Polyphonies Mongo - Batwa Ekonda rec. by Benoit Quersin

Polyphonies Mongo - Batwa Ekonda

Ocora - OCR-53 - P.1971

Side A

A1 Sortie de Walekele 1'21

A2 Sortie de Walekele (suite) 3'46

A3 Sortie de Walekele (suite) 2'39

A4 Chant Ekonda avec accompagnement de chitare sur bâton 3'35

A5 Chant Ekonda avec accompagnement de chitare sur bâton 1'26

A6 Danse esoya 1'25

A7 Chœurs de femmes Ekonda 6'31

Side B

B1 Chœurs d'hommes Ekonda 14'00

B1 Chœurs d'hommes Ekonda (suite) 3'27

Recordings made by Benoit Quersin in the Democratic Repblic of Congo during the months April and May in 1970. This region is near the Equator in an area between Lake Tumba and the village Itipo. The population in the area around the lake consist of Ntomba and furteher away of the Ekonda, there are also a number of Batwa of pygmy origin. The lanscape is flat and almost entirely covered by large equatorial forest.

The Ekonda like most inhabitants of the central Congolese basin belong to the Mongo group and have very similar cultures. Here are some of the most enjoyable vocal polyphony recorded from this region that I know of, not only musically but also with regards to ambiance and atmosphere.

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Musique des pygmées du Gabon et des bouchimans du Botswana

Musique des Pygmées du Gabon et des Bouchimans du Botswana

Musiques et Traditions du Monde

CBS France - 80212 - P.1976

Enregistrements:

Musiques des Pygmées du Gabon: P. Sallée. (et photos)

Musiques des Bouchimans du Botswana: Hubert de Fraysseix

Photos, Musée de l'Homme, Hubert de Fraysseix, P. Sallée.

Face A

Musique des Pygmées Baka Bamakuè du Gabon

A1 Divertissement mebasi, séquence polyphonique n° I 6'54

A2 Séquence polyphonique n° II 6'00

A3 Quatre voix de femmes en «jodl» 2'07

A4 Cinq voix de femmes et tambour 2'32

A5 Séquence polyphonique n° III 4'05

Face B

Musique des Pygmées (suite)

B1 Chant à la «sanza» 4'16

Musique des Bochimans !Kung du Botswana

B2 Petit ensemble 3'10

B3 Grand ensemble 4'30

B4 Duo d'hommes 1'48

B5 Combat 2'35

Musique des Bochimans de la région Mabebè

B6 Petit ensemble de femmes 3'05

B7 Petit ensemble de femmes 3'40

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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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