Traditional sub-Saharan African music

 

There’s a lot to digest in this week’s program - 48 excerpts from lengthier works of art, ritual and celebration as (once) heard in sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, maybe just let it wash over you and don’t sweat the details. I can imagine this is new territory for most listeners, but think of it this way: your fellow human beings with all the same needs and abilities have come up with musical statements that express the same wide range of emotions that we in the West are saddled with. I’m trying to make the point that what may sound so very foreign and “odd” to outsiders is designed for a local audience with distinctly different histories, and an evolution of culture that’s taken its own road far from ours. Yet music plays its role in working, partying, relaxing, mourning, and just having fun. [Continues below]

Run list: Traditional sub-Saharan African music,
Al compás del mundo - programa #148, 10-3-24

 01 Malinke dance in praise of hunters, Guinea 0.00

02 Bena Luluwa relaxation song, Angola-Zaire 1:37

03 Hausa street music, itinerant musicians, Niger 2:51

04 Hakurotwi Mude and companions, mbira (finger piano), Shona, Zimbabwe 3:39

05 Wara whistle band, Burkina Faso 5:10

06 Nyoro xylophone performance, 'Musingasinga yakora egali’, Uganda 6:16

07 Wagogo soothing song, Tanzania 7:47

08 Alhaji Sait Camara on the halam (fretless lute) 'Yaha Yaha', Mali 8:42

09 Tuareg medicinal chant, Mali 10:02

10 Zaramo drum group, 'Mitamba yalagala kumchuzi', Tanzania 10:58

11 Mbuti hunting cries, Congo 12:09

12 Bobo-Dyoula bala (xylophone) duet, wedding music, 'Boli-Bana', Burkina Faso 13:09

13 Nogundi funeral song, Congo 14:39

14 Mossi agricultural work song, 'Wenlega', Burkina Faso 15:27

15 Hutu inanga (trough zither), 'Take Me Back to Mabayi', Burundi 16:22

16 Badouma dance song, Gabon 17:16

17 Ngoma festivity music, aluar horns, Zaire border, Uganda 18:08

18 Juldeh Camara on the nyanyer (fiddle), 'Nyanyer Song', Fulani, Gambia 19:30

19 Afar divining chant, 'Heh-le-le-la’, Ethiopia 20:27

20 Chopi Ngodo orchestral dance, Tanzania 21:50

21 Deftene Belete Mengesh on the begena, a ten-string box-lyre, religious song, Amharic, Ethiopia 23:10

22 Babinga Bangombe elephant hunt song, Congo 24:14

23 Makanda and Kawika Kapende, 'Kandala ha sali awoyele!', Tshokwe, Zaire-Angola 25:14

24 Giriama wedding music, 'Kayamba dance', Kenya 26:40

25 Tshokwe sanza (finger piano) solo, Angola 27:30

26 Gwin festival dance, Burkina Faso 28:48

27 Chumburu girl throat-singing, 'Marilli', Ghana 29:47

28 Healing song, gunshots and chorus, Southern Madagascar 30:37

29 Kassena flute ensemble, 'Djongo', Burkina Faso 31:51

30 Turkana song in praise of the elephant, Kenya 32:57

31 Batwa welcome dance, Uganda 34:24

32 Bawanji porter's song, Gabon 35:20

33 Acholi musician playing the enanga (trough zither) with accompaniment, Uganda 36:23

34 Chewa Muganda dance, 'Manyanda', Mozambique 37:29

35 Mugadzikwa Mwanagona, 'Chirombo weye nditerere', Shona, Zimbabwe 38:34

36 Dorze song, Lome, Ethiopia 40:07

37 Pokot girl's circumcision song, Kenya 41:02

38 Dance celebrating the art of the jali (hereditary caste of musicians,) Gambia 41:32

39 Masai Raiding Songs, Kenya 43:03

40 Djerma dundun (hourglass) drummers, Niger 44:17

41 Abdoulie Samba on the halam (fretless lute), 'Alfayaya', Senegal 44:51

42 Hutu drinking song, 'Bernadette', Burundi 46:37

43 Ngayamiso Kitunga, Harusi wedding tune, Nyamwezi, Tanzania 47:28

44 Malinke praise song for an ancestral chief, 'Kaira Bari', Guinea 48:36

45 itinerant Fulani ensemble, praise song for a chief, Burkina Faso 50:27

46 funeral celebration for a Mossi chief performed by Bissa musicians, Burkina Faso 51:53

47 Baule drinking song, Cote d'Ivoire 52:52

48 Festival dance of the Bena Luluwa, Angola 54:24

 

 

Continued
A few random notes: the Baule drinking song sounds to me not unlike a teary, beery Irish bit of vocal nostalgia in its own way. The Pokot girl’s circumcision song, fortunately, has no counterpart in Western musical tradition. Curious that it’s men who sing it, though…while women are the ones touting the elephant’s most praiseworthy characteristics in the Babinga Bangombe hunting song. The Mossi work song sets a pace that I can’t imagine keeping up with. Wouldn’t want to be hoeing a field and maintain that rhythmic pace. Ngoma festival music sounds not unlike the Racine Kilties drum and bugle corps on the 4^th of July (an historic Wisconsin reference). Funeral music isn’t so subdued as practiced in the West, while the music played at weddings strikes a universal note of communal celebration.

 As the program is one, long continuous file, with overlapping of the entries, I have indicated the starting time for each of the pieces. Like I said, sit and play around with it…try it out once or more…snatch a little here and there…or swallow it whole when you’ve got the time and you’re in the mood. Things you’ve never heard before should lead to flights of fancy and, maybe, a new attitude about “the others” in this world.