Over the past 20-30 years, it seems that we’ve progressed from a single music genre taking over each new decade to gradually hearing much more variety in popular music. The 60’s and 70’s were mainly rock, the 80’s were mainly pop, and the 90’s were more of a blend of different funky beats.
Techno, pop, rock and R’n’B fused together to create mainstream music in the 90’s. During the first ten years of the new millennium however, tribal dance music has joined the mix. Rhythms and melodies that we’ve historically left to the ‘new age’ crowd are now making more obvious inroads into modern music by blending with beats that we are more familiar with – and doing so rather successfully!
Why shouldn’t tribal dance music become more popular now that it’s more readily available to a greater audience?
As part of its very nature, tribal drum music has a visceral beat. Traditionally used as a way of expressing emotion, African tribal music represents a heartbeat that brings up a certain frame of mind in the dancers. Emotion transcends race, culture and religion, and speaks to us now, just as it did to tribal people dancing on the African savannah centuries ago.
A Slave Trade Side Effect
In reality, tribal dance music has played a quiet (and not very well recognised) part in the development of many European and Western music genres. This doesn’t really come as a surprise when you consider that the slave trade brought together hundreds of different styles of tribal dance music that quickly began to influence European music styles. Tribal drum music became an integral part of the evolution of modern music genres, from rock’n’roll and jazz to techno and dance
The Twist & the Jitterbug
Tribal beats joined with popular music to produce dances such as The Jitterbug and The Twist, which wriggled their way from our ears directlydown to our feet without stopping to ask for permission—the only way you can stand still when they take hold of your spinal column is by nailing your feet to the floor. Even the more stolid folks decided that was too painful, so they chucked the hammer and boogied their way into miniskirts and blue-suede shoes.
Tribal Dance Music in the Contemporary World
After its long journey through the 20th century, tribal dance music is no longer just a background sound in the modern world of music. Recording artists like Professor Trance, Adesa and Ariel Kalma have helped to keep tribal music alive and well in the mainstream culture. These musicians, among many others, have gathered tribal dance music with beats reminiscent of rock, pop and R’n’B from far-flung places such as Australia, India, Egypt, Pakistan, Africa, Central Europe and North America. To create the brilliant sound full of energy and movement, they blend didgeridoos, African voices and Tibetan chants fuse with guitar riffs and smooth saxophone notes.
As music continues to change grow, our hope is that people and nations will grow in kind.
The Path Before Us
The first 10 years of this new millennium have been rife with both success and tragedy. Hopefully we will follow in the direction of music into the harmonisation of mankind’s many voices into one melodic sound, as we become more accepting of diverse beliefs and ways of life, as people all around the planet both grieve and celebrate together. The tribal music that once played such an important part of our past is now guiding us into a peaceful future.
