ABSTRACT
In Africa, as abroad, the guitar commonly has two types: acoustic and electric. The Spanish or classical guitar, with a fretted neck and six strings (tuned E–a–d–g–b–e'), is a structural prototype for many varieties. The passage of the guitar from a position as a limited instrument to one of cultural impact beyond the confines of European communities seems to have taken place in the mid–1920s and in the 1930s. The contexts for guitar playing, as the multiplicity of prevalent styles implies, were variable. In the 1920s and 1930s, probably the strongest indicator of the coming importance of the guitar in Africa was the issuing of the first extended series of commercial recordings of African music that feature the guitar. A contrastive idiom of African acoustic guitar music finds expression in the music of Malian guitarists Ali Parka Toure and Boubacar Traoré, plus guitarists from the western Sudan region of Mali, Guinea, and Senegambia.
