Aka Pygmy Music - Unesco Collection

Aka Pygmy Music

Unesco Collection - Musical Sources,

Philips - 6586 016 - P.1973

Commentary, recordings and photographs: Simha Arom. Recordings made in 1971.

Side 1

A1 Mongombi - Shouts uttered while hunting with nets 5'06

A2 Anduwa - Song performed during the return from a hunt 3'31

A3 Dikoboda sombe - Hut song - solo 2'23

A4 Dikoboda sombe - Hut song - duet 3'49

A5 Bosobè - Song and dance of a diviner-healer 6'21

A6 Bobangi - Song to celebrate the catching of game 4'31

Side 2

B1 Kokoyandongo - Song and dance of a diviner-healer 6'25

B2 Nzenzenze - Children's game 1'00

B3 Balibo sasasa - Children's round dance 1'07

B4 Mbola - Adult song performed by children 3'07

B5 Nzombi - Music for the return from a hunt - solo 1'15

B6 Nzombi - Music for the return from a hunt - duet 0'54

B7 Epanda - Invocations to the spirits of the ancestors 1'34

B8 Mombimbi - Invocations to the spirits of the ancestors 2'46

B9 Monzoli - Ritual song 5'41

Some more recordings made by Simha Arom in Central African republic. This is a superlative record! Thanks again to kind zwan for the rip and the lovely scans! Another post graciously supplied by good friends in music attracted by one of my previous posts.

Hunted down and digitized by the good dog zwan and carefully annotated, edited and packaged by Our Man in Madras, Arvind!

What Steve Reich accomplished with elliptical tape loops in concurrent motion on pieces like “It’s Gonna Rain”, the singers of the Aka manage to do while walking to work in the morning.

- Richard Henderson in The Wire

Reissued as Auvidis/Unesco CD (D8054) in 1994.

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Banda Polyphony - Unesco Collection - Musical Sources

Banda Polyphony - Unesco Collection - Musical Sources,

Philips - 6586 032, (P.1976)

Commentary, recordings and photographs: Simha Arom.

Side 1

Linda Music

A. Music for ongo ensemble

1. Ndraje balendro - Initiation song 4'16

2. Eci ameya (horns) - Song for the cult of the twins 1'44

3. Eci ameya (voices) 1'53

4. Ebena ka cemato, lament 4'00

5. Music for dancing, gboyo 2'41

6. Mvrele ensemble (flutes) 2'51

7. Mvrele ensemble (voices) 4'19

Side 2

Dakpa Music

8. Little suite for ongo-ngala 6'59

9. Dance of initiates "Brother, I am suffering" 5'02

10. Suite for mbaya ensemble 5'46

11. Damba lekpa: music for the mbaya ensemble 1'22

So previous posts attracted this one, that also has field recordings by Simha Arom. This LP was digitized, shared and brought to my attention by vigilant friends in music! Thank you very much!

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Dolore e magia - from Central African Republic

Dolore e magia [Laments and Witchcraft]

Albatros Dischi - VPA 8262 P. 1975 (An original Harmonia Mundi Recording)

Maybe there was no coincidence that these recordings from Central African Republic also were done by Simha Arom and Geneviève Dournon-Taurelle, but posting them in a row certainly was. I have many records with fieldrecordings from Africa and to tell the truth it was just by fluke that the first three were recorded by the same etnomusicologists. It is also funny to notice that the fascination for horns were a common link. I, like Arom wanted to coerce the French Horn, a rather recalcitrant instrument, to give away the most beautiful and brilliant tones it can produce. Having read a bit more about the person behind the recordings I feel a greater sympathy and will search for more evidence of his endaveours. All these early field recordings are most dear to me as they capture so much more than just the music. This is for me armchair ambiance and culture spotting! Hope you enjoy this as well!

Arom recording music with Pygmies in 2001.

Side A

A1 Canto di dolore [Ngbaka] 4'20

A2 Lamento [Gbaya] 1'00

A3 Cante di scherno [Mandja] 2'55

A4 Canto funebre [Mpyemo] 2'52

A5 Canto funebre [Mbangui] 3'06

A6 Rituale per la nacita di Gemelli (a) [Ali] 1'46 *

A6 Rituale per la nacita di Gemelli (b) [Ali] 1'29 *

A6 Rituale per la nacita di Gemelli (c) [Ali] 1'52 *

A6 Rituale per la nacita di Gemelli [Ali] 5'03

A7 Canto d'invettiva [Ngbaka] 2'54

Side B

B1 Canto rituale per i Gemelli [Mpyemo] 1'28

B2 Canto rituale per i Gemelli [Kaka] 1'17

B3 Canto di caccia [Mandja] 2'05

B4 Ninna nanna [Gbaya] 2'43

B5 Canto d'amore [Ngbaka] 2'45

B6 Danza lito in honore di Gemelli [Lito] 2'07

B7 Lamento [Sabanga] 2'55

B8 Rituale di guarigione [Ngbaka/Mandja] 6'13

* The track A6 is included both in three parts 1, b, c, split up by me, and as as one 5'03 track the way it appears on the LP.

It says both on the lables and the cover, that this is "An original Harmonia Mundi Recording". I have not found any Harmonia Mundi release of this record, so if you do find another edition of this it would be nice to be informed. It is very likely that such is the case as several of the non-italian music releases on Albatros Dischi were licenesed from other Labels, like for instance Lyrichord and Folkways etc.

Not many words but here is an article from an Israeli newspaper with links to a few tracks recorded by, and an interview with Simha Arom.

Article

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Musiques Banda - République Centrafricaine

Ritual end-blown trumpets

Ritual side-blown trumpets

Musiques Banda - République Centrafricaine

Vouge - LD 765 - P.1971

Recordings made in Banda Country

by Simha Arom and Geneviève Dournon-Taurelle 1964 - 1967.

Side A

A1 - a,b,c,d,e; Fanfares de trompetes droites

A2 Chant et danse d'hommes

A3 Calebasses battues et chant

A4 Tambours-de-bois

A5 et A6 Trompes traversières appariées

A7 Xylophone sur fosse

A8 Chœur de femmes, tambours-de-bois et cloche

A9 Unknown track

Side B

B1 Chœur d'enfents

B2 Solo de femme

B3 Duo de jeunes filles

B4 Solo de femme; chanté

B5 Solo de femme; roucoulé

B6 Chœur mixte

B7 Chœur de jeunes filles, harpe et tambour, chœur

B8 a,b,c,d ; Fanfares de trompes traversières

B9 a,b,c,; Ensemble de sifflets

B10 Chœur de femmes et tambours

B11 Chœur mixte et flûtes

Dance of initiated girls

Slit-drums

Gourds and termite-traps

Whistle ensamble

Singing a lullaby

Circumcised boy

Dance of initiated men

Here is one of the records from the Collection du Musée de l'homme, issued by Disques Vogue. They published many good records and especially the series drawing from resources at the Museum of Man in Paris in the sixties and seventies there seems to be several interesting titles also on 45 rpm. but it is hard to find the catalogues nowadays.

I will try to collect some titles that I know of in separate posts to this blog. And I will try to update those now and then. So if you see some supplementary information to such a post, I would be overjoyed to get your support in this humble undertaking. Meagre as it seems I will still start by listing just a few titles at the time of some select labels. I have not seen many of the LP's they published on the web either.

The Central African Republic.

"The population of the Central African Republic belongs to approximately 85 ethnic groups. Primary ethnic groups include the Banda, Manza and the Gbaya-Manza-Ngbaka in the centre and central-eastern part of the country; the Zande and Nzakara in the east; the Gbaya in the west; the Ngbaka, Bogongo, Isongo (Mbati), Kako and Mpyemo (Mpiemo) in the forested regions of the south-east; the Gbanziri and Yakoma along the banks of the Ubangi; and the Sara Kaba, Surma and Runga in the north and north-east (fig.1).

It is difficult to express the representation of various religions within the country in terms of percentages, but as an estimate 35% of the population practise indigenous beliefs, 50% are Christian and 15% Muslim."

The above quote comes from here, where you also can find a small discography, and some more facts about the Central African Republic.

Map of the Central African Republic

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The Peuls - Musical Atlas vol.14 - Unesco Collection

The Peuls - Musical Atlas vol. 14 - Unesco Collection

EMI Italiana 3 C 064-18121 - P.1975

Side A

A1 Praise song, Flute Solo

A2 Praise Song, Stringed Lute

A3 Praise Song, Reed Pipe

A4 a) Jew's-Harp without frame *

A4 b) Jew's-Harp without frame *

A4 c) Rhythmic Song, Handclapping *

A4 d) Jew's-Harp without frame *

A5 In the Arabian style

A6 Song accompanied on the Flute and the Calabash

Side B

B1 Flagellation Song, Solo voice

B2 Song accompanied on the Flute and Calabash

B3 Solo Voice and Womens Choir

B4 Solo Voice accompanied by three young Women

B5 Pounding Millet

B6 Instrumental Music for Dancing

B7 Four Flagellation Songs

B8 Song for Dancing

* Note well, that track 4 a,b,c,d are one track on the LP, I split them for clarity as track 4c is not Jew's-Harp, as listed on the LP, but rather could be described as rhythmic song and handclapping.

This is an LP from EMI Odeon Italia in their series World Atlas. It was part of the Unesco Collection supervised by the General Editor Alain Danielou. The recordings and documentation was done by Simha Arom. They published maybe around 30 LP's in this series. I have only knowledge of the titles for most of them and I will post a few more. Maybe someone can help out with more information. I have been thinking of maintaining discographies online edited by several participators but more on that later.

The Peuls

The Peuls, (or Fulani) are spread across Senegal, Niger, North Cameroon, North Nigeria usually defined as a group by the common feature of being nomadic herdsmen and does not form an ethnic group or a race. They are also spread in Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Mali, Gambia, Liberia, Ghana and Sierra Leone. And the estimated total figure of the population at the time of recording in the early 1970ies was believed to be in excess of six million people. Since they are so spread out it is hard to get a updated figure but it is believed that the population have more or less doubled today. These recordings, judging from the liner notes, seems to have been made in Niger and possibly Burkina Faso then Upper Volta and also belong to that category of records where closeness and intensity is pulling the lister into the group of musicians. I especially like the women pounding millet and the non compromising and relentless suction of air in the frameless Jew's Harp pieces. It seems also that we tend to do all too little rhythmical clapping around where I reside.

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