ABSTRACT
Composers in the Western classical tradition who used complex rhythms, like Beethoven or Brahms, or twentieth-century composers who were influenced by African musical idioms, like Stravinsky, manifest this basic orientation. In the popular or folk idioms of Western music, the more "artistic" complexities rarely arise. In African music this sensibility is almost reversed. African melodies are clear enough, even if African conceptions of tonal relationships are sometimes strange to us but more important is the fact that in African music there are always at least two rhythms going on. In African music, the chorus or response is a rhythmic phrase which recurs regularly; the rhythms of a lead singer or musician vary and are cast against the steady repetition of the response. Africans rely on music to build a context for community action, and analogously, many aspects of their community life reflect their musical sensibility.
