Chad is an ethnically diverse

Central Africa Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo ...

n country. Each of its regions has its own unique varieties of music and dance. The

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people ( ff, Fulɓe, ; french: Peul, links=no; ha, Fulani or Hilani; pt, Fula, links=no; wo, Pël; bm, Fulaw) are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. ...

people, for example, use single-reeded flutes, while the ancient

griot A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. The griot is a repos ...

tradition uses five-string kinde and various kinds of horns, and the Tibesti region uses lutes and fiddles. Musical ensembles playing horns and trumpets such as the long royal trumpets known as " waza" or "kakaki" are used in

coronation A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...

s and other upper-class ceremonies throughout both Chad and Sudan. The

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...

of Chad is " La Tchadienne," written in 1960 by Paul Villard and

Louis Gidrol Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

with help from Gidrol's student group.

Popular music

Following independence, Chad, like most other African countries, quickly began producing some popular music, primarily in a style similar to the

soukous Soukous (from French '' secousse'', "shock, jolt, jerk") is a genre of dance music from Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville. It derived from Congolese rumba in the 1960s, becoming known for its fast dance rhythms and intricate guitar impro ...

music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Styles of Chadian popular music include sai, which used rhythms from the southern part of Chad—this style was popularized by a group called

Tibesti The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and ...

. Other bands include the Sahel's International Challal and African Melody, while musicians include the Sudanese-music-influenced

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

ist Ahmed Pecos and Chadian-French musician Clément Masdongar.

Folk music

Teda music

The Teda live in the area around the

Tibesti Mountains The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, primarily located in the extreme north of Chad, with a small portion located in southern Libya. The highest peak in the range, Emi Koussi, lies to the south at a height of and i ...

. Their folk music revolves around men's string instruments and women's vocal music. String instruments like the

keleli The ''keleli'' is a lute of the Teda people of Tibesti, Republic of Chad. The instrument consists of a round bowl covered with camel, goat or zebra-hide soundboard, and a neck to support the strings. The instrument is built by individuals for ...

are used to "speak for" male performers, since it is considered inappropriate for a man to sing in front of an adult woman.

Instruments

Traditional Chadian instruments include the hu hu ( string instrument with

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvested young to be consumed ...

loudspeakers), kakaki (a tin horn),

maraca A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were ...

s, lute, kinde (a bow harp) and various kinds of horns. Other instruments include the flute and drums music of the Kanembu and the balaphone, whistle, harp and kodjo drums of the

Sara people The Sara people are a Central Sudanic ethnic group native to southern Chad, the northwestern areas of the Central African Republic, and the southern border of North Sudan. They speak the Sara languages which are a part of the Central Sudanic lan ...

, while the Baguirmians are known for drum and

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat ...

music, as well as a folk dance in which a mock battle is conducted between dancers wielding large

pestle Mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used from the Stone Age to the present day to prepare ingredients or substances by crushing and grinding them into a fine paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. The ''mortar'' () ...

References

External links

Audio clips - traditional music of Chad.
French National Library. Accessed November 25, 2010.

2009-11-01) {{DEFAULTSORT:Music Of Chad