What's covered
Key facts
It is a fusion of different cultural traditions.
It blends traditional instruments such as the kora (a West African harp) with electronic sounds.
Afro Celt Sound System's 'Release' fuses Celtic and West African folk music with dance and electronic production.
A fusion combines two or more musical styles or traditions.
A fusion combines elements of two or more musical styles or cultural traditions, often blending non-Western instruments and scales with Western pop, jazz or electronic production.
Well-known fusions include Bhangra (Punjabi folk with Western pop/dance), Afro-Celt (West African with Celtic), and Latin jazz (samba/bossa nova with jazz).
It features voice, double bass and acoustic guitar.
It blends Latin American dance rhythms with jazz harmony.
Esperanza Spalding's 'Samba Em Prelúdio' fuses Brazilian samba and bossa nova with jazz.
Sample questions
A taste of the 18 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
The kora, sometimes heard in fusion music, is a harp-lute from which region?
- •East Asia
- •Northern Europe
- •South America
- ✓West Africa
Afro Celt Sound System's 'Release' fuses Celtic music with?
- •American country and western
- •Baroque opera and plainchant
- •Classical sonata-form writing
- ✓West African folk and electronic
Esperanza Spalding's set work fuses jazz with which Brazilian style?
- •English folk song
- •German chorale
- •Punjabi bhangra
- ✓Samba and bossa nova
What is a fusion in music?
- ✓A blend of two or more musical styles or traditions
- •A piece written for a single unaccompanied instrument
- •A random collection of unrelated sound effects
- •A strict copy of one pure traditional style
Which West African instrument features in 'Release'?
- •The bagpipes
- •The harpsichord
- ✓The kora (a harp)
- •The timpani
Which instruments feature in 'Samba Em Prelúdio'?
- •A church pipe organ
- •A full brass band
- •Synths and drum machine
- ✓Voice, double bass and guitar
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