2,030 Abibisika (Black Gold) Points

Rank: Unranked Newbie

Related to Afrikan’s people’s most significant cultural expressions is dance and song, and they reflect through physical and symbolic, means the archetypal struggle of the mortal being against exterior forces. Thus, there is a deeply dramatic and narrative quality to the creation of this physical and symbolic means of expression. Dance and song are based on the fundamental aspects of Afrikan life; they are a common response to the need for social readjustment or restructuring and the reestablishment of blance and harmony.

They are also linked to people’s relationship with supernatural powers; they are aesthetic expressions of Afrika’s ontological and cosmological orientation. Dance, decor, drumming, music, song and costumes are all essential and inseparable aspects of every Afrikan dramatic or narrative, religious or secular performance. It is important to know that Afrikan culture and history have relied on oral forms of transmission and expressions that are extremely rich in signs, gestures, colours, sounds, movement, forms, symbols and nuances.

These may evoke the spirituality of the sacred or laughter, the very awe of veneration, or the ectasy of possession. Song and dance are always punctuated by the rhythmic pace of drumming and together these provide a means to communicate with the ancestors and evoke spiritual forces. Through the kinesthetic freedom that dance and drumming afford, the energies of the human being and the world are harnessed.

Music and movement, rhythm, and words or sounds invoke a larger primordial force capable of trans forming the human community and restoring balance and harmony. Through dance and song, Afrikan communities have kept their traditions and passed along the narratives and metaphors that stitch together the fabric of society.