Hello Readers! I don’t know about you, but I am always looking for great songs from around the world to share in my classroom. Today I have two songs from different parts of Africa to share with you, complete with the activities I use with them in my classroom.
Akinla from African Suite – Nigeria
This song by Chief Fela Sowande is really neat because it takes an African folk song and turns it into music for orchestra. I like to compare Sowande with Aaron Copland. Both took folk songs from their area and turned them into folk music.
Read and Play an 8-beat ostinato
I discovered this song when going through our district’s digital curriculum. It comes with a listening map and a pre-made ostinato. Obviously I cannot share their material with you, but you could definitely make your own. To work best, it should probably be made of two 8-beat sections. Repeat the first 8-beat section twice, then repeat the second 8-beat section twice and that should line up pretty well with the melody. (The ostinato is played only during the main melody sections. There are some interludes sometimes where you would not play).
Add instruments with the ostinato
Once we have read through the ostinato with the song, we add instruments similar to those that you might find in Africa. This is great time to talk about indigenous instruments from the area and then show them the instruments that you will use. I usually use tubanos and maracas (or if we want to be silly, we use shaker fruit!). Shakers are in charge half notes and tubanos are in charge of quarter notes. Then we switch parts, so that students get a chance to play both instruments.
Create Your Own Rhythmic Ostinato
The next time that we do the song, I have the students create a new ostinato. The tempo goes pretty fast so I recommend sticking with mostly half and quarters, but it could be fun to throw in one or two faster rhythms. Just be prepared! Then we create body percussion movements to go with our new ostinato.
Pata Pata – South Africa
This song is a fun “pop” song from South Africa. It even has a dance that goes with it. It is a line dance and is a fun way to get your older kids up and moving. I mostly use this just for the dance right now, but if you listen to the bass line it is really repetitive and I am sure your could get an AWESOME orff or boomwhacker arrangement jamming for this song. Or go for the gold and turn it into a performance piece!
Here is a YouTube video that shows a basic version of the dance
More Songs From Around the Globe
If you are looking for other songs from around the globe, you might want to check out this post with some of my favorite songs from countries around the world.
