never really left.