A display of African art through songs and dances was fundamental in traditional gatherings, where the skillful play of instruments ensured the continuity of tribal heritage. African compositions come enriched with different instruments, such as slit gongs, double bells, drums, harps, fiddles, flutes, trumpets, and xylophones, to name a few.

Musical instruments in Africa were created from readily available materials such as animal skin or horns, gourds, wood, turtle sheets, and metal. African music instruments are divided into five main categories: aerophones, membranophones, idiophones, chordophones, and percussion.

Drums used in African traditional music include talking drums, bougarabou and djembe in West Africa, water drums in Central and West Africa, and the different types of ngoma drums (or engoma) in Central and Southern Africa.