Map West Africa

There are so many different groups of people living in West Africa that it is almost impossible to count them all. Ethnic groups range from the Ashanti, famous for their arts and crafts, to the Tuareg, who founded the city of Timbuktu.

Ethnic Groups

Here are Some Other Ethnic Groups You Can Find in West Africa:

• Bobo people are famous for the hand-made masks and beautiful costumes they wear during many celebrations.
• Dogon people carve their homes into cliff walls.
• Fulani people are the largest group of nomads in the world.

Each group has different cultures and celebrations. Especially well-known are dances where performers wear masks, paint their bodies and dance on everything from bare feet to tall stilts. When people in West Africa dance to tell stories, they often wear a mask. The mask tells just as much of a story as the dance itself.

Mask Story from Mali

The chi wara headdress of Mali is worn on top of the dancer’s head. Long black strips of fabric flow from the mask to cover the dancer’s face and sometimes even his whole body. These represent the rain needed for farming. The chi wara’s horns represent the tall growth of the crops.

Music

West Africa is also known for its music. Many of the region’s sounds were first heard around the world during the slave trade. Today, genres like jazz, blues and reggae trace their roots to the rhythms of the region. Here are Two Famous Musical Genres from West Africa:

• Highlife comes from Ghana. The music features lots of band members with jazzy horns and guitars. It got its name because it was originally played for the country’s elite, who were known for living the “high life”. One famous high life musician you could listen to is Ghana’s E.T. Mensah.
• Griots (pronounced gree-ohs) are found mainly in Mali. They are story keepers, sharing the history of their people through sung poetry. They sing a lot of praise songs about their most famous leaders. It takes each griot many years to learn all of the songs and rhythms.

Here is a song by Kasse Mady Diabate, who is a griot from Mali. His song is called Moving Away.

“People listen to me, black people, white people, Africans, Europeans, children and adults, listen to what I am saying!

What I’m saying is for the young people to hear us, to know that the Kings and Emperors who passed away before us did well.

They were just human beings, but they worked hard and did well so we should be doing the same.

Let’s be proud of ourselves, get to know yourself and you will get to know someone else.

Oh world, all the world, Africans and Europeans, let’s be together.

This is the best thing that could happen. Let’s help each other, this is the only way we can succeed.”