Most Africans love football. During the world cup last year, many restaurants were packed with folk watching Togo, Ghana and Nigeria getting knocked out!

However, at ‘Maman Bénin’, a large restaurant in town, they regularly show British league football. Here’s their sign, taken a week or two back - maybe you remember some of these matches:

As many of you will know, I’m not a huge footy fan, so I’ve never been there to watch! I hope Aston Villa beat Liverpool, as my nephew Simon supports them. I don’t support any team, but when I was about six years old, I used to support Chelsea (because I liked the sound of the name) then a bit later I supported Leeds United (because it was the only complete team I had in my sticker book!!) Finally, I supported Spurs, because they won the FA cup twice in the early 80’s. How superficial!

Here (finally) is the report of the workshop I ran in Dassa in August, with the Ifè and Idaasha people groups.

The Ifè are from Togo and traveled over to Benin for the workshop. Here are the Ifè participants (+ one white face!):

The Isaasha participants, however, were all from close by, and many walked to the workshop! The two people groups have quite a lot in common in terms of culture - their languages are in the same family and (we discovered) they share several song genres.

Day 1

As I had transport problems at the time, I traveled up to Dassa by taxi (only 3 hours’ drive from Cotonou), leaving at around 5:45am to get there on time to start (and with one daughter, 2 nieces and a brother-in-law traveling with me!) So, straight into the work on genres by around (9:30). Here are the genres we noted.

Firstly, genres found in both Ifè and Idaasha:

Agbaja…………………………………………………………………………for rejoicing

Gɛ̀lɛ̀dɛ́…………………………………………………………………………for rejoicing

Akpokpo (also known as Ogu in Idaasha)………………………………used when hunting

Gudugbá (also known as Akoto in Ifè)………………………………….for parties and rejoicing

Shikpò (Ajikpò in Ifè)…………………………………………………….for rejoicing (also the same as the Isikpe of the Aja people)

Ɔwɔ́-kpipka (Ɔwɔ́-Otsùkpá in Ifè)……………………………………..sung in the moonlight

Other Idaasha genres include:

Gumbé…………………………………………………..……………………………..for parties/rejoicing

Abérelé……………………………………………..…………………….…………..for rejoicing in church

Agbojalogan………………………………………..…………………….…………for mourning/funeral parties

Golù……………………………………………..………………………………..…for mourning/funeral parties

Bolù (or Obi)…………………………………………………………….………for parties at church

Ajogbagbeya………………………………………………………….………..for parties

Asha………………………………..…………………………………….………..for praising kings

Other Ifè genres include:

Atrukpe……………………………………………………………………..….for mourning

Here I am leading a discussion on song genres:

We discussed which of these genres were already used in church, which could be used and which ones it was best not to use (at least for the time being). Then onto composing, in 6 groups (3 Ifè, 3 Idaasha). First I present the verses – we start with 3 parables: The Sower, The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. These work well, as story telling is a big part of African culture, and the settings of these stories are, in many ways closer to African experience than western. All back together just before lunch to share the songs composed and suggest improvements etc. Then onto 3 passages from Hebrews – chosen by the Ifè, on the subject of sacrifice (an important part of their culture).

Here’s part of the Good Samaritan song composed by the Ifè, using the Gudugba song genre (with some fab drone singing). Have a listen:

gudugba-ife.mp3

Day 2

More composing first thing, then presentation of the Hebrews songs. Lois, Alison and the others arrive mid-morning (thankfully, Lois has brought some more headphones for me, as the others gave out yesterday and I’d been using some ‘in the ear’ ones from Rachel’s IPod!) After lunch, I set up my equipment and we start recording. It begins to rain a tad but, thankfully, not too much, so we continue and get 7 of the 12 songs in the can. Here I am recording (NB can you spot Lois in the background too?):

The last 3 verses are then given out (2 Cor 5:17, Coll 2:6-7 and Galatians 5:22-26), all on the subject of Christian growth and living.

Day 3

Finishing off compositions, then start recording by 11:00am. Today, it’s much more rainy, so we set up under a paillotte (straw gazebo) with only the percussionists outside. Here are some folks warming up under the paillotte - notice the large gourd, or calabash, being used as a drum here:

Here’s an extract from the Idaasha composition on 2 Corinthians 5:17 (about being a new creation). It’s in the Abérelé song genre and has some neat cow bell playing (which Gary Wood especially enjoyed):

aberele-idaasha.mp3

All recorded by 5:30pm, when my taxi arrives to take us back. Altogether, 18 songs have been recorded, which will form 2 albums. Phew! We all stay the night at the Auberge in Dassa (aka my second home!) then pile into a 9-seater taxi and head back to Cotonou the next day! Thanks to the Wood family for coming along, and to Gary for taking all the photos you’ve just looked at!

This week, Rob spent four days interpreting from French into English for an international conference.

The conference was on the subject of The church and the use of national languages in Francophone Africa, and was set up by several organizations, including Wycliffe and SIL. It was attended by theologians and church leaders from 12 different African countries. Here’s the room where it all happened:

You’ll notice that -as well as water bottles - the tables have microphones on them. Anyone who asks a question etc. has to press the button and speak into the mic. In the far corner, you can also see the little booth where my co-interpreter and I sat, which has one way glass in it.

Interpreting of this kind is way more tiring than the normal stuff (where they leave a gap between phrases for you to speak). Instead, the speaking just keeps on going and you have to just keep on speaking the English translation into the microphone! It takes a few minutes to warm up, but once you get into the flow, it’s kinda fun! The key seems to be not to listen to what you are saying into the mic, but to concentrate 100% on what is being said. It feels weird, but somehow works!

Thankfully, there were two of us, so we were able to do stints of about 30-45 minutes before changing over. That’s just about enough time in any one go - any longer and your brain seriously starts turning into treacle sponge! After an hour (which I think I got to once) you feel like you’re saying nothing more than: “Blah blah blur blblblue”

Here I am with the other blokey, Bernard, busy at work in the booth:

If you’re interested in interpreting/translating, click here for the ITI site. Another good one in the UK is the Institute of Linguists, which do exams in translation and stuff. Finally - learning French at an advanced level? Then check out this fab forum, where you can post translation difficulties and get responses pretty fast!