Women , especially, have the solidarity of the other women and do not need to take individual credit for the composition they have created. Also, much of song is retained from generation to generation. The security of the form and the song allows for some freedom within it. The structure is so well known that individual women, especially dominant in voice, will improvise above that and thus transform aspects of the fabric of that song. The women who live this music do not seek originality but harmony.
African women derive power and strength from within the social structure.
It seems clear that we often consider women who defy the social standards to be most powerful. An African woman expresses in her music that she is empowered by her positions as fixed by her culture. The songs can be explicit messages to the community or a particular part of the community. They can be functional, providing necessary rhythms for human activity. Also, they can be narrative of an ongoing event or of well known individual.