Two language groups are spoken in Central Africa, the Adamawa-Eastern languages and the Bantu languages. The area includes all or portions of the countries of Zaïre, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Angola, Zambia, and the islands of São Tome and Principe. The guitar was brought to this region by Portuguese explorers in the 1800s. Despite being a poor and exploited region, since the 1950s music from this area has had more general influence in Africa than any other regional style. A feature that distinguishes the music of East Africa (including Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia) from the rest of the continent is the influence of the Arab world which borders this area to the north. Like all of Africa, the linguistic situation is extraordinarily complex and more than 100 languages have been identified in Ethiopia alone. Among the cultural groups found in the area are the agricultural Bantu-speaking peoples.
Genre Guide 2000 · World/Folk › Africa