This paper investigates the African metaphysical ontology of music, positing that its indigenous roots render Western aesthetic frameworks incommensurable. This paper argues that African music has a functional ontology. It exists not simply as an inert aesthetic artefact, but as a vital force whose primary function is to mediate, organise, and sustain the spiritual, temporal, and communal realities of the African cosmos. This paper employs a concept-based methodology based on both African Philosophical Vitalism and Syncretic Holism, thereby avoiding methodological dualism and cultural homogenisation. The structure of the analysis is organised along three metaphysical dimensions: (1) the cyclical time organisation through polyrhythmic patterns to preserve ancestral continuity, as exemplified by the Xhosa Uhadi musical bow; (2) defining ‘sound ' as the Mande concept of vital force (nyama) and determining music’s existence via its functional effectiveness (healing and ritual); (3) the embodiment of relational communalities in the form of the Kalenjin Kibagenge (the communal togetherness) through overlapping rhythmic and performance structures. The paper concludes that the African musical event is the dynamic architecture of being and is an essential, active participant in the creation and preservation of cosmic and social harmony.
Kirui et al. (Sun,) studied this question.