Characteristics of African songs
Through research of various theorists, they found that African traditional
instruments, such as the bow, are not in use any more, in favour of Western
ones. The same may be said of African Songs (Nompula, 1994: 15-17).
The difference of African music to Western music is the cyclic ostinato form
that is not be heard in Western music. This is the repetition of the same
ostinato on instruments or the singing of the same melodies for hours on end.
There is no key contrast, recapitulation or linear thematic growth. An example
of an instrumental ostinato in African music, is the following.