History of Music in Central African Republic

The Central African Republic music include several different forms; the Western rock and pop music, as well as Afrobeat, soukous and other genres have become famous in the country. The sanza is a famous musical instrument.

source of picture: www.rfi.fr 

The Pygmies have a difficult folk music tradition; the polyphony and the counterpoint are common parts, as a varied rhythmic structure. The trumpet-based music of the Bandas has also gained some fame outside the country due to its jazz structure. The Ngbaka is used as an unusual instrument called as mbela, which is also made with an arched branch and a cords strung between the two ends and held ion front of the musicians mouth. When the cord is struck, the mouth is used to increase and modulate the tone and the instruments are similar to the mbela which are sometimes considered as the oldest ancestors of all cords instruments.

The national anthem of the Central African Republic is La Renaissance, the song has been the anthem since 1960, and was written by Barthelemy Boganda (words), the first president of the Central African Republic, and Herbert Pepper who also sang the melody for the Senegalese national anthem.